KING CURTIS

King Curtis was a legendary saxophonist who played on hit songs by Fats Domino, the Coasters, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, the Rascals, and John Lennon (among many others).

Curtis Ousley was born in Forth Worth, Texas, on February 7, 1934. Inspired by Rhythm & Blues star Louis Jordan, he took up the saxophone at age 11, later studying and performing music with schoolmate Ornette Coleman. Curtis would play Forth Worth barrooms like the Paradise, where he walked on top of the 30-foot bar while honking the blues. As a music student, Curtis turned down college scholarships to join the Lionel Hampton Band. During his tenure with Hampton, Curtis learned how to write and arrange music, and how to play the guitar.

By 1952, Curtis was in New York City, where he found session work with labels like Prestige, Enjoy, Capitol, and Atco. He became known as a versatile and powerful musician with a syncopated and percussive style. He enjoyed playing jazz, but decided he could make more money playing rhythm and blues.

Curtis played the tenor sax on every hit by the Coasters, including “Yakety Yak” and “Charlie Brown.” He provided the saxophone break on LaVern Baker’s top ten smash, “I Cried a Tear,” and he appeared on Ruth Brown’s 1959 LP, Miss Rhythm. Buddy Holly hired him for session work and even gave Curtis a songwriting credit on “Reminiscing.” He also appeared on recordings by jazz musicians like Ray Bryant, Jimmy Forrest, Eddie Harris, and Herbie Mann, and on blues albums by Freddie King, Sunnyland Slim, Lonnie Smith, Arbee Stidham, and Roosevelt Sykes. Other artists for whom King Curtis did session work included Ernestine Allen, Brook Benton, Solomon Burke, Sam Cooke, Don Covay, Fats Domino, Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, John Lennon, Arif Mardin, Clyde McPhatter, Carmen McRae, NRBQ, Esther Phillips, the Rascals, Shirley Scott, Alex Taylor, Chuck Willis, and Gary Wright.

Along with his prolific session work, King Curtis made records of his own. “Soul Twist,” his 1962 single for Enjoy Records, was a #1 R&B hit that also made the pop top twenty. He signed with Atlantic in 1965 and hit the R&B top ten with an original composition, “Memphis Soul Stew,” as well as an instrumental cover of Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe.” He also came out with numerous albums in the R&B, soul, and jazz idioms. In 1970, Curtis won the Best R&B Instrumental Performance Grammy for his take on the Joe South song, “Games People Play.”

On August 13, 1971, King Curtis was attempting to carry an air conditioner into his New York apartment building. The entrance was blocked by two men taking drugs who refused to move out of the way. A fight ensued, which led to one of the men, Juan Montanez, producing a knife and stabbing Curtis in the heart. He died at Roosevelt Hospital at the age of thirty-seven. Montanez pleaded guilty to second degree manslaughter and was incarcerated through December 1977.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson performed the funeral service. As the mourners filed in, Curtis’ band, the Kingpins, played his 1964 chart hit, “Soul Serenade.” Attendees included Aretha Franklin, Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney Houston), Brook Benton, and Duane Allman. Franklin sang the closing spiritual, “Never Grow Old.” And Atlantic Records closed its offices for the day.

Rock critic Dave Marsh included both “Soul Twist” and “Memphis Soul Stew” in his 1989 book, The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.

King Curtis was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Charted singles:

“Soul Twist” (1962) R&B #1 (2 weeks), Pop #17
“Beach Party” (1962) Pop #60
“Do the Monkey” (1963) Pop #92
“Soul Serenade” (1964) R&B #20, Pop #51
“Spanish Harlem” (1965) Pop #89
“Something on Your Mind” (1966) R&B #31
“Jump Back” (1967) Pop #63
“Memphis Soul Stew” (1967) R&B #6, Pop #33
“Ode to Billie Joe” (1967) R&B #6, Pop #28
“For What It’s Worth” (1967) Pop #87
“I Was Made to Love Her” (1967) R&B #49, Pop #76
“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” (1968) Pop #84
“Valley of the Dolls” (1968) Pop #83
“I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1968) Pop #83
“Harper Valley P.T.A.” (1968) Pop #93
“Instant Groove” (1969) R&B #35
“Get Ready” (1970) R&B #46
“Whole Lotta Love” (1971) R&B #43, Pop #64