Crystal Waters

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Crystal Waters
Background information
Birth name	Crystal Waters
Born	October 10, 1964 (age 42)
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genre(s)	Pop-Dance Disco House Urban Club/Dance
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	vocals
Years active	1991-present

Crystal Waters (born October 10, 1964 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a dance music singer and songwriter who enjoyed two major pop–dance hits in the early/mid '90s: "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)" (1991) and "100% Pure Love" (1994). She is the niece of legendary singer/actress Ethel Waters.

Contents 1 Life and work 2 Discography 3 Awards & nominations 3.1 Albums 3.2 Singles 3.3 Notes 4 See also

[edit] Life and work

Waters lived in New Jersey, but later moved to Washington, D.C., to study computer science at Howard University. After graduation, she worked as a computer technician at the Washington, D.C., Parole Board. She took her demo tape of "Gypsy Woman" to a Music Business Forum, and the only people to call her about it were a trio of club disc jockeys who formed the Basement Boys.

"Gypsy Woman" became a worldwide hit, memorable for it's la da dee la dee da refrain and often sampled keyboard riff. The track reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, found even more success in Europe, and reaching #2 on The UK Singles Chart. The track was also parodied in the memorable sketch "My Songs Are Mindless" (Performed by Kim Wayans) on the television series In Living Color in 1991. Wayans skewered the songs simple rhythm and melody by singing "There goes Fred Flinstone. I got a song there, got another song there: Yabba Dabba Doo Yabba Dabba Da, Yabba Dabba Doo Yabba Dabba Da...". The clip from the comedy show would sometimes show up mixed into Water's own composition at Gay clubs with video screens. Despite all the humorous jabs (and some serious derision as well), the song seems destined to be one of the imnmortal House Music hits. Scarcely a year after its release, a new version turned up on the "Red Hot + Dance" AIDS fundraiser disc (1992, distributed by Sony Music), getting its remixer (Joey Negro) his first real taste of American exposure.

Despite some additional contributions by remixer Steve "Silk" Hurley, Waters' next releases were promoted only in the dance music markets, but she made an unexpected comeback in 1994 when "100% Pure Love" hit #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the longest charting singles on the Hot 100 at 45 weeks ("Gypsy Woman" remained on the chart for 16 weeks).

Her 1997 self-titled album included another Top 40 US hit, "Say...If You Feel Alright," but mainstream success in the US has since eluded her. However, Waters remains successful on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with recent hits like "Come On Down" and "My Time." (Both of which went #1 US dance, the latter making top 40 in the UK). "Gypsy Woman's" keyboard-chord was recently sampled on rapper T.I.'s 2006 mega-hit "Why You Wanna". Waters performed at various gay pride events across the US in 2006.

In 2007 her track "Destination Calabria" hit the Top 10 on the UK Singles Chart.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Awards & nominations

Year	Award
1991	American Music Award nomination for Favorite Artist - Dance
1991	American Music Award nomination for Favorite Single - Dance ("Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)")
1991	American Music Award nomination for Favorite New Artist - Dance
1994	Billboard Music Award Win for Top Hot Dance Music Club Play Single for "100% Pure Love"
1994	Billboard Music Award nomination for Top Hot Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales Artist
1994	Billboard Music Award nomination for Top Hot Dance Music Maxi-Single Sales for "100% Pure Love"
1994	Billboard Music Award nomination for Top Hot Dance Music Club Play Artist
1995	MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Dance Video ("100% Pure Love")

[edit] Albums

• 1991 Surprise
• 1994 Storyteller
• 1997 Crystal Waters
• 1998 The Best Of
• 2001 Gypsy Woman - The Collection
• 2001 Best Of - The Millennium Collection

[edit] Singles

Year	Song	US	US Dance	UK	Album
1991	"Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)"	8	1	2	Surprise
1991	"Makin' Happy"	-	1	18	Surprise
1992	"Megamix"	-	-	39	-
1992	"Surprise"	-	35	-	Surprise
1992	"Gypsy Woman (Basement Boys "Strip to the Bone" Remix)"/"Peace"	-	-	35	Surprise
1994	"100% Pure Love"	11	1	15	Storyteller
1994	"What I Need" (double a-side with "Ghetto Day" in the UK)	82	1	40	Storyteller
1995	"Freedom"	18	-	-	Panther soundtrack
1995	"Relax"	-	1	37	Storyteller
1996	"In De Ghetto" (Bad Yard Club featuring Crystal Waters)	-	20	35	-
1997	"Say... If You Feel Alright"	40	6	45	Crystal Waters
1997	"Just A Freak" (featuring Dennis Rodman)	-	13	-	Crystal Waters
2001	"Come on Down"	-	1	-	-
2003	"My Time" (Dutch featuring Crystal Waters)	-	1	22	-
2004	"Destination Unknown" (Gaudino featuring Crystal Waters)	-	8	-	-
2007	"Destination Calabria" (Alex Gaudino featuring Crystal Waters)	-	-	4	-

[edit] Notes

• "I Got My Education" by Uncanny Alliance is a response track to "Gypsy Woman".
• "Makin' Happy" climbed to #55 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart.
• "Come On Down" has its backing track and chorus built around a sample of the theme music to the game show The Price Is Right.
• "Gypsy Woman" was sampled on American rapper T.I.'s 2006 single "Why You Wanna," off his very successful album King and also on Styles P's song "Favourite Drug" on his time is money album.
• Though its US Release was in mid-1994, "What I Need" did not chart there until early 1995.

[edit] See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart