How old is la la brooks of the crystals

S inging with her friends on the stoop of a Brooklyn apartment block in the s, seven-year-old Dolores "LaLa" Brooks couldn't have imagined how her teenage years would unfold. By 13 she was singing in an after-school programme, where she was discovered and asked to be part of a new girl group, the Crystals. When LaLa joined the band, producer Phil Spector — currently serving a year sentence for murder — used her voice to his full advantage.

And what a voice: it was like a wave breaking over the wall of sound he was creating with the band. LaLa, now 64, looks back fondly at the early years of recording with Spector in New York. But I was a teenager, and easily impressed. I should have seen that as a warning: a man who doesn't respect his mother doesn't respect women. Things turned sour when Spector relocated to Los Angeles. Take Two December 13, Listen to story Download this story 0MB.

AirTalk With Larry Mantle Weekdays 10 am - 12 pm Lively and in-depth discussions of city news, politics, science, entertainment, the arts, and more. Latest Jul. We didn't have a Motown sound , we weren't soulful like that. We'd arrive at venues where we'd have to play and so many kids would run up to the car and say, 'Oh! They're not white, they're black! We'd go onstage and they'd go crazy in the audience, in a nice way, and then you'd go offstage and you'd have to go to the colored toilet and not the white.

That was kind of a hurtful thing. When you got offstage they would show you where your place was. It was hard, being I couldn't understand. My mother was American Indian and my dad was black, and I'd never witnessed racism — I was never taught that.

We always felt very secure that we were just as good as anyone else. So to witness it when I was a teenager, your feelings are more hurt than angry. It just made me stronger, not hateful at all, but just strong. Next page: After the Crystals And the Supremes were with us before they had any hits.

We'd go on after them because we were more of the stars because we had hits out, but then on that same five-month tour Dick Clark had to switch us because the Supremes' record kept going up the charts. I think they had three number ones by the end of the tour. I was in the original cast of Hair. Diane Keaton played Sheila, and she and I shared a dressing room for about two years.

She was the sweetest, most beautiful person you'd ever want to meet. Then I lived in England with my husband [Leo Morris], he was a drummer; we later moved to Vienna and I had a radio show where I played music from the '40s to '60s. I have four kids, my oldest son is 46, and I have six grandkids. I'm peaceful and I'm happy.