水晶组合

The Crystals are an American vocal group that originated in New York City. Considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era in the first half of the 1960s, their 1961–1964 chart hits – including "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", "Uptown", "He's Sure the Boy I Love", "He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me"– featured three different female lead singers and were all produced by Phil Spector. The latter three songs were originally ranked number 263, number 114, and number 493, respectively, on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. However, two songs were omitted from the magazine's 2010 update, leaving only "He's a Rebel" at number 267. In the 2021 update, "Da Doo Ron Ron" was added back to the list at number 366.

History

Formation and signing to Philles

In 1961, Barbara Alston (December 29, 1943, Baltimore, Maryland – February 16, 2018, Charlotte, North Carolina), Mary Thomas, Dolores "Dee Dee" Kenniebrew (born 1945), Myrna Giraud and Myra Patricia "Patsy" Wright (Burch) formed the Crystals with the help of Benny Wells, Alston's uncle. Soon, the quintet signed with Phil Spector's label Philles Records.

Their first hit, the gospel-influenced "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1961. Originally the B-side to "Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby" (featuring Wright on lead), the stirring pop ballad was co-written by Spector and Leroy Bates and featured Barbara Alston on vocals. The recording was made late on the evening of the high school prom at the William H. Maxwell Career and Technical High School, the school attended by Alston, Thomas, and Giraud; they were still wearing their prom dresses, as they had come to the studio straight from the event. The single reached number 20 in January 1962, marking an auspicious debut for Spector's Philles label.

Brill Building songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil's "Uptown" gave the girls their second radio hit. Having an ethnic flavor with flamenco guitar and castanets, the more uptempo "Uptown" featured Alston once again emoting convincingly over a boy, though this time with class issues woven into the story. After the success of "Uptown", a pregnant Giraud was replaced by Dolores "LaLa" Brooks.

The controversial subject matter of the next single, 1962's "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" (written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin and sung by Alston), resulted in limited airplay with the track only "bubbling under" the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 123. Alston later disowned the track, stating it was "absolutely, positively, the one record that none of us liked".

"Replacement" Crystals

Soon after "He Hit Me" flopped, Phil Spector began recording singer Darlene Love and her group the Blossoms. The Crystals were not able to travel from New York to Los Angeles fast enough to suit the LA-based Spector, who wanted to quickly record writer Gene Pitney's "He's a Rebel" before Vikki Carr could release her version on Liberty Records. As Love and the Blossoms were also based in Los Angeles, Spector recorded and released their version under the Crystals' banner. It was not the first time Spector promised the Blossoms a single and released it under the Crystals name.

The song had originally been offered to the Shirelles, who turned it down because of the anti-establishment lyrics. It marked a shift in girl group thematic material, where the singer loves a "bad boy", a theme that would be amplified by later groups (especially the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack").

The ghost release of this single came as a total surprise to the Crystals who were an experienced and much traveled girl harmony group in their own right, but they were nevertheless required to perform and promote the new single on television and on tour as if it were their own. The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1962.

"He's a Rebel" was the Crystals' only US number-one hit and also made the UK top 20. "He's a Rebel" kept Pitney's own "Only Love Can Break a Heart" off the top spot on 3 November 1962. Pitney never reached the Hot 100's summit. The Crystals follow-up single, "He's Sure the Boy I Love", was also recorded by Love and the Blossoms. It reached number 11 on the Billboard chart and featured a spoken intro by Love.

"Real" Crystals return

Though it is unclear as to the level of their participation in "(Let's Dance) The Screw", the 'real' Crystals definitely began recording again under their own name in 1963. However, Thomas had departed to get married, only to join another mildly successful group, the Butterflys, along with another original Crystal, Myrna Giraud. This reduced the group to a quartet. Alston, known for her shyness and stage fright, was never comfortable with being out front, stepped down from the lead spot giving it to Dolores "LaLa" Brooks. According to Brooks, she had been doing Alston's leads in their live shows for a while.