BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 31st August to 3rd September 2020
Lenny Kravitz, a life-long fan of Curtis Mayfield's music, celebrates his life and musical achievements.
Curtis was a prolific songwriter whose career was sadly cut short following a tragic accident in August 1990; which eventually led to his death at the age of 57 on 26th December 1999. His songs of love and peace influenced millions, and he was an inspiration to many music luminaries including Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.
This series was first broadcast on 6 Music in December 2009.
A MAN LIKE CURTIS - 1. PEOPLE GET READY (320kbs-m4a/69mb/30mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 31st August 2020
The first episode, People Get Ready, concentrates on Curtis' early musical influences from 50s to 65: gospel beginnings, writing songs for Jerry Butler, and early Impressions' hits. The subjects of his songs ranged from simple, tender love songs to broadsides demanding social and political equality.
As a songwriter and a producer, Curtis was a key architect of Chicago soul, penning material and working on sessions by notable Windy City soulsters including Gene Chandler, Jerry Butler, Major Lance, and Billy Butler. Mayfield was also an excellent guitarist, and his rolling, Latin-influenced lines were the highlights of The Impressions' recordings. Early on, he established his own publishing company and soon after that, his own independent record companies, Windy C, Mayfield and Curtom Records. These all emphasized Curtis' statesman-like role within black music as a producer of excellence.
The Impressions - People Get Ready
Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
The Original Gospel Harmonettes - I'm Sealed
Curtis Mayfield - Think (Instrumental)
The Impressions - Little Young Lover
Jerry Butler & The Impressions - For Your Precious Love
Jerry Butler - I'm A Telling You
The Impressions - Gypsy Woman
Jerry Butler - He Will Break Your Heart
The Impressions - It's All Right
The Impressions - Keep On Pushing
Major Lance - The Monkey Time
Walter Jackson - What Would You Do
The Impressions - Woman's Got Soul
The Impressions - Meeting Over Yonder
The Impressions - People Get Ready
Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
A MAN LIKE CURTIS - 2. MOVE ON UP (320kbs-m4a/69mb/30mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 1st September 2020
The second episode, Move On Up, looks at Curtis' protest songs, chart success and Superfly.
In 60s America, Curtis Mayfield's songs were taken up by Civil Rights Movement: Choice of Colors, My Country, I'm So Proud and We're a Winner, all with the Impressions. In 1970, Curtis launched his solo career with (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Going To Go, a protest song confronting ghetto life with a realism that had rarely been heard on record. He also toughened up his guitar work, incorporating some of the best features of psychedelic rock and funk.
In 1971 he enjoyed his biggest UK success with Move on Up, which reached number 12 but surprisingly did not chart in America. There, his commercial rise was maintained in 1972 with Freddie's Dead and the theme from Superfly, a "blaxploitation" movie that he scored. Drug deals, ghetto shootings, the deaths of young black men: all were described in detail. Yet Curtis' falsetto vocals, uplifting melodies, and funky arrangements gave the moralizing material a graceful strength. Both singles and the album achieved gold status, inspiring further excursions into film soundtracks, including Claudine, and Let's Do It Again.
Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
Curtis Mayfield - Think (Instrumental)
Curtis Mayfield - Billy Jack
The Spaniels - Goodnite Sweetheart Goodnite
The Impressions - We're A Winner
The Impressions - This Is My Country
The Impressions - Choice Of Colors
The Impressions - Keep On Pushing
The Impressions - Check Out Your Mind
Curtis Mayfield - (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Going To Go
Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
Curtis Mayfield - We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue (Live)
Curtis Mayfield - Superfly
Curtis Mayfield - Freddie's Dead
Curtis Mayfield - Little Child Runnin' Wild
Gladys Knight & The Pips - On And On
Gladys Knight & The Pips - Make Yours A Happy Home
The Staple Singers - Let's Do It Again
Curtis Mayfield - Back To The World
Curtis Mayfield - We Got To Have Peace
A MAN LIKE CURTIS - 3. KEEP ON KEEPING ON (320kbs-m4a/69mb/30mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 2nd September 2020
The third episode, Keep On Keeping On, picks up the story in the late 70s and takes us up to his appearance at the 1983 Glastonbury Festival.
Curtis continued his work on film soundtracks with A Piece of the Action, Sparkle and Short Eyes. Towards the end of the 70's he concentrated more on producing a number of artists including Aretha Franklin's 1978 album, Almighty Fire.
In 1981, he joined the Boardwalk label, for which he recorded Honesty. He remained a highly popular live artist, particularly in Britain where (Celebrate) The Day After You, a collaboration with the Blow Monkeys, and a protest song against the Thatcher government, became a hit. We explore what he was like as a live performer and talk to the band members who played Glastonbury Festival with him in 1983.
Curtis Mayfield - Keep On Keeping On
Curtis Mayfield & Linda Clifford - Between You Baby And Me [RSO]
Donny Hathaway & June Conquest - I Thank You [Curtom]
Curtis Mayfield - Party Night [Curtom]
Curtis Mayfield - Do Do Wap Is Strong In Here [Curtom]
Aretha Franklin - Something He Can Feel [Atlantic]
Mavis Staples - Chocolate City [Curtom]
Curtis Mayfield With Fishbone - He's A Flyguy
Curtis Mayfield & Ice-T - Superfly 1990 [GTV]
The Impressions - You Must Believe Me [ABC/Paramount]
Curtis Mayfield - Think (Instrumental)
The Impressions - Mighty Mighty Spade & Whitey (Live) [Buddah]
Curtis Mayfield - She Don't Let Nobody (But Me) [The Boardwalk Entertainment Co.]
Chaka Demus & Pliers - She Don't Let Nobody
Deniece Williams - I'm So Proud
Rod Stewart - People Get Ready (Live)
Curtis Mayfield - We Come In Peace
The Blow Monkeys - The Day After You
Curtis Mayfield - Dirty Laundry
A MAN LIKE CURTIS - 4. A NEW WORLD ORDER (320kbs-m4a/68mb/30mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 3rd September 2020
The final episode, New World Order, covers the tragic circumstances preceding his death and celebrates his enduring legacy.
On 13 August 1990 Curtis was doing a sound-check for an outdoor concert, onstage at Wingate Field, Flatbush, Brooklyn when the lighting rig came down on top of him crushing his spine in three places, and resulting in him being paralysed from the neck down. However, it did not deter him and he managed to produce a new studio album, New World Order in 1994. During the recording Curtis had to lie on his back in order to give some gravitational power to his singing.
His accident led to a re-appraisal of his work and several tribute albums were produced. He also received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. But the long term effects of the accident proved costly, and he died on 26 December 1999, aged only 57. Curtis Mayfield's contribution to soul music remains immense. He recorded some of the finest soul vocal group music of the 1960s; as a solo artist he helped pioneer funk; and he introduced hard-hitting urban commentary into his music, leading the way for Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Stevie Wonder's Innervisions.
Curtis Mayfield - We Gotta Have Peace
Curtis Mayfield - Homeless
Curtis Mayfield - Breakin' In The Streets
Curtis Mayfield - Do Be Down
Curtis Mayfield - To Be Invisible
Curtis Mayfield - Think (Instrumental)
Curtis Mayfield - Never Say You Can't Survive
Lenny Kravitz - Billy Jack [Warner]
Whitney Houston - Look Into Your Heart
Bruce Springsteen - Gypsy Woman
B.B. King - Woman's Got Soul
Phil Collins - I've Been Trying [Virgin]
Curtis Mayfield - The Got Dang Song [Warner]
Curtis Mayfield - We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue [Movieplay]
Curtis Mayfield - New World Order [Warner]
Curtis Mayfield - Here But I'm Gone [Warner]
Curtis Mayfield - People Get Ready [M+S]
Curtis Mayfield - The Makings Of You [Rhino]
Bob Marley - One Love/People Get Ready [Island]
The Impressions - Choice Of Colors [Sequel]
The Impressions - I'm So Proud [Epic]
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