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When house music exploded into the mainstream in the late ’80s, many artists drew from the disco era that had recently fizzled. House music was electronic dance music defined by a heavy bassline, drums and a 4/4 beat. This genre of dance music helped pave the way for the current EDM boom.

Much like disco, certain songs and artists stood out from the pack. Songs like Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and Alicia Bridges’ “I Love the Nightlife” helped define the disco era.

Similarly, tracks like “Gypsy Woman” and “100% Pure Love” are standout songs from the house music of the’80s and ’90s. The common bond these two hits share is that they were written and performed by the legendary Crystal Waters.

Waters first entered the music scene during the house boom in 1987.

“I was singing more like Sade at the time. I wanted to be Sade,” says Waters. “I met the Basement Boys at a conference. They loved my stuff. They said, ‘While we wait to shop you, will you write some stuff for another artist?’”

Waters penned the iconic “Gypsy Woman” while working with Basement Boys. However, the track was initially intended for Ultra Naté.

“Once they got me singing on it, they said, ‘No, we want you,’” she shares.

The song skyrocketed up the charts, and artists continue to sample the  “la da dee, la dee da” refrain to this day. Her follow up smash, “100% Pure Love,” was a hit on both the pop and dance charts in 1994.

Waters continued to tour and make dance hits in the years that followed. A chance meeting with Swedish DJ Stonebridge led to her latest single, “Be Kind.”

“’Be Kind’ is  one of the first songs we did, and it has always been one of those special tracks,” Waters tells.

The Grammy-nominated DJ and Waters worked on the song based on a bad relationship experience involving the songstress.

“It is about a relationship I was in where the person wasn’t very nice, especially at the end,” she says. “If you hear the sirens in the track, you get why it did not end well. He wasn’t kind.”

The track has all the ingredients to soar up the charts. It also helps to continue to shift the musical movement from EDM back to house.

“House is back now. The EDM thing validates what we did back in the ’90s. I like EDM for that. EDM came and took out the baseline, and I love the bassline. Now I am working on a house album. I want to do something different,” states Waters.

While she creates something different, the mainstay will be her indisputable voice and talent.

“Be Kind” is currently available via iTunes. For more information, visit iamcrystalwaters.com.

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