Crystal Lewis
Crystal Lynn Lewis (born September 11, 1969) is an American contemporary Christian and jazz singer and songwriter. She is a Dove Award winner and Grammy nominee. Lewis has had many hits charting on the CCM charts like "People Get Ready...Jesus is Comin'," "God's Been Good to Me," "I Now Live" and "Lord, I Believe in You." Lewis has also recorded albums in Spanish.
Lewis was born in Corona, California, where she grew up singing in her father's church. In 1984, at the age of 15, Lewis auditioned for a children's musical film called Hi-Tops. It was written and produced by Ernie and Debby Rettino, creators of Psalty, the Singing Song Book. She passed the audition, and was able to go into the studio to participate on the soundtrack recording, with the rest of the cast members. While working on the musical, Lewis met a member of the rockabilly band The Lifters. After becoming friends with the band members, Lewis was asked to join. Soon after, the band changed its name to Wild Blue Yonder. Wild Blue Yonder was together for two years, and recorded a single full-length album, Wild Blue Yonder. It was produced by Daniel Amos front man Terry Scott Taylor, for Frontline Records in 1986. Lewis also sang on D.A.'s 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. Her first solo project, Beyond the Charade, was released in 1987. It featured the song "Breakdown," written by musician Jon Gibson. In 1988, Lewis sang a duet with Gibson called "Lost Inside of You," from his successful Change of Heart album (also released via Frontline Records). Lewis released two more Frontline albums, Joy and Let Love In. In 1992, Lewis formed her own record label, Metro One, with her then-husband Brian Ray and released Remember. At the same time, Lewis worked on the teen sketch comedy show Roundhouse, which aired on Nickelodeon and was produced and developed by Benny Hester.
The Bride was released a year later in 1993 featuring her rocking Christian hit "You'll Be Back For Me." Lewis released Hymns: My Life in 1995 with her interpretation of well-known church hymns. In 1996, Lewis released Beauty for Ashes, her first joint album with Myrrh/Word Records while still with Metro One. The album produced multiple hits like "People Get Ready...Jesus is Comin'," "God's Been Good to Me," the title song with Gospel singer Ron Kenoly and "The Beauty of the Cross." She won her first Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year and also won for the inaugural Dove category for Spanish Language Album of the Year for La Belleza De La Cruz (Spanish version of Beauty for Ashes). Her next album Gold was released in 1998, followed by her Spanish version titled Oro, for which she won her second Dove Award for Spanish Language Album of the Year in 1999. Lewis appeared as a featured vocalist, along with U2 lead singer Bono, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige and The Family on Kirk Franklin's "Lean On Me" on Franklin's album The Nu Nation Project. Lewis later recorded a solo version featuring Franklin on her Gold album as a bonus track.
Lewis continued releasing albums into the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, starting with Fearless featuring a re-recorded version of "Only Fools." She released her first Christmas album Holiday! A Collection of Christmas Classics in the fall of 2000. Lewis released her second hymns album Holy, Holy, Holy in 2002 and her Spanish counterpart Santo, Santo, Santo in 2003. In 2019, Lewis started recording her first jazz album Rhapsody. In 2020, she released a country-Americana EP Just Because. Her next release, 2022's Together We Can, is a collaboration album featuring guest duets by Ty Herndon, Tori Kelly, Nikki Leonti and others.
Lewis was married to musician and songwriter Brian Ray for 28 years from 1989 until 2017. Their two grown children, Izzi and Solomon Ray, are also musicians. Both have sang on their mother's album Together We Can on the song "I Won't Forget You."
More information on Crystal Lewis at Wikipedia:
Discography
Beyond the Charade (1987)
Joy (1989)
Let Love In (1990)
Simply the Best (1991) (compilation album)
Remember/Recuerda (1992)
The Bride/La Esposa (1993)
The Remix Collection (1994) (remix album)
Hymns: My Life/Hymnos de Mi Vida (1995)
Greatest Hits (1995) (compilation album)
Beauty for Ashes/La Belleza De La Cruz (1996)
Gold/Oro (1998)
Live @ the Woodlands (1999)
La Coleccion (2000) (Spanish compilation album)
Fearless (2000)
Holiday! A Collection of Christmas Classics (2000)
More (2001) (compilation album)
More Live (2002) (live album)
Holy, Holy Holy (2002)/Santo, Santo, Santo (2003)
See (2005)
Joyful Noise - Songs for Kids (2006) (Children's music album)
Home for the Holidays (2010)
Plain and Simple (2011)
25 (2014) (compilation album)
Crystal Lewis (2015)
Suéltalo (2017)
Rhapsody (2019)
Just Because (EP) (2020)
Together We Can (2022) (collaboration album with special guests)
A Seasonal Thing (2024)
Claire Clementine Finds Her Voice (2025) (Children's music EP)
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