Billy Crystal

Biography

Over the last two decades, Billy Crystal has enjoyed many a screen triumph. He broke through as a TV soap-star. On film, he's been involved in several mainstream super-hits. And, as seven-time host of the Oscars, he's regularly performed to an audience of over a billion, causing many to consider him - slick, confident, and wholly unflustered - to be the ultimate professional, perhaps even the face of corporate entertainment. But there is another side to Billy Crystal. From the very beginning of his career, he's really been more of an "alternative" stand-up, often at the centre of comedic controversy. He's also, pretty much from birth, been right on the cutting-edge of political and social revolution. Surprised? You don't know Billy.

He was born on the 14th of March, 1947, on Long Island, New York. His mother, Helen, was a home-maker, and his father, Jack, a concert promoter. There were two brothers - Joel (later a high school teacher) and Richard (a TV producer). Some of Billy's lifelong interests were formed early. In 1956, he attended his first Yankees game and fell in love with baseball but, even before then, other seeds were sown.

Jack, you see, was not simply a concert promoter. He was a JAZZ promoter. Perhaps more importantly, he also ran the famous Commodore Music Shop on 42nd Street and, along with Milt Gabler, had formed the pioneering Commodore jazz label. Gabler had gone on to work for Decca, promoting "race" and "hillbilly" music (ie. R&B and Country) and would later sign Bill Haley, even producing the classic Rock Around The Clock. But the Commodore label was the first big step. Jazz was extremely popular, but still underground. Bigotry was still the industry norm and great artists like Billie Holiday and Jelly Roll Morton had no way of reaching a wider audience. Till Gabler, Crystal and Commodore, that is. They promoted the gigs, and produced the records that would change our musical tastes (and some of our political notions) forever. The greatest ever musical assault on racism, Holiday's notorious, groundbreaking Strange Fruit, was a Commodore recording.