According to Jacob P. Adler in his memoirs, K. was born in Shpole, Ukraine, and was "a madim" for singing "Yiddish shtik." A Russian minister had at one time heard him sing, and he had him, on his account, send him to study in a conservatory. In the beginning he only was a chorister in the Russian Imperial Opera, then a soloist.

Adler recalls in his memoirs about the following in the town of Kobiliak, a small town near Poltava:

"..Meantime there came to us a guest, a young man, a young cantor with the name of Krastoshevsky. Old New York residents need to remember the old singer-concertist from the former Russian colony, Krastoshevsky... So, it is the same Krastoshevsky who came to us from the synagogue, where he had prayed, and to us it is said: 'I don't want any cantor, I want to be an artist.' We have given a pruv, a voice that is fit for an opera! He was perfectly pleased with us, but [Israel] Rosenberg was a thief, and he immediately shot him down, and do you know why? Only then did he carry a top hat. 'See again, Yankele... You and I, top hats, and he too?' However, he said to him: 'Young man, you remain with us." ...Krastoshevsky laughed with joy with everyone. ...And soon there was a voice, like a glow swirling around the whole hotel, so, the street was full."

Later K. came to America, and during the first years of Yiddish theatre in America, and here he is participating.

In the "Album of the Yiddish Theatre" there is published a group scene, which consists of Adler, Feinman, Mogulesco, Marks, Krastoshevsky [there is printed Krastoshinsky] and Kessler.

• Jacob P. Adler -- Mir shpiln teater in shpoler's zeydns shtetele, "Di varhayt," N.Y., 1917.

• Jacob P. Adler -- 40 yor oyf der bine, dort, 6 Oct. 1917.

• Zalmen Zylbercweig -- "Album of the Yiddish Theatre," New York, 1937, p. 4.