Dolores “La La” Brooks was fifteen years old when she sang lead on “Da Doo Ron Ron” and “Then He Kissed Me” — two singles that defined Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound and shaped how generations of musicians think about pop production. The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen and The Ramones are among those who drew inspiration from the sound The Crystals helped create during the early 1960s.
Brooks joined the group at thirteen and quickly became one of the most recognisable voices of the American girl group era. After her years with The Crystals, she sang on early demo recordings for the musical Hair and later appeared in its original Broadway cast. During the 1970s she recorded sporadically with her husband, drummer and bandleader Idris Muhammad.
Brooks spent much of the following decades away from the spotlight. But since her return in the 2000s she has continued to perform and reinterpret the Crystals catalogue alongside releasing music under her own name. She arrives with a band led by Jeremy Chatzky, longtime musical director and bassist in Ronnie Spector’s band, revisiting the music that helped define the sound of 1960s American pop.
