Clem Curtis | |
|---|---|
.png) Curtis in 1968 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Curtis Clements |
| Born | (1940-11-28)28 November 1940 Trinidad, West Indies |
| Died | 27 March 2017(2017-03-27) (aged 76) |
| Genres | Soul,R&B, pop |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument | vocals |
| Years active | 1966–2017 |
| Labels | Acid Jazz Records,EMI,Imperial,Pye Records,RCA Victor,Riverdale,United Artists |
| Formerly of | the Ramong Sound,the Foundations,Clem Curtis & the Foundations,the Travelling Wrinklies |
Clem Curtis (bornCurtis Clements; 28 November 1940 – 27 March 2017) was aTrinidadian British singer, who was the original lead vocalist of sixtiessoul groupthe Foundations.
Born inTrinidad as Curtis Clements, he arrived in England at the age of fifteen and later found employment as aninterior decorator. He enteredboxing and won most of his fights as a professional boxer. His mother was a popular singer in Trinidad and Curtis claims that this contributed to his ear for music.
As a teenager he experienced racism when he and two white friends were charged with theft. As it turned out, Curtis was the only one of the three that had a custodial sentence.[1]
Curtis also took up wrestling and weightlifting for his hobbies.[2]
Curtis later reformed a version of the Foundations. Over the years, Curtis fronted various line-ups of the Foundations, as well as appearing on his own as a solo artist. Herecorded and releasedrecords on variousrecord labels, includingEMI, Opium,Pye Records,RCA Records, Riverdale, and others.
Between 1966 and 1967 Curtis joinedthe Ramong Sound. He joined the group after hearing from his uncle that Ramong,Raymond Morrison, the lead singer of the group, was looking for backing singers. Curtis initially had very limited singing experience, only singing with his uncle when he came around the house with the guitar.[3]
After the Ramong Sound lost their original lead singer, the band took on boardArthur Brown temporarily, and went through a few name changes before they becamethe Foundations[4] Arthur Brown stated in an interview that in his time with the group, he enjoyed singing with Curtis. They both sang separately as well as doing some duets.[5]
Decades later, Arthur Brown had a recollection of when he walked into the Westbourne Grove bar for an audition, he saw Curtis holding a spear to the throat of the drummer who was bent backwards over the bar.[6]
At some stage,Rod Stewart had sat in with the band for a night but he had other plans.[7]
During the time of the band's evolving from the Ramong Sound to the Foundations, Curtis was tied up by a protection racket gang with someone holding a knife to his throat. As a result, they had to move out with all their belongings to the derelict Mini Cab office above the old premises. This is where they were discovered byRon Fairway.[8][9]
The group emerged in early 1967 with Curtis as their lead singer. The Foundations would go on to have worldwide hits with "Baby Now That I've Found You" and "Build Me Up Buttercup". Curtis is the lead voice on theirhits "Baby Now That I've Found You", "Back on My Feet Again", and "Any Old Time (You're Lonely and Sad)".[10]
Curtis was the guest reviewer for the Blind Date Section of the October 28, 1967 issue ofMelody Maker. He reviewed singles by Stevie Wonder, The Kinks, John Walker, Lee Dorsey, Madeline Hell, Chris Barber's Band, Brian Auger and the Trinity, Arthur Conley, The Creation, Mille Small and Astrud Gilberto.[11]
An article "Foundations find a few problems in the States" by Bob Dawbarn in the 29 June 1968 issue ofMelody Maker told of incident in the United States where Curtis lost his temper with a policeman. Curtis and Peter MacBeth were driving through San Francisco to Los Angeles. They were stopped by the police. The policeman took MacBeth's license and went around the back of the car possibly to check the number plate. Curtis turned around to look and the policeman started shouting at him "Have you got anything to say" and told him to sit down. Curtis lost his temper telling him, "You may talk to your American spades like that but I'm British". He also said "Don't you dare speak to me like that", and he would have his badge off of him as well. Apparently the policeman looked amazed.[12]
After having found success with The Foundations, two hit singles and releasing two albums, some problems started with their songwriter producerTony Macaulay as well within the group. Curtis felt that after their hit a couple of The Foundations members were taking things a little too easy thinking that they did not need to work so hard now that they had scored a hit.[citation needed] After being disillusioned with the band, he along with another member,Mike Elliott, left The Foundations in 1968 just after recording a version of "It's All Right", a song that they had been playing live for some time.[13] He stuck around long enough to help the band audition a replacement.[13] One of the singers auditioning wasWarren Davis of theWarren Davis Monday Band. His replacement turned out to be Joey Young (Colin Young).[14]
In 1969, a self-titled album,The Foundations was released on theMarble Arch label (cat MALS 1157). It was among the selection of lower priced records listed in the 18 October 1969 issue ofNew Musical Express.[15] It featured stereo re-recordings of songs previously recorded by The Foundations.[16][17] The songs "Any Old Time (You're Lonely and Sad)", "Back on My Feet Again", "Harlem Shuffle", "Tomorrow" and "We Are Happy People" had appeared on theRocking the Foundations album released the previous year.[18][19] "Baby Now That I've Found You" with Colin Young on vocals from the Marble Arch LP[20] has the same backing track as the original version by Clem Curtis.[21][22] The new version of "Tomorrow" when referred to years later, gets referred to as the alternate version. This version has Colin Young on vocals instead of Clem Curtis' vocals which appeared on the live version. They too have the same backing track. However, the Colin Young re-recording is a longer edit.[23][24] "Tomorrow" was originally on theRocking the Foundations album[25] which was a mixture of actual live and studio tracks.[26] It's likely that there were some recordings with Clem Curtis on lead vocals in existence, but his vocals were replaced with those by Colin Young.[citation needed]
During the 1970s, the group was calledClem Curtis & the Foundations but sometimes used the Foundations name.[27][28]Curtis and his Foundations toured Australia in 1975. Unfortunately, the tour was marred with a trumped up assault charge which resulted in Curtis being taken off of a Jet by the New South Wales police, put into handcuffs and put into a police cell.[1]
In 1977, Clem Curtis and the Foundations nearly got into theEurovision final with "Where Were You When I Needed Your Love",[29] aJohn Macleod and Dave Meyers composition.[30] They came third in the heats, and were picked as a favourite to win, but an electricians' strike ruined their chances, and "Rock Bottom" byLynsey de Paul andMike Moran was the winner.[31]
Curtis andAlan Warner worked on a project to re-cut the original Foundations hits.[13] The result was theGreatest Hits CD album that was released on Double Play GRF176 in or around 1994. The recordings were produced and arranged by Keith Bateman and in addition to Warner on guitar and Curtis on lead vocals, the recordings featured Andy Bennett on Drums and Vince Cross on keyboards.[32][33]
Curtis went on to pursue a solo career in the United States. This was probably helped along by the encouragement of his friendSammy Davis Jr.[31]
According to the October 12, 1968 issue ofMelody Maker, Curtis' first solo disc was to be "Just for Tonight" which was a Tony Macaulay composition. He was also rehearsing his backing group in preparation for a some one-nighters in about a fortnight time.[34] It appears that Tony Macaulay hadDavid Essex record it instead.[35] It was announced in 7 December 1968 issue ofMelody Maker that Curtis' debut single would be the Tony Macaulay composition, "Marie Take a Chance and it would be released byUnited Artists on 9 January.[36] In 1969, he was signed to Cowsills Productions and had debuted with "Marie Take a Chance".[37] The Tony Macaulay and John Macleod composition was arranged byDes Champ.[38] The single was reviewed by Stu Ginsburg in the 31 January issue ofGO YMCA. Making note of the fact that this was Curtis' first release since leaving The Foundations, Ginsberg said that the song was "rhythmically lyrical, and could be his first big one".[39] The single was reviewed in the January 18, 1969 issue ofNew Musical Express. Reviewer Derek Johnson said that it was "a busy, bouncy extremely exhilarating number" and that it sounded that Clem was back with his former group. He said that he wasn't sure if the song was strong enough.[40] The single was reviewed in the 19 April issue ofRecord World. One of the magazine's four-star picks, the reviewer said, "it rocks for real".[41] A "newcomer pick", it was also reviewed byCash Box that week. The reviewer noted the teen appeal and said that it had hefty rhythm appeal, and it carried a fine vocal. There was also breakout potential.[42] As shown byRecord World in the 26 April issue, the single was getting played on US radio stations, KIMN, WAKY and KCPX.[43]
After some well-received club appearances and hanging out with artists such asWilson Pickett, and staying withthe Cowsills, he did not receive enough work and decided to return to England in the early 1970s.[citation needed] He did some work withDonnie Elbert andJohnny Johnson and the Bandwagon.[44]
Working with producer John Macleod in 1971, Curtis recorded the Macleod /Mike Redway composition, "Mountain Over the Hill" which was released on Pye 7N 45070.[45][46]
Working again with producer John Macleod,[47] Curtis recorded "I've Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)". Backed with "Point of No Return", it was released onPye 45150 in 1972.[48][49] "Point of No Return" had earlier been recorded byPickettywitch and was the B side of their single, " Number Wonderful" (cat# Pye 7N.45126) which was produced by Mcleod.[50][51] Curtis' single was reviewed by Peter Jones in the June 24, 1972 issue ofRecord Mirror. Jones said that it had a good off-beat that would lead to hand clapping and foot stomping. He couldn't elaborate on the lazy feeling of the song but said that it was a good production and that Clem had the feel and that it was a chart chance.[52] It was also reviewed byMelody Maker. The reviewer said that it was a nice record that could do well in discos and there was a chart possibility.[53][54]
He recorded "I Don't Care What People Say" bw "Shame on You" which was released onEMI EMI 2159 in May 1974. Both sides were composed byBiddu andLee Vanderbilt. It was reviewed by Peter Jones in the May 25 issue ofRecord Mirror. Jones said that the Biddu production was good and noted the gently building performance but said that it was a hard one to assess and that it wasn't a strong enough song, almost but not quite.[55][56]
In 1979, he recorded his version of "Unchained Melody" which was released in both 7" format (RCA PB 5175) and 12" format (RCA PC 5175). It was to be available from July 16.[57] His disco version of the song spent three weeks in theRecord Mirror UK Disco Chart, peaking at no. 75.[58]
Curtis had a part as a member of the congregation in the Anton Philips production of theJames Baldwin play,The Amen Corner which ran in March 1987 at theLyric Theater in London.[59]
In the late 1980s, Curtis joined the line-up ofthe Corporation, also referred to as "the Traveling Wrinklies", which was a parody of sorts of the popularTraveling Wilburys. The Traveling Wrinklies were composed of Curtis,Mike Pender,Brian Poole, Tony Crane, andReg Presley, former lead singer ofthe Troggs. They released the single "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" on the Corporation label in 1988.
Curtis appeared on stage as the Lion inThe Wiz at theLyric Hammersmith. His performance was singled out by a critic forThe Guardian who said it was "fiercely comic and touching".[60] He has also appeared on TV chat shows, the British reality television seriesAirport, and had a bit part in theITV seriesThe Bill.
In 2004, Curtis toured the UK as part of a soul package tour with Jimmy James & The Vagabonds. At the end of a show he was invited back on stage by Jimmy James who said "I don't like him and he don't like me but that's all right. Here's Clem Curtis." They then did "Love Train" together.[61]
WithNewham Mag referring to Curtis as the Godfather of English Soul, Clem Curtis & the Foundations along withHot Chocolate were appearing at the Under The Stars Festival on Saturday night, 15 August 2015.[62]
Curtis recorded and performed until near the end of his life; he was regularly seen as part of the "soul explosion" night with formerFlirtations singer Earnestine Pearce andJimmy James at resorts such asButlins andWarner Leisure Hotels in the United Kingdom.[63][64][65][66] He also appeared on cruises such as the cruise ship "Azura", which docked in Southampton.[67]
Outside of music Curtis had established a side occupation for himself, dealing in antiques.[68][60]
He was the father of seven children, six sons and a daughter from previous relationships.[69][70] Curtis died on 27 March 2017 at the age of 76, after a short battle with cancer.[71]
Curtis has been referred to on various occasions, informally as "The Godfather of English Soul".[72][73]
His brother is Hot Chocolate percussionist and backing singer Derek Lewis.[citation needed] Lewis was also a member ofClem Curtis & the Foundations.[74]
| Title | Year | Act | Label | catalogue # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Marie Take a Chance" / "Caravan"[75] | 1969 | Clem Curtis | United Artists | UP 2263 |
| "Mountain Over the Hill" / "Time Alone Will Tell"[76] | 1971 | Clem Curtis | Pye Records | 7N 45070 |
| "I've Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)" / "Point of No Return"[76][77] | 1972 | Clem Curtis | Pye Records | 7N 45149 |
| "I Don't Care What People Say" / "Shame on You"[78] | 1974 | Clem Curtis | EMI | EMI 2159 |
| "Make a Wish" / "Amanda"[79] | 1976 | Clem Curtis & the Foundations Ltd. | Riverdale | RR 100 |
| "Sweet Happiness" / "Lady Luck"[80] | 1976 | Clem Curtis & the Foundations | Riverdale | RR 105 |
| "Unchained Melody" / "Need Your Love"[81] | 1978 | Clem Curtis | RCA | PB 5175 |
| "Broadway" / "Broadway (instrumental)"[82] | 1984 | Clem Curtis & the Foundations | IDM | IDM 69 |
| "Baby Now That I've Found You" / "Baby Now That I've Found You (Instrumental)"[82] | 1987 | Clem Curtis & the Foundations | Opium | OPIN 001 |
| "Stuck in a Wind Up" / "Move Over Daddy"[83] | 2005 | Lord Large featuring Clem Curtis | 2 Bit | 2BIT45 - 1 |
| "Stuck in a Wind Up" / "Move Over Daddy"[84] | 2005 | Lord Large featuring Clem Curtis | Acid Jazz | AJX 174 S |
| Title | Year | Act | Label | Catalogue # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Unchained Melody, Need Your Love" / "Need Your Love"[85] | 1979 | Clem Curtis | RCA Victor | PC 5175 |
| "Dancing in the Street" / "Scottish Beat Party"[86] | 1983 | Clem Curtis | Pressure | DD 1006 |
| "Baby Now That I've Found You" (Extended Version) / "Baby Now That I've Found You" (7" Version), "Baby Now That I've Found You" (Busk Mix)[87] | 1987 | Clem Curtis & the Foundations | Opium Records | OPINT 001 |
| "Promise" (The Saxual Mix), "Promise" (The Funky Trip) / "Promise" (Jon's in the Garage), "Promise" (Original Honesty Mix), "Promise" (Drummie Zeb Dubbed Up Mix)[88] | 1992 | The Promise featuring Clem Curtis | Hard Discs | HARD T 3 |
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| Singles | |
| Other songs | |
| Related articles | |
| International | |
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| Artists | |
