Crazy Mary

Emerging as a fixture in New York City’s underground circuit, the alternative rock group traces its beginnings to the summer of 1996, when Bronx Zoo coworkers Richard Morbid, drummer Nick Raisz, and guitarist Charles Kibel first recognized their shared musical outlook. Two years afterward the ensemble formally adopted the name Crazy Mary upon recruiting fellow zoo staffer George Kerezman on bass. Vocalist Sophia Jackson, another Bronx Zoo employee, rounded out the membership once Richard Morbid departed to explore separate projects.

Working independently, the band issued its debut album Passion Pit in 1998, followed by She Comes in Waves in 1999 and the wide-ranging Astronaut Dubs in early 2000.