Krystal Royalle Gaston (also known as “Krys Royalle”) was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago in the Auburn-Gresham area. She began singing at the early age of two in her local church choir (Greater Walters AME Zion Church) where her mother, Gracie M. Gaston was the director of the children’s choir. There is where she developed her passion for singing.
For over thirty years, Krystal’s broad spectrum of musical genres includes Gospel, Jazz, Christian Contemporary, Neo-Soul, Pop, Hip-Hop, Theater, and Classical. Krystal’s tone is versatile and can simultaneously be described as clear, sweet, sultry, and robust depending on the interpretation and song. She pursued Musical Studies and Vocal Performance as a Lyric Soprano at Lewis University of Romeoville, IL. She has studied with Andrew Schultze of Chicago, IL. Krystal is recently attained her 2nd Bachelors in Music at Chicago State University, studying with Elizabeth Norman of Chicago, IL.
Over the years Krystal has sung in many choirs, local community ensembles that has matured her into a professional vocal artist and supporting vocal artist. Krystal has worked with several recording artists such as Donald Lawrence, Anita Wilson, DeWayne Woods, Tony Tidwell, Charles Jenkins, Micah Stampley, Todd Dulaney, Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr Singers, and Adrian Dunn & The ADS singers.
Krystal has toured nationally within the United States and abroad to places such as Spain and Switzerland sharing her gifts and talents. Krystal has been recognized as a Grammy-Nominated Background Vocalist (59th Year, 2016) for her participation in “A Worshipper’s Heart (Live)” by The Recording Academy.
In September 2023, under the stage name “Krys Royalle”, the song “You Are So Beautiful” was released. Written by Billy Preston and made popular by Joe Cocker, “You Are So Beautiful”, Krystal’s jazz-inspired interpretation of the popular song. It is available on all major digital music platforms.
You can find Krystal’s 2024 Autumn Music Competition vocal performance here.