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Biography
primary sources|date=May 2011Infobox musical artist|image= | | name = Crystal Lewis| image_size = 200| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Crystal Lynn Lewis| alias = Crystal Lewis Ray| birth_date = birth date and age|1969|9|11| birth_place = Corona, California , United States| origin =| instrument = Vocals | genre = Contemporary Christian music|Contemporary Christian / Gospel music|Gospel | occupation = Singer, songwriter, author| years_active = 1986–present| label = Frontline Records|Frontline , Metro 1 Music, Myrrh Records|Myrrh , Word Records|Word , Interscope Records|Interscope , GospoCentric Records|GospoCentric | associated_acts = Wild Blue Yonder, The Screamin' Rays| website = URL| http://www.crystallewis.com/Crystal Lewis (born September 11, 1969) is an American contemporary Christian music|contemporary Christian / Gospel vocalist, songwriter and author.
Biography
Early years
Lewis (b. Crystal Lynn Lewis in Corona, California ) grew up singing in her father's church. In 1984, at the age of 15, Lewis auditioned for a children's musical called Hi-Tops (film)|Hi Tops , written and produced by Debby Kerner & Ernie Rettino|Ernie and Debbie Rettino , creators of Psalty , the Singing Song Book. Lewis passed the audition and was able to go into the studio and participate in the Soundtrack recording with the rest of the cast members. While working with the musical, Lewis met a member of the rockabilly band, The Lifters. After becoming friends with the members of that band, Lewis was asked to join. Soon after, the band changed its name to Wild Blue Yonder. Lewis also met her husband, Brian Ray, through her association with the band.
Wild Blue Yonder was together for two years and recorded a single full length album Wild Blue Yonder (album)|Wild Blue Yonder , produced by DanielAmos frontman Terry Scott Taylor , for Frontline Records (1980s)|Frontline Records in 1986. She would also sing on D.A.'s album Fearful Symmetry (album)|Fearful Symmetry in 1986, and Taylor's solo album A Briefing for the Ascent in 1987. After Wild Blue Yonder disbanded, Frontline offered Lewis a solo recording contract at the age of 17. Beyond The Charade (Crystal Lewis album)|Beyond The Charade , her first solo project, was released in 1987.
Metro 1 and television appearances: 1992–1995
Lewis went on to record three more albums for Frontline, Joy (Crystal Lewis album)|Joy in 1988, Let Love In (Crystal Lewis album)|Let Love In in 1990, and her first greatest hits project Simply the Best (Crystal Lewis album)|Simply The Best in 1991, before starting her own record label, Metro 1 Music in 1992 with a distribution deal through Diamante Music Group .
In 1992, Lewis joined the original cast of the Nickelodeon (TV channel)|Nickelodeon sketch comedy series, Roundhouse (TV series)|Roundhouse (for which she helped originate the theme song). After season one, she left the show to pursue her music career.cite web|url= http://easychair-exp.com/crystalmain.htm|title=Crystal Lewis|date=October 15, 2009|accessdate=22 February 2010|location=easychair-exp.comDead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot
Her next solo project, Remember , was recorded and released on Metro 1 label in 1992, followed by The Bride in 1993, and Hymns: My Life in 1995. The Bride was listed at No. 97 in the 2001 book, CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music . Her second Greatest Hits (Crystal Lewis album)|greatest hits collection released that year landed Lewis in the No. 1 spot on the Pop/Dance charts with her rendition of "Shine Jesus Shine."
Rise to fame and commercial success: 1996–2000
Beauty For Ashes was released in 1996, the first album from Metro 1 Music to be distributed through a new arrangement with Myrrh Records . Ashes was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America , and the song "People Get Ready...Jesus Is Comin' " was the No. 1 song of the year (1996) in Christian Radio. The album also won an ASCAP award for "Beauty For Ashes" as the most played song (1997). The album contained four No. 1 radio singles: "People get ready...Jesus is Comin' ", "Beauty of the Cross", "God's been good to me", and "Beauty for Ashes." That same year, Lewis and Yolanda Adams recorded "This Too Shall Pass" as a duet for the compilation album Sisters: The Story Goes On .
Gold (Crystal Lewis album)|Gold was released in 1998 and gave Lewis two No. 1 hitsCitation needed|date=June 2008, "Lord, I Believe in You" and "Not the Same". Gold & Beauty for Ashes have collectively sold nearly 1,000,000 copies to date.cite web | last = | first = | title = Crystal Lewis - ChristianMusic.com | url= http://christianmusic.com/crystal_lewis/crystal_lewis.htm | publisher = christianmusic.com | accessdate = 2008-10-08 Crystal wrote a companion devotional to go along with the Gold album entitled Gold: A Devotional . The devotional revolves around Lewis' personal experiences and thoughts in relation to the songs found on Gold . Gold was later re-issued that same year with a new recording of "Lean on Me" (lead vocals by Crystal Lewis), which originally appeared on Kirk Franklin|Kirk Franklin's album The Nu Nation Project that included "Lean on Me" featuring Mary J. Blige , R. Kelly , Bono , Crystal Lewis and The Family. That same year, Crystal won Dove Awards for "Female Vocalist of the Year" and "Spanish Language Album of the Year" for La Belleza de la Cruz. Lewis also joined Franklin along with Gerald Levert , Mary J. Blige , and Bono on stage at the 1999 Grammy Awards for a performance of "Lean on Me."
Lewis returned to her Rockabilly roots briefly in 1999 by joining long time friends/musicians Gene Eugene and Chris Brigandi (among others) to release ''The Attack of the Screamin' Rays . The live project Live @ The Woodlands'', recorded live in Houston, Texas on November 6, 1998, was also released that year. In 1999 she was also featured in a song on The O.C. Supertones ' album, Chase the Sun (The O.C. Supertones album)|Chase the Sun . Crystal picked up two more Dove awards in 1999 for "Special Event Album" for her contribution to the project Exodus , and "Spanish Language Album" for Oro. In 2000, Lewis released Fearless (Crystal Lewis album)|Fearless , which was nominated for "Best Christian Pop Album of the Year" at the 2000 Grammy Awards Citation needed|date=June 2008. The song "Only Fools" from that album was voted song of the year by ASCAP . Her first Christmas album, Holiday& #33; A Collection of Christmas Classics (Crystal Lewis album)|Holiday& #33; A Collection of Christmas Classics , which was recorded with the Peter Erskine Trio, went on to be voted the 5th Best Christmas album of all-time by CCM Magazine Citation needed|date=June 2008 Also that year, Lewis was cast as Mary in the Christmas musical "Child of the Promise". She also recorded several songs for the soundtrack portion of the musical, including the duet "I Will Not Be Silent" with Donna Summer .
Other projects: 2001–present
Crystal's third compilation project More (Crystal Lewis album)|More was released in 2001. She also contributed to the Kingdom Come (2001 film)|Kingdom Come movie soundtrack with the Kirk Franklin-penned song "Someday" that same year.cite web|url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246002/soundtrack|title=Soundtrack for Kingdom Come |accessdate = 2011-12-20
A second live project, More Live , recorded at the Sun Theater in her hometown of Anaheim, California on November 17, 2001, was released in 2002—along with another collection of hymns and gospel standards, Holy, Holy, Holy. cite web | last = | first = | title = CrystalLewis.com: Autobiography | url= http://www.crystallewis.com/2008/sub_facts.html | publisher = metro one inc. | accessdate = 2008-07-06 Also in 2002, Lewis was invited to perform the National Anthem on Opening Day for the New York Mets at Shea Stadium . cite web|url= http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/featurearchive/feature2002/0404/feature_story.html|title=Mets Opening Day|accessdate = 2011-12-20 Other high-profile performances that year included a Washington Luncheon where she performed "America the Beautiful" and "When God's People Pray". She also performed in an event at Carnegie Hall called "A Night of Encouragement" to benefit victims and rescue workers from 9/11.cite web|url= http://www.tollbooth.org/2002/features/clewis.html|title=Crystal Lewis In Her Own Words|accessdate = 2011-12-20cite web|url= http://www.easychair-exp.com/cast_pages/crystal_lewis_main.html|title=Crystal Lewis|accessdate = 2011-12-20 Lewis also recorded the song "The Blood Song" with Donnie McClurkin & Jaci Velasquez for Kirk Franklin's The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin project.
See was released in 2005, and, a children's project, Joyful Noise (Songs For Kids!) was released in 2006. That same year, Crystal recorded the Andrae Crouch -penned "We Give You Glory" for Crouch's Mighty Wind project. The Christmas EP Peace on Earth (EP)|Peace on Earth was released exclusively through iTunes in 2009. Lewis' second Christmas project Home for the Holidays was released the following year. Plain and Simple was released on June 7, 2011.
Influence
Several artists have cited Lewis as a musical influence, including Stacie Orrico ,cite web|url= http://www.askmen.com/celebs/women/singer_150/181_stacie_orrico.html|title=Stacie Orrico|accessdate = 2011-12-20 Jordin Sparks ,cite web|url= http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/artistdetail.php? artist_id=864|title=Jordin Sparks Artist Profile|accessdate = 2011-12-20 pop singer Hoku ,cite web|url= http://www.essortment.com/pop-music-biography-introducing-hoku-61993.html|title=Hoku Biography|accessdate = 2011-12-20 R& B artist Nikki Leonti (of Nikki & Rich ),cite web|url= http://www.todayschristianmusic.com/artists/nikki-leonti/features/talent-pool-nikki-leonti/|title=Lincoln Brewster.|accessdate = 2011-12-20 and Lincoln Brewster.cite web|url=https://secure.fccchurch.com/impact/lincoln.html|title=Nikki Leonti|accessdate = 2011-12-20
Lewis' songs have been covered by the likes of Avalon ,cite web|url= http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/lyricsdetail.php? lyrics_id=35725|title=Avalon People Get Ready|accessdate = 2011-12-20 Mexican pop star Yuri (Mexican singer)|Yuri ,cite web|url= http://www.allmusic.com/album/huellas-r326091|title=Yuri Huellas|accessdate = 2011-12-20 Melinda Watts,cite web|url= http://nuthinbutgospel.com/spotlight_melindawatts09.htm|title=Melinda Watts|accessdate = 2011-12-20 and Christian rock group Spoken (band)|Spoken .cite web|url= http://music.yahoo.com/spoken/albums/what-remains--44943561|title=Spoken What Remains|accessdate = 2011-12-20
Personal life
Lewis lives in northwestern Montana with husband Brian, with whom she has two children. Her daughter, Izzi Ray, is also a singer/songwriter and is currently in the studio recording her debut album. Her son, Solomon Ray, is also pursuing a career in music having recently wrapped production on his mother's new release Plain and Simple .
Discography
main|Crystal Lewis discography
1987: Beyond the Charade (Crystal Lewis album)|Beyond the Charade
1988: Joy (Crystal Lewis album)|Joy
1990: Let Love In (Crystal Lewis album)|Let Love In
Crystal Lewis Persondata | NAME =Lewis, Crystal | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =1969-09-11 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Corona, California , United States | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Crystal Category:American Christians Category:American female singers Category:American gospel singers Category:American performers of Christian music Category:Christian religion-related songwriters Category:People from Anaheim, California Category:People from Corona, California Category:1969 births Category:Living people
