In 1962, the Blossoms were hired to sing on a session by producer Phil Spector. His girl group, the Crystals, couldn’t make it to Los Angeles in time for the session, so Wright was paid $5,000 to sing lead on "He's a Rebel." This was Wright's first time on a Spector recording. The single, credited to the Crystals, was hurriedly released by Spector on Philles Records to get his version of the Gene Pitney song onto the market before that of Vikki Carr. The ghost release of this single came as a total surprise to the Crystals who were an experienced and much traveled girl harmony group in their own right, but they were nevertheless required to perform and promote the new single on television and on tour as if it were their own. The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1962.