Sonny Curtis
Born on May 9th, 1937 and raised in Meadow, TX
- Sonny Curtis grew up in a musical
family with two brothers performing publicly which soon persuaded him to perform
along with them. They appeared on KSEL radio, Lubbock on the Western Jamboree show as “The Curtis
Brothers”. He also performed with Ben Hall (“Blue Days, Black Nights” writer) on
KDAV in Lubbock and “The Three Tunes” which included Buddy & J.I. backing them
up.
Influenced by Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, and other bluegrass style artists,
Sonny soon learnt to play the fiddle, as well as guitar, and when Buddy & Bob did their first
recordings, Sonny played both instruments for them.
Sonny’s first solo recordings were “I’ll Miss My Heart” and “Because You Love Me” in June of 1955 at
Nesman Recording Studios at Wichita Falls, TX which also featured Buddy, J.I. & Don Guess.
He went to Nashville for the first time in 1956 to perform on Buddy’s Bradley Barn/Decca
sessions. One of these songs was Sonny’s “Rock Around With Ollie Vee”,
named after the
wife of an employee on Sonny’s father’s farm, though it wasn’t written
about her. He also remembers sitting on his living room couch as a teen, looking out at the hot sun on a dry,
dusty Texas day...and wrote “I Fought The Law” in a matter of half an hour!
The
earliest known footage of Elvis Presley was taken at a Lubbock show that also featured
Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash. In glorious color we see Buddy , Sonny & Don Guess hanging
out backstage.
Buddy opted for the rock and roll sound, with Sonny
deciding that bluegrass was more his preference and he joined the Phillip
Morris Country Music Show playing guitar for Slim Whitman. After that tour ended, he became DJ at KPIK radio in Colorado Springs and isolation in a small town gave him time to
develop his writing skills. His first success was "Someday" recorded by Webb Pierce which hit #12 on Billboard's country charts. With that under his belt, he left KPIK to join the Louisiana Hayride where he worked with various artists including Red Sovine, Carl Smith & Ronnie Self. Sonny then had a
release on the Dot label in the Spring of 1958, “Wrong Again/Laughing Stock”.
After Buddy died in February of 1959, Sonny was
recruited as guitarist in the new version of The Crickets that featured Earl Sinks on vocals.
Soon after Sinks left, and Sonny took over on lead vocals.
In May of 1960 on a
trip to the New York Liberty offices, J.I. & Sonny wrote “More Than I Can Say”,
which did nothing for the group, but a huge hit for Bobby Vee a year later. UK fans preferred
the Crickets flip side track “Baby My Heart” which brought the group to the charts once more
in the U.K., before Sonny received his draft notice and David Box took over his vocal
duties.
He went to basic training at Fort Ord, California and during a weekend pass in February of 1961, Sonny visited the Everly Brothers in
Los Angeles and told them of his newest song titled “Walk Right Back”. They loved it
and wanted to record it right away, but he said it wasn’t finished yet...he had another verse to
go. Off he went for duty again and when he returned, he heard “Walk Right Back” by the
Everlys on the radio! “They just went ahead and recorded it anyway, just repeated the first
verse...”. It hit #11 for them and eventually was one of Sonny’s million
sellers.
Sonny was posted to France which left him out of the band for almost two years until October of 1964. David Box had died coincidentally in a plane crash...so
yet another Crickets lineup included Sonny once again. Jerry Naylor was lead singer,
J.I. on
drums, and Glen D. Hardin came aboard on piano.
While
their records did well in the UK, The Crickets had no chart action whatsoever in the US,
though Sonny continued writing and had many songs recorded by other artists: “The
Straight Life” (Bing Crosby/Bobby Goldsboro), “Where Will The Words Come From”
(Gary Lewis & The Playboys), and “I Fought The Law” was a hit for the Bobby Fuller
Four. During the mid-60s almost every Liberty album had a Sonny Curtis song on it,
which prompted the Viva label to offer Sonny’s first debut LP “A First Of Sonny Curtis”
(which contains his original version of “I Fought The Law” and finished version of “Walk
Right Back”). He continued with “Beatle Hits-Flamenco Style” on Imperial, then another
LP for Viva “The Sonny Curtis Style”.
In
1970, Sonny was asked to write a theme for the new "Mary
Tyler Moore Show", and the result was "Love Is All
Around", which produced yet another hit for him (yes, that's
Sonny singing the opening theme!).
In 1978, most of the people who knew Buddy
Holly were not impressed with the Gary Busey movie. Frustrated, Sonny went
back to his hotel room, and very quickly put together “The Real Buddy Holly Story”, which helps set the record straight according to many. It was recorded on the
Elektra label in 1979.
The Crickets continued switching members through the
'70s and early '80s, with Sonny leaving to concentrate on
songwriting. Gordon Payne took over as lead
vocalist/guitar.
In 1986, Sonny was inducted into the West Texas Walk Of Fame at the
Buddy Holly statue in Lubbock, TX and in September of 1991, was further honored in his
hometown of Meadow, TX when First Street was renamed “Sonny Curtis Drive”. Sonny
concentrated once again on songwriting and in 1989 won the Country Music
Association’s Single Of The Year Award for his song “I’m No Stranger To The Rain” as
done by Keith Whitley.
In 1991 Sonny Curtis was inducted in to the
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Sonny returned to The Crickets
in 1995 as lead vocalist/guitarist and is still currently with the
group.
Awards:
1961 - BMI Pop Award \ Walk Right Back
1964 - BMI Pop Award \ I Fought The Law
1968 - BMI Pop Award \ The Straight Life
1980 - BMI Pop Award \ More Than I Can Say
1989 - CMA Single of the Year \ I'm No Stranger To The Rain
1989 - BMI Pop Award \ I'm No Stranger To The Rain
1992 - BMI Motion Picture & TV Award \ "Evening Shade" Theme
Check out Sonny's website