Sonny Curtiswho wrote such classics as “I fought against the law”, “Walk Right Back” and the theme of “Mary Tyler Moore” show, “Love is all around”, died Friday after a sudden illness, according to one Social media post by his daughter. Curtis also worked closely with Buddy Holly And performed with his band, crickets, both before and after the death of the legendary singer. He was 88.
Curtis was born, Curtis, was born in 1937 to a musical family – his uncles appeared in a bluegrass group called Mayfield Brothers. He met Buddy Holly at the age of 15 and formed a group with him and opened for such legends as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins and played guitar on several of his recordings. He left Holly to tour with Slim Whitman before returning to Holly and his band CRICKETS 1958, shortly before Holly’s death in a flight accident In February 1959 – “The day the music died”, as Don Mclean’s “American Pie” described it.
Curtis took over as a frontman on the crickets and the group released their song “I fought The Law” on their first album after Holly, “In Style with the crickets.” While neither that song nor anyone else from the album, “More Than I Can Say” (Cowrite with drummer Jerry Allison) were hits for the acids, they became big hits when they were later covered by other artists: the former by Bobby Fuller Four (and later The Clash) and the latter by the Bobby Vee (and later by later (and later by later (and later by Later by
Curtis was drawn up in the army in 1959 and wrote “Walk right back” while he was in basic training. During a three-day pass, he played it for Allison, who then played drums for Everly Brothers. Allison duly returned to the brothers and Curtis had another top 10 hit (Anne Murray also got a hit with it in the 1970s).
Still, Curti’s most famous song, “Love is all around”, was first released as the theme of “Mary Tyler Moore Show”, a monumentally popular television program that drove for seven years. As noted by Hollywood Reporter, Curtis had a four -page treatment of the show “About a young girl who is jilted in this small community in the Midwest and moves to the big city in Minneapolis and gets a job at a news station and rents an apartment that she has difficulty giving,” when he told CBS Sunday morning.
“I came in to the part that she rented an apartment that she had difficulty giving and wrote:“ How will you do it on her own? … this world is very big, and this time you are on your own. “
Curtis continued to write and perform, both as a solo artist and with the acids, into the seventies. His second hits include “The Straight Life” (covered by Glen Campbell and Bobby Goldsboro), “I’m not stranger to the rain” (Keith Whitley), “A fool never learns” (Andy Williams) and others. He was introduced in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991.
