Today’s classic song of the day is that Wall of Sound classic, “Then He Kissed Me” by the Crystals. Released on Philles Records in July of 1963, this one peaked at #6 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100.
“Then He Kissed Me” was written by the Brill Building songwriting team of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, who were also behind a ton of other Wall of Sound tunes. Producer Phil Spector also got songwriting credit, because that’s the way things worked back then. Spector was always a third wheel in the songwriting credits so he could pick up a third of the songwriting royalties. It’s not unlike major artists today being listed as part of the songwriting team, even if their only contribution was to walk into the studio and sing the words the real songwriters put in front of them.
In the case of “Then He Kissed Me,” Phil Spector enlisted the talents of his girl group, the Crystals. The backing musicians were all prominent members of the Wrecking Crew, including Hal Blaine on those thundering drums. Jack Nitzsche did the Wall of Sound arrangement and Larry Levine engineered.
The Crystals, at this point in time, consisted of Dolores “La La” Brooks on lead vocals with vocal support by Patricia Wright, Dolores Kenniebrew, and Barbara Allison—although Brooks was the only member of the group to sing on the record. (She was only 15 years old at the time, believe it or not.) The Crystals first got together in 1961 and signed to Spector’s Philles label shortly after. They had a string of major hits during the early ’60s, including “There’s No Other (Like My Baby)” in 1961; “Uptown” “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss),” “He’s a Rebel,” and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love” in 1962; and “Da Doo Ron Ron” and “Then He Kissed Me” in 1963. “Then He Kissed Me” was their last big hit and the girls left Philles Records (for United Artists Records) in 1964. They kept going for a few more years but without any subsequent hits, finally breaking up in 1967.
