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King Curtis
King Curtis
King Curtis
musician who played rhythm and blues, Rock and roll, soul, Funk and soul jazz. He was also a musical director and record producer. He is best known for his distinctive sax riffs and solos such as on "Yakety Yak", which later became the inspiration for Boots Randolph’s "Yakety Sax" and his own "Memphis Soul Stew".[1]
Career
During the 1950s and early to mid 1960s he both worked as a session player. He recorded under his own name and with others such as the Coasters with whom he recorded "Yakety Yak". Buddy Holly hired him for session work during which they recorded "Remenising". His best known singles from this period are "Soul Twist" and "Soul Serenade" . In 1965 he moved to Atlantic Records and King Curtis recorded his most successful singles "Memphis Soul Stew" and "Ode to Billie Joe" Background information (1967). He worked with The Coasters, led Curtis Ousley Birth name Aretha Franklin’s backing band The Kingpins. Curtis produced records, often working February 7, 1934(1934-02-07) Born with Jerry Wexler and recorded for Groove Fort Worth, Texas Records during this period.[2] Fort Worth, Texas, USA Origin In 1970 he appeared with Aretha Franklin August 13, 1971 (aged 37) Died and The King Pins on Aretha Live at Fillmore New York West, which included a version of "Memphis Soul Stew" and covers of Led Zeppelin’s Soul, R&B, Rock, Funk, Jazz Genre(s) "Whole Lotta Love" and Stevie Wonder’s Occupation(s) Musician, Bandleader, Producer "Signed, Sealed, Delivered". The line up for these performances included,Hammond orInstrument(s) Saxophone gan player Billy Preston, bassist Jerry Jem1950–1971 Years active mott, guitarist Cornell Dupree, Pancho MorKing, Prestige, True Sound, Capitol, Label(s) ales (percussion), drummer Bernard "Pretty" Atlantic, Groove Purdie and The Memphis Horns. The cover of Aretha Franklin, The Coasters, TheProcol Harum’s Whiter Shade of Pale was Associated King Pins, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie,taken from this album and used as the title acts The Shirelles, The Noble Band, music in the cult British comedy film Withnail Cornell Dupree & I. During 1971 Curtis recorded a rousing sax solo on "It’s So Hard" from John Lennon’s Notable instrument(s) Imagine.[3]
Saxophone
Curtis Ousley (February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), who performed under the name King Curtis, was an American tenor, alto, and soprano saxophonist and session
Death
On Friday August 13, 1971[4] Curtis was stabbed[5] and was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where he died from his wounds.[6] On
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the day of the funeral Atlantic Records closed their offices.[7]Jesse Jackson administered the service and as the mourners filed in, Curtis’s band The Kingpins played "Soul Serenade". Among those attending were Aretha Franklin, Cissy Houston, Brook Benton and Duane Allman. Aretha Franklin sang the closing spiritual ’Never Grow Old’ and Stevie Wonder performed "Abraham, Martin & John and Now King Curtis".[8]
King Curtis
• Eternally, Soul (1968) with The Shirelles • Soul twist(1962) with The Noble Nights • Live at Fillmore West (1971)
Notes
Grammy
In 1969 Curtis won a Best R&B Instrumental Performance Grammy for "Games People Play".[9]
Hall of fame
Curtis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 6, 2000.[10]
Discography
[11]
King Curtis
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The Good Old Fifties (1959) Have Tenor Sax, Will Blow (1959) Azure(1960) King soul (1960) Soul Meeting (1960) Party Time (1961) Trouble In Mind (1961) Old Gold (1961) Night Train (1961) Doin’ the Dixie Twist (1962) Country Soul (1962) Soul Twist and other Golden Classics (1962) It’s Party Time (1962) The best of (1962) Soul Serenade (1964) Plays Hits made by Sam Cooke (1965) That Lovin’ Feeling (1966) Live At Small’s Paradise (1966) Play Great Memphis Hits (1967) Sweet Soul (1968) Sax In Motion (1968) Instant Groove (1969) Everybody Talkin (1970) Get ready (1970) Blues at Montreux (1971)
[1] Porter, Bob. "King Curtis". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/ amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0iftxqt5ldke~T1. Retrieved on 2009-05-21. [2] Shaw, Arnold. Honkers and Shouters. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. pp. 460–466. [3] "Imagine". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/ amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:d9fexql5ldae~T2. Retrieved on 2009-05-21. [4] Kernfield, Barry Dean. Newgrove Dictionary of Jazz. Grove’s Dictionaries. p. 544. [5] Dexter, Ed. "King Curtis". musicianguide.com. http://www.musicianguide.com/ biographies/1608000884/KingCurtis.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-21. [6] Schumach, Murray (1971-08-15). "King Curtis is stabbed to death". nytimes.com. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/ abstract.html?res=F40615F8355B137A93C7A81783 Retrieved on 2008-02-01. [7] Poe Randy and Gibbons, Billy F. Sky Dog. Backbeat Books. pp. 195. [8] Jet Vol 40, No 23. Johnson Publishing Company. 1971-09-02. pp. 54, 55, 56. [9] Clifford, Mike, and Futrell, John. The Illustrated encyclopedia of Black music. Harmony Books. p. 36. [10] "King Curtis (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)". rockhall.com. http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/kingcurtis. [11] "King Curtis". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/ amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0iftxqt5ldke~T2. Retrieved on 2009-05-21.
References
• Clifford, Mike: Futrell, John and Bonds, Ray. The Illustrated encyclopedia of Black music. Harmony Books (1982). Digitized 29 Dec (2006) • Kernfield, Barry Dean. Newgrove Dictionary of Jazz. Grove’s Dictionaries (2002). Digitized 21 Dec 2006. ISBN 9781561592845
King Curtis and The Kingpins
• King size Soul (1967)
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Shaw, Arnold. Honkers and Shouters. Macmillan Publishing Company (1978). Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 0020617402 • Poe, Randy and Gibbons, Billy F. Sky Dog. Backbeat Books (2006)ISBN 9780879308919
King Curtis
External links
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Curtis" Categories: 1934 births, 1971 deaths, Soul-jazz musicians, African American musicians, African American singers, American jazz saxophonists, American male singers, Soul-jazz saxophonists, American rock saxophonists, American session musicians, American soul musicians, American bandleaders, People from Fort Worth, Texas, Murdered entertainers, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Grammy Award winners, The Coasters members, Groove Records artists, Atlantic Records artists This page was last modified on 21 May 2009, at 16:00 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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