Chris Curtis
Encyclopedia
Chris Curtis was an English
drummer
and singer with the 1960s pop
band, The Searchers
. He originated the concept behind Deep Purple
and formed the band in its original incarnation of 'Roundabout'.
, Lancashire
in 1941, Curtis came to Liverpool
when he was four and went to primary school where he met Mike Prendergast
. He taught himself how to play the piano
on the family instrument at 30 Florida Street in Bootle
. He passed the 11-plus and went to St Mary's College, Crosby, where he was taught violin
although he wanted to play the double-bass.
His father
bought him a drum set
during his late teens when he left school
and he learned these in his spare time, when he was not selling pram
s at Swift’s Furniture store at Stanley Road, Liverpool
. He developed a fascination for American
music
and particularly liked Fats Domino
. He also grew the unusually long hair that would be his trademark in the early years.
In 1960 he met Prendergast soon after Norman McGarry, the Searcher’s second drummer, had left the band. He accepted an invitation to join the band for a gig at Wilson Hall, Garston and became the seventh member of The Searchers, replacing McGarry to join John McNally
, Mike Prendergast and Tony Jackson
. He adopted the name Chris Curtis after Jackson described him thus in a press interview, choosing the name from a Lee Curtis poster to avoid saying 'crummy'.
As well as playing drums he introduced all manner of percussion including: tom-toms
, castanet
s, cowbells, bongos
and Spanish bells. The band’s members took turns singing lead vocals, which allowed them to give longer and more frequent sets than most of their competitors. This would later be one of the triggers for Curtis’ habit of substance abuse
: taking drugs
to stay awake and then to induce sleep
.
The Searchers briefly rivaled the Beatles for popularity, having international hits with "Needles and Pins", "Sugar and Spice" and "Don't Throw Your Love Away".
Curtis wrote most of the band’s song
s that were not cover
s and was constantly seeking obscure songs for them to cover. Many of his finds were B-sides discovered in Brian Epstein
’s NEMS record shop and upstairs in another record shop, near the furniture store where he worked. It seems probable that the band’s lack of continuing success may be a consequence of their dependency upon material associated with other performers.
He was a manic individual given to great enthusiasm but prone to voicing trenchant views without considering the effect upon others. He antagonised Ray McFall, the owner of the Cavern Club, by saying that it was "a dreadful place", "stinky and sweaty".
Curtis rarely mixed socially with his fellow band members, preferring his own company. He was widely thought to be a genius. George Harrison
referred to him as 'Mad Henry' but John Lennon
indulged him.
A devout Roman Catholic throughout his life, Curtis would repair to a convent
church in the early hours of Sunday morning after finishing the Saturday night set at the Star Club, St. Pauli, near Hamburg
. At that time Curtis still had long hair, which was unusual for the time, and was sometimes assumed to be one of the transvestites who haunted that district. He cut his hair when the band became popular, deciding that it would put off some potential record buyers.
Curtis met his girlfriend, Annette Kuntze in St. Pauli
and she returned to live with him in Knightsbridge
, London
. She took photographs for some of the Pye
record sleeves and was responsible for the sullen look affected by the band.
Another visitor to the flat was Jackie DeShannon
who co-wrote several Searchers songs with Sharon Sheeley
, whom she introduced to Curtis.
The Searchers returned to the Star Club to fulfil a prior booking after they had become successful in England. "I found "Love Potion Number 9" in a back-street, second-hand shop in Hamburg." Curtis later said. "I saw this 45 with a triangle in the middle and I thought: I've got to have it, it’s such a weird looking record. I took my little portable electric record-player to Germany and I played "Love Potion Number 9" and I thought: This is excellent."
Curtis left The Searchers in mid 1966, after an extensive tour of the Philippines
, Hong Kong
and Australia
, with the Rolling Stones. Accounts of the break-up differ but there were some significant incidents during the tour and Curtis had become unreliable. Curtis hated Australia and he was abusing a variety of substances to the point where he fell off the stage at one venue. The other members of the band emptied his pharmacopia down the lavatory.
radio station
for whom the band had recorded sessions in 1964. Voorman told him to come to Sweden to get himself straight.
Upon his return to London
from Sweden
, Curtis recorded his only solo single
, "Aggravation" (backed with "Have I Done Something Wrong?"). It entered the UK singles chart
at number 40 on June 26, 1966 rising to 19 the following week and then dropping out forever. He never made another single.
"Aggravation" was a Joe South
song. The other musician
s included Jimmy Page
, Joe Moretti
, John Paul Jones
and Vic Flick
on that record. "I did my Tom Jones hard rock voice and I was really loud," Curtis would say later.
In 1965 Curtis had written and produced "Snakes And Snails" for Alma Cogan
with all the musicians who had played on "Aggravation". Now, Vicki Wickham
, the editor and producer of Ready Steady Go!
asked Curtis to produce the sound for the Otis Redding Special, which aired on September 16, 1966. She also introduced him to Tony Edwards, a clothier working London’s West End
, who aspired to be part of the music business and was managing the singer and model
, Ayshea
.
At the same time Curtis produced
recordings of Paul
and Barry Ryan
for their stepfather, Harold Davidson. Graham Nash
had given him the song "Have You Ever Loved Somebody?" and he got them to sing it backed by Ten Feet, a Welsh
group whom he was also producing. Pye Records
asked Curtis to delay the release of the Ryans’ version so that the Searchers could release it. Curtis did not want to help his old band, however, and with the help of Harold Davidson the Ryans released the single in the week of September 12, 1966 and played it on 'Ready, Steady, Go' on October 7. Curtis also wrote "Night Time" for the Ryans with his friend Sharon Sheeley and they collaborated on several other songs.
Curtis came back to London at the beginning of 1968 and moved into a low-rent flat rented by Jon Lord
, whom he had recently met at one of Vicki Wickham’s parties. Curtis was planning his return to performing but he had yet to assemble his new band. In that first conversation with Lord he said, "I've got this concept."
Lord was eager to listen; his previous band had changed their name from The Artwoods to St Valentine's Day Massacre in a desperate effort to cash in on the gangster
s craze that followed the film Bonnie and Clyde
. Their cover of Bing Crosby
’s "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?", released at the end of 1967, had been a failure and he had agreed to make a one-month tour with The Flower Pot Men, a band promoting the hit "Let's Go to San Francisco
".
Curtis’s concept was a band with a core of three members: Curtis, Lord and Robbie Hewlett. The other musicians would be engaged whenever the core felt like it. "They would jump on and off the roundabout. But I left that party in a new band, Roundabout." said Lord.
Curtis would arrange for Daimler
limousines to taxi him about and was charging the cost to Tony Edwards. Edwards realised that he had made a mistake agreeing to manage Curtis but he liked what he saw of Jon Lord. And Lord was also having problems with Curtis, who had started to use LSD
. Lord returned from a few days away with The Flowerpot Men to find the entire flat covered in aluminium foil. Everything; even the furniture and the light bulbs.
Curtis moved out soon after this but he did tell Lord that he had a guitarist in mind for Roundabout. Curtis arranged for Ritchie Blackmore and his girlfriend to fly over from Hamburg, Germany and meet Tony Edwards. The meeting was a success for Blackmore, Edwards and Lord but they had no room for the erratic Curtis. They changed their name to Deep Purple
and their first single was Joe South’s "Hush", which Curtis had been playing in Lord’s flat for months.
in 1969. He found the change difficult but he liked his new colleagues and he stayed there for nineteen years. He took early retirement in 1988 suffering a systemic illness that he ascribed to sick building syndrome
.
In the mid 1970s he made some demos with Bernard Whitty, a Liverpool producer, to whom he had been introduced by one of his colleagues at the Inland Revenue. Alan Willey was an accountant
who played guitar semi professionally. He asked Curtis to join his band, Western Union, but Curtis started drinking heavily and was asked to leave. Ultimately, however, nothing came of the demos.
In retirement he was active in his parish church of Holy Rosary in Sefton, Liverpool, where he sang folk music
and rock and roll
to attract younger worshippers. He also sang frequently with a karaoke machine at Cooper's Emporium and the Old Roan pub near the home he shared with his mother when the Searchers first started. Many of his audience had no idea who he was, but he had kept his skill and delighted to tell of someone stopping him in the supermarket
to say how much they had liked his singing at the Old Roan.
In 1998 he gave his first interview in thirty years; to Spencer Leigh for BBC Radio Merseyside
. Some years later he started appearing weekly with live musicians for the Merseycats charity at the Marconi club in Huyton
. His driver for these evenings was Mike Pender
’s cousin
, Michael Prendergast but he never revisited the old Searchers’ songs. On April 13, 2003 he gave another interview to Spencer Leigh for BBC Radio Merseyside to discuss the 'new' Searchers’ albums, The Searchers At The Iron Door, The Searchers At The Star-Club and the Swedish Radio Sessions.
He died at home on February 28, 2005. He was 63 years old.
- November 1963
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
and singer with the 1960s pop
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
band, The Searchers
The Searchers (band)
The Searchers are an English beat group, who emerged as part of the 1960s Merseybeat scene along with The Beatles, The Fourmost, The Merseybeats, The Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry & The Pacemakers....
. He originated the concept behind Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
and formed the band in its original incarnation of 'Roundabout'.
Early years
Born Christopher Crummy in OldhamOldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
in 1941, Curtis came to Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
when he was four and went to primary school where he met Mike Prendergast
Mike Pender
Mike Pender was an original founding member of Merseybeat group The Searchers. He is best known as the lead vocalist on many hit singles by The Searchers, including the song "Needles and Pins"...
. He taught himself how to play the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
on the family instrument at 30 Florida Street in Bootle
Bootle
Bootle is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England, and a 'Post town' in the L postcode area. Formally known as Bootle-cum-Linacre, the town is 4 miles to the north of Liverpool city centre, and has a total resident population of 77,640.Historically part of...
. He passed the 11-plus and went to St Mary's College, Crosby, where he was taught violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
although he wanted to play the double-bass.
His father
Father
A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...
bought him a drum set
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
during his late teens when he left school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
and he learned these in his spare time, when he was not selling pram
Pram
Pram may refer to:*Pram, Austria* Pram , a musical group* Pram , a type of shallow-draught, flat-bottomed ship * A type of dinghy with a flat bow* A type of wheeled baby transport...
s at Swift’s Furniture store at Stanley Road, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. He developed a fascination for American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and particularly liked Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
. He also grew the unusually long hair that would be his trademark in the early years.
In 1960 he met Prendergast soon after Norman McGarry, the Searcher’s second drummer, had left the band. He accepted an invitation to join the band for a gig at Wilson Hall, Garston and became the seventh member of The Searchers, replacing McGarry to join John McNally
John McNally (musician)
John McNally is an English guitarist and vocalist. He was one of the original founders of The Searchers in 1957, and is still with the band over 50 years later.-External links:...
, Mike Prendergast and Tony Jackson
Tony Jackson (bass player)
Tony Jackson was an English bass guitar player and singer who was a member of The Searchers.-Biography:...
. He adopted the name Chris Curtis after Jackson described him thus in a press interview, choosing the name from a Lee Curtis poster to avoid saying 'crummy'.
The Searchers
For the next six years Curtis was an essential part of the Searchers’ sound and contributed to the band's characteristic vocal harmonies with his distinctive voice, blending particularly well with the high-pitched voice of early band-mate Tony Jackson. Perhaps the finest example of this can be found in their rendition of "Ain't That Just Like Me", where Curtis sings the lead vocal, and Jackson chimes in with the recurring chorus.As well as playing drums he introduced all manner of percussion including: tom-toms
Tom-tom drum
A tom-tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snare.Although "tom-tom" is the British term for a child's toy drum, the name came originally from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala; the tom-tom itself comes from Asian or Native American cultures...
, castanet
Castanet
Castanets are a percussion instrument , used in Moorish, Ottoman, ancient Roman, Italian, Spanish, Sephardic Music, and Portuguese music. The instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by a string. They are held in the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or...
s, cowbells, bongos
Bongo drum
Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...
and Spanish bells. The band’s members took turns singing lead vocals, which allowed them to give longer and more frequent sets than most of their competitors. This would later be one of the triggers for Curtis’ habit of substance abuse
Substance abuse
A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...
: taking drugs
DRUGS
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows are an American post-hardcore band formed in 2010. They released their debut self-titled album on February 22, 2011.- Formation :...
to stay awake and then to induce sleep
Sleep
Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than...
.
The Searchers briefly rivaled the Beatles for popularity, having international hits with "Needles and Pins", "Sugar and Spice" and "Don't Throw Your Love Away".
Curtis wrote most of the band’s song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s that were not cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s and was constantly seeking obscure songs for them to cover. Many of his finds were B-sides discovered in Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
’s NEMS record shop and upstairs in another record shop, near the furniture store where he worked. It seems probable that the band’s lack of continuing success may be a consequence of their dependency upon material associated with other performers.
He was a manic individual given to great enthusiasm but prone to voicing trenchant views without considering the effect upon others. He antagonised Ray McFall, the owner of the Cavern Club, by saying that it was "a dreadful place", "stinky and sweaty".
Curtis rarely mixed socially with his fellow band members, preferring his own company. He was widely thought to be a genius. George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
referred to him as 'Mad Henry' but John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
indulged him.
A devout Roman Catholic throughout his life, Curtis would repair to a convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
church in the early hours of Sunday morning after finishing the Saturday night set at the Star Club, St. Pauli, near Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. At that time Curtis still had long hair, which was unusual for the time, and was sometimes assumed to be one of the transvestites who haunted that district. He cut his hair when the band became popular, deciding that it would put off some potential record buyers.
Curtis met his girlfriend, Annette Kuntze in St. Pauli
St. Pauli
St. Pauli , located in the Hamburg-Mitte borough, is one of the 105 quarters of the city of Hamburg, Germany. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the Landungsbrücken are a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. Pauli contains a world famous red light district around the street Reeperbahn...
and she returned to live with him in Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. She took photographs for some of the Pye
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
record sleeves and was responsible for the sullen look affected by the band.
Another visitor to the flat was Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon is an American singer-songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period.- Life and early career :...
who co-wrote several Searchers songs with Sharon Sheeley
Sharon Sheeley
Sharon Sheeley was an American songwriter, born in California, who wrote songs for Glen Campbell, Ricky Nelson, Brenda Lee, and Sheeley's former fiancé, Eddie Cochran.-Life:...
, whom she introduced to Curtis.
The Searchers returned to the Star Club to fulfil a prior booking after they had become successful in England. "I found "Love Potion Number 9" in a back-street, second-hand shop in Hamburg." Curtis later said. "I saw this 45 with a triangle in the middle and I thought: I've got to have it, it’s such a weird looking record. I took my little portable electric record-player to Germany and I played "Love Potion Number 9" and I thought: This is excellent."
Curtis left The Searchers in mid 1966, after an extensive tour of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, with the Rolling Stones. Accounts of the break-up differ but there were some significant incidents during the tour and Curtis had become unreliable. Curtis hated Australia and he was abusing a variety of substances to the point where he fell off the stage at one venue. The other members of the band emptied his pharmacopia down the lavatory.
After the Searchers
When he left the Searchers, Curtis rang his friend, Klaus Voorman, who was in charge of the SwedishSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
for whom the band had recorded sessions in 1964. Voorman told him to come to Sweden to get himself straight.
Upon his return to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
from Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Curtis recorded his only solo single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Aggravation" (backed with "Have I Done Something Wrong?"). It entered the UK singles chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
at number 40 on June 26, 1966 rising to 19 the following week and then dropping out forever. He never made another single.
"Aggravation" was a Joe South
Joe South
Joe South is a multi-talented American singer-songwriter and guitarist.-Career:...
song. The other musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s included Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
, Joe Moretti
Joe Moretti
Joe Moretti is a British guitarist renowned for his work on seminal UK rock n' roll records such as Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac" and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates' "Shakin' All Over"...
, John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
and Vic Flick
Vic Flick
Victor Harold Flick is an English guitarist, most famous for playing the guitar riff in the "James Bond Theme".-Biography:...
on that record. "I did my Tom Jones hard rock voice and I was really loud," Curtis would say later.
In 1965 Curtis had written and produced "Snakes And Snails" for Alma Cogan
Alma Cogan
Alma Cogan was an English singer of traditional pop music in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed "The Girl With the Laugh/Giggle/Chuckle In Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era...
with all the musicians who had played on "Aggravation". Now, Vicki Wickham
Vicki Wickham
Vicki Heather Wickham is an English talent manager, entertainment producer, and songwriter.-Career:She is most known for producing the 60s British television show Ready Steady Go!, and managing well known pop/soul acts Labelle and Dusty Springfield....
, the editor and producer of Ready Steady Go!
Ready Steady Go!
Ready Steady Go! or simply RSG! was one of the UK's first rock/pop music TV programmes. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan was assisted by record producer/talent manager Vicki Wickham, who became the producer. It was broadcast from August 1963 until December 1966...
asked Curtis to produce the sound for the Otis Redding Special, which aired on September 16, 1966. She also introduced him to Tony Edwards, a clothier working London’s West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, who aspired to be part of the music business and was managing the singer and model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
, Ayshea
Ayshea
Ayshea , is an English actress, singer and TV presenter.-Biography:Born in Highgate, London and educated at Arts Educational School, London, Ayshea was trained in ballet, music, drama and dance. She made her film debut at age 9 as an uncredited extra at in Tom Thumb. At seventeen, she was signed...
.
At the same time Curtis produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
recordings of Paul
Paul Ryan (singer)
Paul Ryan was an English singer, songwriter and record producer.Born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, Paul and his twin brother Barry were the sons of singer Marion Ryan, and had some success as a singing duo during the 1960s, known simply as "Paul & Barry Ryan"...
and Barry Ryan
Barry Ryan (singer)
Barry Ryan was an English pop singer. He is currently a photographer.The son of pop singer Marion Ryan, Ryan and his twin brother Paul began to perform at the age of 16...
for their stepfather, Harold Davidson. Graham Nash
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash, OBE is an English singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer...
had given him the song "Have You Ever Loved Somebody?" and he got them to sing it backed by Ten Feet, a Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
group whom he was also producing. Pye Records
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
asked Curtis to delay the release of the Ryans’ version so that the Searchers could release it. Curtis did not want to help his old band, however, and with the help of Harold Davidson the Ryans released the single in the week of September 12, 1966 and played it on 'Ready, Steady, Go' on October 7. Curtis also wrote "Night Time" for the Ryans with his friend Sharon Sheeley and they collaborated on several other songs.
Roundabout
In 1967, a year after their first meeting Curtis contacted Edwards. "From out of the blue, Chris rang me from Liverpool. He said I'd like you to be my manager. I'll teach you everything. Brian Epstein's dead, you can be the next Brian Epstein". "That hooked me" recalled Edwards.Curtis came back to London at the beginning of 1968 and moved into a low-rent flat rented by Jon Lord
Jon Lord
Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...
, whom he had recently met at one of Vicki Wickham’s parties. Curtis was planning his return to performing but he had yet to assemble his new band. In that first conversation with Lord he said, "I've got this concept."
Lord was eager to listen; his previous band had changed their name from The Artwoods to St Valentine's Day Massacre in a desperate effort to cash in on the gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
s craze that followed the film Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde (film)
The film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
. Their cover of Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
’s "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?", released at the end of 1967, had been a failure and he had agreed to make a one-month tour with The Flower Pot Men, a band promoting the hit "Let's Go to San Francisco
Let's Go To San Francisco
"Let's Go to San Francisco" is the only UK-charting single by the British pop group The Flower Pot Men. A light-hearted pastiche of the work of Brian Wilson, the song achieved a similar musical level and has remained popular...
".
Curtis’s concept was a band with a core of three members: Curtis, Lord and Robbie Hewlett. The other musicians would be engaged whenever the core felt like it. "They would jump on and off the roundabout. But I left that party in a new band, Roundabout." said Lord.
Curtis would arrange for Daimler
Daimler Motor Company
The Daimler Motor Company Limited was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H J Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The right to the use of the name Daimler had been purchased simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler Motoren...
limousines to taxi him about and was charging the cost to Tony Edwards. Edwards realised that he had made a mistake agreeing to manage Curtis but he liked what he saw of Jon Lord. And Lord was also having problems with Curtis, who had started to use LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
. Lord returned from a few days away with The Flowerpot Men to find the entire flat covered in aluminium foil. Everything; even the furniture and the light bulbs.
Curtis moved out soon after this but he did tell Lord that he had a guitarist in mind for Roundabout. Curtis arranged for Ritchie Blackmore and his girlfriend to fly over from Hamburg, Germany and meet Tony Edwards. The meeting was a success for Blackmore, Edwards and Lord but they had no room for the erratic Curtis. They changed their name to Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
and their first single was Joe South’s "Hush", which Curtis had been playing in Lord’s flat for months.
After music
Curtis left the music industry and joined the Inland RevenueInland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...
in 1969. He found the change difficult but he liked his new colleagues and he stayed there for nineteen years. He took early retirement in 1988 suffering a systemic illness that he ascribed to sick building syndrome
Sick building syndrome
Sick building syndrome is a combination of ailments associated with an individual's place of work or residence. A 1984 World Health Organization report into the syndrome suggested up to 30% of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may be linked to symptoms of SBS...
.
In the mid 1970s he made some demos with Bernard Whitty, a Liverpool producer, to whom he had been introduced by one of his colleagues at the Inland Revenue. Alan Willey was an accountant
Accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...
who played guitar semi professionally. He asked Curtis to join his band, Western Union, but Curtis started drinking heavily and was asked to leave. Ultimately, however, nothing came of the demos.
In retirement he was active in his parish church of Holy Rosary in Sefton, Liverpool, where he sang folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
to attract younger worshippers. He also sang frequently with a karaoke machine at Cooper's Emporium and the Old Roan pub near the home he shared with his mother when the Searchers first started. Many of his audience had no idea who he was, but he had kept his skill and delighted to tell of someone stopping him in the supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
to say how much they had liked his singing at the Old Roan.
In 1998 he gave his first interview in thirty years; to Spencer Leigh for BBC Radio Merseyside
BBC Radio Merseyside
BBC Radio Merseyside is the BBC Local Radio service for the English metropolitan county of Merseyside and north Cheshire. It was the third BBC local radio station to launch on 22 November 1967 initially serving the south west of historic Lancashire....
. Some years later he started appearing weekly with live musicians for the Merseycats charity at the Marconi club in Huyton
Huyton
Huyton is a suburb of Liverpool within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, with some parts belonging to the borough of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It is part of the Liverpool Urban Area and has close associations with its neighbour, Roby, having both formerly been part of the Huyton with...
. His driver for these evenings was Mike Pender
Mike Pender
Mike Pender was an original founding member of Merseybeat group The Searchers. He is best known as the lead vocalist on many hit singles by The Searchers, including the song "Needles and Pins"...
’s cousin
Cousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
, Michael Prendergast but he never revisited the old Searchers’ songs. On April 13, 2003 he gave another interview to Spencer Leigh for BBC Radio Merseyside to discuss the 'new' Searchers’ albums, The Searchers At The Iron Door, The Searchers At The Star-Club and the Swedish Radio Sessions.
He died at home on February 28, 2005. He was 63 years old.
Songwriting
- "No One Else Could Love Me"
- "Another Heart Is Broken (In The Game Of Life)"
- "He’s Got No Love"
- "I’m Your Lovin’ Man"
- "Snakes And Snails"
- "Night-time" (with Sharon Sheeley)
Further reading
- Spencer Leigh, 'Drumming for the Searchers', Record CollectorRecord CollectorRecord Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:...
, March 1998
Quotation
NMENME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
- November 1963
External links
- Spencer Leigh BBC interview 1998 Retrieved 2 March 2005
- Spencer Leigh BBC interview 2003 Retrieved 2 March 2005
- The Searchers Records