Crystal Tamar

Crystal Tamar
Birth name Crystal Tamar Dawson
Born Texas City, Texas, Texas, U.S.
Genres R&B, pop, soul
Occupation(s) Singer, dancer, voice-over artist
Years active 2009–present
Labels Atlantic
Associated acts Sophia Fresh, T-Pain
Website crystaltamar.com

Crystal Tamar Cohen, professionally known as Crystal Tamar, is an American singer, dancer, and voice-over artist best known for being part of the girl group Sophia Fresh.

Early life

Crystal Tamar was born on January 2, 1982 in Texas City, Texas to parents Christene Andrews and Mark Dawson, as the youngest of three sisters. She began performing at the young age of 7 as a part of the group En Touch (named after their favorite group, En Vogue) with her 2 older sisters and cousin.[1] With the group managed by her father, they performed and won many talent shows across Texas including a Sammy Davis Jr. Award, won by Destiny's Child a year before.

In high school, Crystal formed another girl group, Beget, with 3 other classmates. They would continue to sing and perform until their junior year of college at Prairie View A&M University,[1] where contractual issues caused Crystal to leave the group.

Professional Cheerleading: 2005 - 2008

After cheering for the La Marque High School Cougars, and dancing on Prairie View Marching Storm Black Foxes, Crystal auditioned for the 2005 Houston Texans Cheerleaders squad.

For the first pre-season game of 2007, Crystal Tamar sang the National Anthem[2] for the annual Governor's Cup between the Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys in front of a sold-out crowd of 70,000+ attendees, the largest crowd for a pre-season game at NRG Stadium.

Her final year as captain saw her voted as the teams representative for 2008 Pro-Bowl in Hawaii.[3]

In 2015, she was asked to return to choreograph the Texans vs Chiefs Halftime show featuring Bell Biv Devoe.

Music career

2009–11: Sophia Fresh

Crystal Tamar's first break came in 2009, when she was reunited with her childhood friend from previous group, Beget, to replace an exiting member in the girl group Sophia Fresh. Sophia Fresh was signed to Atlantic Records/Co-Stars under the executive production of T-Pain. Sophia Fresh was also part of the Nappy Boy Entertainment family, along with Travie McCoy, Shawnna, One Chance, Taz Dizm, Young Cash and Jay Lyriq.

Upon joining Sophia Fresh, the group quickly released their first single together, "Superbad" featuring T-Pain and Cee-Lo Green. The group would go on to release "What It Is" featuring Kanye West. Singer Rihanna, speaking of the single said "It's a really new song, and I fell in love with it. I almost wish the song was mine. It's really, really incredible. There's no genre for it. The melody is very pop, but the beat is really gutter. It's a heavy hip-hop beat."[4]

In an interview, singer Kandi Buress of Xscape described Sophia Fresh as the new TLC, saying "You know what! I really like T-Pain‘s girl group, Sophia Fresh. I think they’re very cool. I worked with Sophia Fresh and I worked with Rich Girl. Rich Girl is very cool, they’re dope. But there is something about Sophia Fresh, I think they have a lot of potential, if the label gets behind them right. Like I’ve heard a lot more of their songs and it’s just different. I mean they’re like a new TLC or whatever, but there is something about them I’m really feeling."[5]

Sophia Fresh toured with the T-Pain and Family Playlist Tour in 2008, Graduation tour in 2009, and went on to independently tour in the Pastry Tour in 2009, as well as the Seventeen Magazine Tour in 2009 performing across the United States and Canada.

In their first year together, Crystal Tamar and Sophia Fresh released their first mixtape entitled "So Phreakin' Fresh" which featured Kanye West, T-Pain, Akon and Jay Lyriq.

In 2010, the group contributed 5 songs to the "T-Pain Presents: Nappy Boy All Stars, Vol. 1" mixtape as well as being featured on the Step Up 3D soundtrack with their single "This Instant" featuring T-Pain.

The group eventually split in 2011 upon asking for a release from Atlantic Records to pursue personal endeavors, with Crystal moving back to Houston.

2011–15: Features

After Crystal Tamar split with Sophia Fresh, she collaborated with 9th Wonder by featuring on various Jamla Records albums. In 2011, Crystal appeared on rapper GQ's first EP with the song "King of the Pack" and on Actual Proof's 2012 album "Black Boy Radio" with the song "So Into You."

Crystal Tamar was featured on the 2014 Well Wishes album by Christian hip hop artist Bizzle song, "Did for Me", along side Canton Jones. All proceeds for the album were used to build a water well in the South African town of Mozambique.[6] She again collaborated with Bizzle in 2015 on his third studio album Surrender with the song "Feel Good."

Voice-Over Career

Crystal Tamar's voice-over career started in 2010 when she voiced the character Obamaniqua in the Adult Swim TV movie Freaknik: The Musical.[7]

In 2017, Crystal voiced the character Dafina for the animated feature film "The Sky Princess."[8]

References

  1. 1 2 "Cheerleader of the Week: Crystal". Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  2. ↑ "Crystal sings the national anthem". Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  3. ↑ "Crystal to represent Texans in Hawaii". Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  4. ↑ "Cameo Critic: Rihanna". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  5. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE NEW KANDI INTERVIEW | 'BLACK MUSIC MONTH 09'". UrbanBridgez.com | Urban E-Zine. 2009-06-24. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  6. ↑ "Rapper Bizzle Donates $45,000 To Build Water Towers in Mozambique". Jesus Musik. 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  7. ↑ Prynoski, Chris (2010-03-07), Freaknik: The Musical, T-Pain, Joey Galaxy, Rick Ross, retrieved 2017-11-02
  8. ↑ Harper, Dara (2017), The Sky Princess, Vivica A. Fox, Robert Gossett, Angell Conwell, retrieved 2017-11-02
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