A (Not So) Brief History of Crystal

Crystal was formed in early 1983, bringing together the talents of a diverse set of musicians. Singer/Bassist Andy Nossal and keyboardist Bill Cornish both came from backgrounds that included jazz and classical music while Grady McGrew and Rick Williams had extensive experience in the rock genre. Combining their musicianship with a large-scale sound and light show, they spent the next twelve years performing steadily in their hometown of San Diego, California as well as touring extensively through California, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, Alaska and Japan. During this time, Crystal opened concerts for national acts such as Kansas, Steelheart, Firehouse, Steppenwolf, Joan Jett, The Romantics, Pat Travers, Andy Taylor (formerly of Duran Duran), Foghat, Gary Ridgerath (REO Speedwagon), Head East, The Bus Boys and others.

In 1985, Crystal released its first album entitled The One For You. It received favorable reviews in the local press. Los Angeles Times critic Thomas K Arnold put it this way: "Given their druthers, these guys would rather rock and they do so with passion and a surprising amount of instrumental finesse and versatility."

In 1986, they were voted "Best Rock and Roll Band" at the annual North County Entertainer Awards as voted by San Diego club patrons.

In 1989, Crystal had the opportunity to work with John and Dino Elephante (of Kansas fame) who produced their self-titled second release. Recording at the Elephante owned Pakaderm Studios in Los Alamitos, California was an extreme honor for the band whose musicianship had been influenced by progressive bands such as Kansas. Singer John Elephante enjoyed the material enough that he volunteered to do the backup vocals himself.

Shortly after being chosen as Best Club Band in the San Diego Music Awards, Crystal released Crystal 3. Once again, this mini-album featured the production magic of the Elephante Brothers. Soon after its release, Crystal made the first of three tours of Japan.

Recently, sparked by interest in Europe and on the Internet, Crystal partnered with the Song Haus Music Rewind & AOR Heaven labels. Their latest CD, Collection, was released in July, 2000. It recieved very strong reviews from the European press and was one of the top ten selling CDs for German distributor AOR Heaven for the year 2000.

While Crystal itself is currently not performing live, the band members are still very active in the music scene. Andy Nossal can be seen performing with FX5. Grady McGrew can be seen performing with the San Diego based original rock act The Thomas Connor Band. Bill Cornish can be seen playing with the Chicago-based original rock project Giant Shadows and his own jazz / new age / world solo project. Rick Williams is currently performing with San Diego group Serious Guise