Sonny Curtis, the celebrated singer-songwriter whose melodies graced the airwaves for decades, passed away on Friday in Nashville at the age of 88. A true musical force, Curtis not only performed alongside the legendary Buddy Holly and opened for Elvis Presley, but also penned timeless hits such as ‘I Fought the Law,’ ‘Walk Right Back,’ and the instantly recognizable, effervescent theme song for ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show,’ which he also famously sang.
His daughter, Sarah Curtis Graziano, confirmed that his passing in a hospital was due to complications from pneumonia.
Born to sharecroppers in a West Texas Dust Bowl dugout during the challenging era of the Great Depression, Curtis carved out a significant, though perhaps not widely recognized, legacy in the annals of both rock ‘n’ roll and country music.
Over his impressive seven-decade career, he composed hundreds of songs, embraced by a diverse array of artists including the iconic Everly Brothers, country music legend Keith Whitley, and 1960s teen sensation Bobby Vee.
His electrifying hit, ‘I Fought the Law,’ with its iconic refrain ‘I fought the law and the law won,’ became a staple for numerous artists, including The Bobby Fuller Four, Hank Williams Jr., Roy Orbison, Bruce Springsteen, and The Clash.
Reflecting on its creation, Curtis once shared, ‘The song came quick… It was one of those West Texas afternoons where the sand was blowing… I wrote it in 15 minutes — bam! If you listen to it, you can tell you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to write those lyrics.’
Those swift 15 minutes proved incredibly rewarding.
In a 2014 interview with The Tennessean, he proudly stated, ‘It has been recorded a lot. It’s my most important copyright.’
Curtis’s musical journey began in his teenage years, sparked by an introduction to Buddy Holly, a fellow Lubbock, Texas native. In 1957, he contributed his guitar talents to Holly’s seminal album ‘That’ll Be the Day,’ whose title track soared to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The following year, Curtis joined Holly’s band, The Crickets. However, after performing major shows and opening for Elvis Presley, the band eventually dissolved, largely due to Holly’s relocation to New York. Tragically, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash in 1959.
Shortly thereafter, The Crickets reformed, with Curtis rejoining their ranks. Their 1960 album, ‘In Style With the Crickets,’ notably featured ‘I Fought the Law.’
The band continued to perform intermittently in various configurations throughout the 1980s and ’90s, culminating in their induction into the esteemed Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
In 1970, while residing in Los Angeles and crafting commercial jingles, Curtis received a pivotal tip: the creators of ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ were seeking a theme song. The producers provided him with a concise four-page summary of the upcoming series.
During a 2002 ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ interview, Curtis recalled, ‘I honed in on the part that she was renting an apartment she had a hard time affording.’
The resulting song opened with the relatable question, ‘How will you make it on your own?’
He performed this initial version for the show’s producers, among them James L. Brooks.
Curtis recounted, ‘He smiled and said, “Sing that again.” And I had to sing it about 10 times before I left that afternoon. The room was full of people standing all around the wall. I thought, “I believe I got a shot at this.” ‘
As Mary Richards, Ms. Moore’s character, achieved career success as a TV news producer in the show’s inaugural season, Curtis skillfully updated the lyrics, introducing the now-famous line, ‘Who can turn the world on with her smile?’
Sonny Curtis was born on May 9, 1937, in Meadow, Texas, the second youngest of Arthur and Violet (Moore) Curtis’s six children.
In a 2004 interview, he humorously described his humble beginnings: ‘I was born in a dugout. My dad dug a hole in the ground, put a corrugated tin roof on top of it, and that’s where I was born. I beat my sister ahead of me. She was born in a tent.’
His musical talent emerged early, with his uncles, who had a bluegrass band, teaching him guitar at just four years old.
The extensive hours spent on his family farm provided fertile ground for songwriting inspiration.
As he explained to ‘CBS Sunday Morning,’ ‘Driving a tractor… you go down half a mile that way, and when you get there you turn around and come back a half mile this way. You have plenty of time to write a song.’
He married Louise Halverson in 1970, who, along with their daughter, Sarah, three granddaughters, and his sister Alene Richardson, survives him.
His daughter, Sarah Curtis, an accomplished essayist and journalist, has recently completed a book about her father titled ‘Daughter of a Song,’ slated for publication next month.
Sarah noted that her father’s early aspirations included fame, but ‘as time went on, he saw a lot of tragedies related to fame. He saw people succumb to accidents and addiction. He saw Buddy Holly die.’
Ultimately, she observed, he cherished his anonymity, finding contentment in ‘the ability to walk through a mall without being recognized. He was able to live a normal life but still make a living in the music business. And that’s no small feat.’