The Crystals, The Blossoms, and the Curse of Phil Spector
In their pursuit of studio time and to make an impression on record executives, numerous girl and guy groups of the 1960s frequently chose to turn a blind eye to the exploitation of their talents. Many more groups were unaware that they were being exploited, as the allure of fame and fortune often led them to accept sometimes absurd directions without questioning. Recording songs they didn’t particularly like was common.
Left to Right: Patricia “Patsy” Wright, Dee Dee Kenniebrew, Dolores “La La” Brooks, and Barbara Alston. Illustration by J.D. Humphreys
• THE SONG THEY REGRETTED •
Phil Spector was a prominent figure whom many girl groups aimed to satisfy. When the Crystal recorded “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss),” the group reluctantly complied. The lineup, consisting of lead singer Barbara Alston, along with Dee Dee Kenniebrew, Dolores “La La” Brooks, and Patricia “Patsy” Wright, had previously delivered two successful hits, “Uptown” and “There’s No Other (Like My Baby).” However, “He Hit Me” didn’t quite feel right.
“We looked at each other and were like, ‘What the heck is this?’”
- Dolores “La La” Brooks, Crystals
“We looked at each other and were like, ‘What the heck is this?’” recalls Brooks. “We didn’t like it from the beginning. The lyrics were weird.”
The songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin, who were both white, penned this song after realizing that their babysitter, singer Little Eva, was experiencing abuse from her boyfriend. Little Eva insisted that his actions were motivated by his love for her.
“Next thing you know, they released the song [“He Hit Me”], it went on the radio and all of sudden it was banned from the radio,” Brooks said, noting that Parent Teachers’ Association took offense and got banned. “They weren’t allowed to play it because young girls were singing the song. We didn’t know what we were singing. Barbara sang lead and maybe it didn’t register—or maybe it did—but we still didn’t know how to speak up. Phil was not the type of person you could speak up to like that. But when it was released, it was like ‘Where are the Crystals going with this one?’”
Having personally encountered domestic abuse, even though not during her marriage to Goffin, King now regrets her involvement in crafting the song, recognizing that it did nothing to empower women and, in fact, stirred controversy. By June 1962, Philles Records, led by Spector, had to pull it.
Music critic David Thompson wrote, “It was a brutal song, as any attempt to justify such violence must be, and Spector’s arrangement only amplified its savagery, framing Barbara Alston’s lone vocal amid a sea of caustic strings and funereal drums, while the backing vocals almost trilled their own belief that the boy had done nothing wrong. In more ironic hands (and a more understanding age), 'He Hit Me' might have passed at least as satire. But Spector showed no sign of appreciating that, nor did he feel any need to. No less than the song’s writers, he was not preaching, he was merely documenting.”
“He [Phil Spector] knew eventually we would be responsible for the bills.”
- Barbara Alston, Crystals
The Crystals and numerous other musical acts of that era found themselves in a situation where recording contracts were neither clearly right nor wrong. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a lack of established guidance or savoir faire when it came to entering agreements as singers. Many groups encountered uncertainty when it came to matters such as royalties, financing for productions, and organizing tours. The humiliation from Spector would come soon enough. “We were so glad someone had taken a professional interest in us that we never considered the ramifications of agreements of any kind at that time,” said Alston. “Phil was very meticulous and the cost for getting us together to record was never an issue for him and now I understand why. He knew eventually we would be responsible for the bills. We just didn’t know that at the time and even if when he did ask us if we have any questions, we didn’t know what to ask because we didn’t know what we didn’t know—right, wrong, or indifferent. And no one was telling us what we didn’t know.”
LISTEN TO “HE HIT ME (AND IT FELT LIKE A KISS)” BY THE CRYSTALS
• “HE’S A REBEL” •
When “He’s a Rebel” was recorded in 1962 under Spector’s direction, he opted for a Los Angeles-based crew, departing from the usual New York choices due to the more cost-effective union rates in LA. Spector, an unusual and eclectic character, found a comforting resonance with the musicians in Los Angeles, as opposed to New York, where more established musicians might question his unconventional methods.
The group designated to record the song, the Blossoms, possessed a sound that seamlessly straddled the realms of both Black and white music due to their impeccable harmonies. They were under contract with Capitol Records and had lent their vocal talents to a diverse array of artists, including Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Doris Day, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, Jan and Dean, and Bobby Darin. Over the course of the 1950s, the lineup of the Blossoms evolved, eventually solidifying with Darlene Wright (later known as Darlene Love) as the lead, alongside Fanita James and Jean King into the 1960s.
Left to Right: Jean King, Darlene Wright (Love), and Fanita James. Illustration by J.D. Humphreys
“The Blossoms did sessions for everybody, but we backed up more Black artists in those days,” Love said noting that they were regulars on the TV show Shindig which aired from 1964 to 1966 to back all kinds of acts. The Blossoms were arguably the most visible Black Americans on television. “The Blossoms were stars but we didn’t realize it. The biggest stars in the world came on that show and were envious of us, because we were on every week.”
When Spector informed the Blossoms that they would be recording “He’s a Rebel,” Love felt a sense of unease. In her autobiography, she described the song as sounding “like a trifle – just another tribute to a teen dream, this one from the wrong side of the tracks, or the police blotter.” After all, Love was a married woman with a child and a mortgage, and she believed she wasn’t the right fit to take the lead on “He’s a Rebel.”
Spector, however, insisted that her voice was the perfect match for the song, as she could effortlessly switch between gospel fervor and a “low, growling” style. To sweeten the deal, he offered her $3,000 to sing lead, while the other girls were paid at a significantly lower standard session rate.
The recording of “He’s a Rebel” didn’t proceed without a hitch. On the day of the recording, the session engineer was nowhere to be seen, which enraged Spector. Nevertheless, Spector possessed a keen ear and was capable of discerning mistakes that could contribute uniqueness to the recording. As the song faded out, Love overcompensated and went into a testifying rant with repeated cris of “No, no, no,” losing the rhythm and ending up off-beat. When Love offered to re-record her part, Spector, in an eccentric turn, insisted that he preferred the mistake. Love was taken aback by this, gradually realizing the idiosyncrasies of Spector.
In the first week of November 1962, “He’s a Rebel” ascended to the number one spot on the charts. This song even dethroned the Halloween novelty hit “Monster Mash” by white singer Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers, with the Blossoms serving as backing vocals on that track as well.
While the Crystals were on tour and passing through Ohio, they happened to hear “He’s a Rebel” on the radio. Curiously, despite the Blossoms being the actual recording artists, the credit for the song was attributed to the Crystals.
Illustration by J.D. Humphreys
Brooks recalls, “We hear ‘He’s a Rebel’ and we know nothing about it and at the end of it, the disc jockey says ‘The Crystals.’ We looked up and said, ‘Who the hell did that song?’ We naturally called our manager and we found out that they released it under a girl named Darlene Wright. We didn’t know who she was.”
Their manager connected them with Spector who exclaimed to them that he owned their name and had under contract for another five years or so. “Phil said, ’Your name belongs to me, and I can do anything with it I want,’” Kenniebrew recalled years later. “We were so stupid we didn’t know that wasn’t even true. If we had read the contract… I have the contracts now.”
Shocked and horrified, the Crystals found themselves receiving nightly applause for a song they had not actually recorded. During this time, white singer Gene Pitney, who had initially written the song with the intention of it being for the Shirelles, was on tour alongside the Crystals. He took it upon himself to coach them on how to perform the song on stage in a way that made it more of their own.
“It was horrible… horrible what Phil did.”
- Dolores “La La” Brooks, Crystals
“I had to sing that song on stage because it was number one and we were going on tour,” Brooks said. “From that day on, no one could tell because my voice was as strong as Darlene’s. It was horrible… horrible what Phil did.”
Alston adds, “The release of ‘He’s a Rebel’ was a total embarrassment to us. And everywhere we went, people seemed to know someone else recorded the damn song other than us. Phil Spector put us in a position of having to lie in order to save face.”
Brooks notes that Spector was under contractual pressure to release a recording for the Crystals. “We had a contract with Phil. Our manager kept calling him and letting him know ‘No matter what, you have to record these girls according to your contract and the Crystals need to have a record out.’”
This contractual factor might have played a role in his choice to release “He’s a Rebel” to the Crystals, even though they weren’t the original vocalists. Spector got wind that white artist Vicki Carr was planning to record “He’s a Rebel” for Liberty Records as part of her debut, and he was determined to record it before she did. Consequently, he enlisted the Blossoms for the task because they were readily available.
Similarly, the Blossoms were left perplexed and disappointed as to why they were not given proper credit for their contribution to the song.
• SPECTOR’S NAME GAME •
In August 1962, Spector was back at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, embarking on his next musical venture with the Blossoms—the rendition of “Zip-a-Dee Doo-Dah” from Disney’s 1946 film Song of the South. While this selection might have struck some as an unconventional choice, Spector wasted no time in reassembling his team, summoning guitarists, session musicians, and the trio of Darlene Love, Fanita Barrett, and Bobby Sheen.
This particular track possessed a distinctive quality, a result of the meticulous collaboration between Spector and recording engineer Larry Levine, often pushing the recording levels into the red zone on the mixing dials. Remarkably, the recording was executed flawlessly in a single take, and the song would be credited to Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans—an impromptu group name conjured up by Spector.
“Zip-a-Dee Doo-Dah” quickly climbed the charts, peaking at number 8 in December 1962. Buoyed by this success, the Blossoms toured the eastern states, performing not as themselves but under the new guise of Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans. This package tour featured a star-studded lineup, including Marvin Gaye, the Orlons, and Little Eva.
LISTEN TO “ZIP-A-DEE DOO-DAH” BY BOB B. SOXX AND THE BLUE JEANS
Upon their return from the exhausting tour, Spector summoned them back to Gold Star, eager to further capitalize on the success of both “The Crystals” and Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans. However, Love was not happy—a sentiment entirely justified, considering that her name and identity of the Blossoms remained largely obscure. Up to that point, her contributions had been confined to elevating the image and sound of other musical groups, overshadowing her own recognition and accomplishments.
Love was resolute in her demands, insisting that she would only step into the recording booth if Spector agreed to use her real name instead of the Crystals or Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans. She also demanded a formal contract. She made it abundantly clear that she would not continue without these two conditions being met. Initially, Spector consented, but he dragged his feet, prompting Love to issue an ultimatum: she would quit altogether unless the contracts were drawn up to her and Fanita Barrett’s satisfaction. Finally, after this firm stand, the necessary contracts were put in place for Love and Barrett.
Love sang lead on “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. However, to Love’s chagrin, the track ended up being released and credited to the Crystals once again. After hearing it on the radio, she became outraged and confronted Spector. During the heated exchange that followed, Spector made a rather insensitive comment, referring to “you people,” in which Love interpreted as a racial slight. Convinced that Spector genuinely meant it that way, Love stormed out of the studio, feeling deeply betrayed. At that moment, she seriously questioned whether she would continue recording for Spector in the future.
“The singers were nothing to Phil.”
- Darlene Love
“The singers were nothing to Phil,” Love would later note many years later. “He used to say it was all about ‘his music.’ So I’d say, ‘if it’s about your music, why aren’t you making instrumentals?’”
LISTEN TO “HE’S SURE THE BOY I LOVE” BY THE CRYSTALS (THE BLOSSOMS)
Love chose to give Spector another chance, recognizing that her career hung in the balance. When she was approached to record “(Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry,” and it was time to prove all that Spector had promised her. Spector credited her but determined that the name Darlene Wright wasn’t marketable and insisted on rebranding her as Darlene Love, in honor of one of his beloved gospel singers, Dorothy Love Coates. She agreed, even though she suspected that “Phil would just decide to call me something else again two or three records down the road.” The song, “(Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry,” achieved a modest success, reaching the 39th spot on the chart in 1963.
LISTEN TO “(TODAY I MET) THE BOY I’M GONNA MARRY” BY DARLENE LOVE
Darlene Love. Illustration by J.D. Humphreys
Romance as a recurring motif in the songwriting, and the muse often came from the individuals in their lives. Love’s three-year relationship with white singer Bill Medley from the Righteous Brothers served as the source of inspiration for a particular song. In 1968, Medley produced a chart-topping hit titled “Brown Eyed Woman,” a song in which a white man serenades a Black woman, written by Barry Mann. Although the genuine inspiration behind the song remained somewhat elusive, it might have been obscured due to societal unreadiness for such unconventional subject matter at the time.
LISTEN TO “BROWN EYED WOMAN” BY BILL MEDLEY
“It seemed like the song was written for us, but it wasn’t,” Love admits. “Barry had me sit in the studio so Bill could sing it to me while he was recording. It was very emotional because it brought back everything that happened to us. The Blossoms traveled down South with the Righteous Brothers, and we never let on that we were dating. Bill would get upset sometimes because he didn’t know about prejudice, because he wasn’t involved with it. Once he got around me, he found out about it. Even people around him said, ‘You can’t date this woman, you’re gonna kill your career.’”
What stands out is the unique dynamic between a formidable figure like Phil Spector and an ambitious group like the Blossoms. Spector held the power to shape or shatter their careers, often employing various tactics to assert his influence. His frequent maniacal behavior manifested in ways such as demanding numerous, excessive takes, being overly critical, making impromptu phone calls to their homes, and offering peculiar incentives to musicians. Spector’s signature dark glasses added to his imposing demeanor, yet Love wasn’t afraid to engage in frequent arguments with him. Remarkably, she managed to hold her own and break through to persuade him to ease up, as he paid attention when she spoke. While many held respect for Spector, he was generally not well-liked.
• TUNES AND TANGLES •
More than six decades later, misinformation about Darlene Love’s association to the Crystals persists. Inaccuracies in the media have even led to the false assumption that Love served as the lead singer of the Crystals, often without proper correction.
“Many people don’t realize that we [the Crystals] started Phil Spector.”
- Dolores “La La” Brooks
“Many people don’t realize that we [the Crystals] started Phil Spector,” said Brooks, who would become the lead singer. “Ronnie [Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes] wasn’t there. The Righteous Brothers were not heard of. Darlene Love was never heard of. We started Phil in New York.”
As per Brooks, Love has claimed to be a Crystal and even sang “Da Doo Ron Ron.” In the 2013 documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, the camera follows Love’s revisit to Gold Star Studio many years later, where she reminisces with former Blossoms members Fanita James, Gloria Jones, and her sister Edna Wright. Together, they spontaneously break into a rendition of “Da Doo Ron Ron,” and Love exclaims at the end, “That was perfect without even rehearsing.” This documentary left Brooks incensed because it failed to provide any clarification or credit to the Crystals for the song.
In her memoir, My Name is Darlene Love, Love claims she originally recorded “Da Doo Ron Ron” with the Blossoms before Spector decided to set it aside. She adds, “He stripped my voice off ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’ at the eleventh hour, and had La La Brooks, the new lead singer of the Crystals, sing over the finished track. Phil later said I sounded too old on the song; yeah, right, call me Moms Mabley. I can swear, though, that I still hear my voice on that lead vocal. I don’t think Phil erased all of it, but kept just enough to give La La an idea of what he wanted, and then bolstered her voice in the final mix. (La La was a great singer and didn’t need my help, but this was the loudest of Phil’s records, and I would bet he left my voice on to keep the meters in red.)”
“I know it used to irritate Dee Dee when fans would compliment her on how great those records were when she never got to sing on them.”
- Darlene Love
“La La Brooks got to sing lead on the re-recording of ‘Da Doo Ron Ron,’ but the rest of the vocals were the Blossoms,” Love adds. “Another Crystal, Dee Dee Kenniebrew, got really upset, I remember, but I don’t think any of the other girls made much of a fuss. I know it used to irritate Dee Dee when fans would compliment her on how great those records were when she never got to sing on them.”
“Da Doo Ron Ron” went to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1963. Spector had almost predicted it months earlier when he remarked to Sonny Bono during the playback. “That’s gold,” he remarked. “That’s solid gold coming out of that speaker.” Cher was one of the backing vocalists on the recording, according to Brooks.
LISTEN TO “DA DOO RON RON” BY THE CRYSTALS
When the songs gained popularity, listeners began to scrutinize the vocals more closely. Even the British music press, in June 1963, started to take note of the disparities between the Crystals and the Blossoms. The Record Mirror wrote “Rumour has it that the Crystals, Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, and Darlene Love are in fact one group…NRM has been flooded with letters from fans asking: (a) Are the rumours concerning the group true? (b) Telling us the truth; and (c) Asking us to print the truth.” The article contends that it is adhering to plan “(c)” but after trying to outline “the truth” in a head-spinning uncredited essay, concludes with “We’re getting cheesed off with the whole darned complicated set up…”
“Rumour has it that the Crystals, Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, and Darlene Love are in fact one group… We’re getting cheesed off with the whole darned complicated set up…”
- The Record Mirror, June 1963
Darlene Love’s absence from the recording of “Da Doo Ron Ron” hasn’t deterred her from including the song in her recent performances. Consequently, audiences often naturally assume that she was the one behind “Da Doo Ron Ron.” Brooks, who is still also an active performer, is determined to correct the record and has directly urged Love to openly acknowledge the truth in the past. Call it a quiet feud, but it was exacerbated by Spector’s poor decisions that created an uncomfortable rift between them.
“I used to tell them all the time, ‘I don’t know why y’all mad at me,’” Love said. “’It’s Phil Spector you should be mad at.’ I had nothing to do with it. It was a gig for me that I got paid very well for. And that was it.”
The dedicated efforts and valuable contributions of both the Blossoms and the Crystals had been marred by Spector’s deteriorating mental state (culminating in his 2009 conviction for second-degree murder before his death in 2021). Even his own remarkable contributions to music history are now viewed through a critical lens, recognized as part genius and part malevolence. It can be argued that Spector’s erratic behavior and his talents gave birth to the industry-altering phenomenon known as The Wall of Sound. Nevertheless, the ongoing tension between Love and Brooks is a reflection of the darker aspect of the music industry, driven by the influence of an unstable individual over the lives and careers of vulnerable artists. More than half a century later, the shadow of this curse endures.