Curtis Mayfield
Born on June 3, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, Mayfield was the son of Marion Washington and Kenneth Mayfield. Mayfield's father left the family when Mayfield was five and his mother moved Curtis and his siblings into various Chicago projects before settling at the Cabrini–Green projects when Mayfield reached his teenage years. Mayfield attended Wells Community Academy High School. He dropped out of high school early to become lead singer and songwriter for The Impressions.
Mayfield's career began in 1956 when he joined The Roosters with Arthur and Richard Brooks and Jerry Butler. Two years later The Roosters, now including also Sam Gooden, became The Impressions. The band had one big hit with "For Your Precious Love".
After Butler left the group and was replaced with Fred Cash, (a returning original Roosters member), Mayfield became lead singer, frequently composing for the band, starting with "Gypsy Woman", a Top 20 Pop hit.
Their hit "Amen," (Top 10), an updated version of an old gospel tune, was included in the soundtrack of the 1963 MGM film Lilies of the Field, which starred Sidney Poitier.
The Impressions reached the height of their popularity in the mid-to-late-'60s with a string of Mayfield compositions that included "Keep on Pushing," "People Get Ready", "It's All Right" (Top 10),the uptempo "Talking about My Baby"(Top 20), "Woman's Got Soul", "Choice of Colors,"(Top 20), "Fool For You," "This is My Country" and "Check Out Your Mind." Mayfield had written much of the soundtrack of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s, but by the end of the decade he was a pioneering voice in the black pride movement along with James Brown and Sly Stone. Mayfield's "We're a Winner", a Number 1 soul hit which also reached the Billboard pop Top 20, became an anthem of the black power and black pride movements when it was released in late 1967, much as his earlier "Keep on Pushing" (whose title is quoted in the lyrics of "We're a Winner" and also in "Move On Up") had been an anthem for Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement.
In 1970, Mayfield left The Impressions and began a solo career, founding the independent record label Curtom Records. Curtom went on to release most of Mayfield's landmark 1970s records, as well as records by the Impressions, Leroy Hutson, The Staple Singers, Mavis Staples, and Baby Huey and the Babysitters, a group which at the time included Chaka Khan. Many of these records were also produced by Mayfield.
The commercial and critical peak of his solo career came with his music Record album Super Fly, the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film of the same name, and one of the most influential albums in African-American history. Unlike the soundtracks to other blaxploitation films (most notably Isaac Hayes' score for Shaft), which glorified the ghetto excesses of the characters, Mayfield's lyrics consisted of hard-hitting commentary on the state of affairs in black, urban ghettos at the time, as well as direct criticisms of several characters in the film. The single releases "Freddie's Dead" and "Super Fly" both sold over one million copies each, and were awarded gold discs by the R.I.A.A.
Super Fly brought success that resulted in Mayfield being tapped for additional soundtracks, some of which he wrote and produced while having others perform the vocals.
Gladys Knight & the Pips recorded Mayfield's soundtrack for Claudine in 1974.
The Staple Singers recorded Mayfield songs for the soundtrack to Let's Do It Again in 1975.
Aretha Franklin recorded the soundtrack for Sparkle in 1976.
Mayfield worked with Mavis Staples on the 1977 soundtrack for the film A Piece of the Action.
He was in danger of overreaching himself being writer, producer, performer, arranger, and businessman but seemed to cope and still produce a remarkable output during his hit soundtracks Curtis released five solo projects of his own.
One of Mayfield's most successful funk-disco meldings was the 1977 hit "Do Do Wap is Strong in Here" from his soundtrack to the Robert M. Young film of Miguel Piñero's play Short Eyes.
Mayfield was active throughout the 1970s and 1980s, though he had a somewhat lower public profile in the 1980s.
On August 13, 1990, Mayfield was paralyzed from the neck down after stage lighting equipment fell on him at an outdoor concert at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York.
Along with his group The Impressions, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.
Because of the accident Curtis was unable to record and produce the awarding album New World Order like those that preceded it. He was unable to play guitar, but he wrote, sang, and directed the recording of his last album, New World Order. Mayfield's vocals were painstakingly recorded, usually line-by-line while lying on his back.
He was a winner of the prestigious Grammy Legend Award in 1994.
He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.
In 1999, he was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist making him one of the few artists to become double inductees.
Curtis Mayfield died on December 26, 1999 at the North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Georgia his health having steadily declined following his paralysis.[
Posthumously, in 2000, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
His last appearance on record was with the group Bran Van 3000 on the song "Astounded" for their album Discosis, recorded just before his death and released in 2001.
Mayfield's solo Super Fly is ranked No. 69 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
The Impressions' album/CD The Anthology 1961–1977 is ranked at No. 179 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all time.
As a member of The Impressions, he was posthumously inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.
In his 2003 biography of Curtis Mayfield, titled "People Never Give Up", author Peter Burns noted that Curtis has 140 songs in the Curtom vaults. Burns indicated that the songs maybe already completed or in the stages of completion, so that they could then be released commercially.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Mayfield No. 98 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
The Impressions' 1965 hit song, "People Get Ready", composed by Mayfield, has been chosen as one of the Top 10 Best Songs Of All Time by a panel of 20 top industry songwriters and producers, including Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Hal David, and others, as reported to Britain's Mojo music magazine.
The Impressions hits, People Get Ready and For Your Precious Love are both ranked on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, as No. 24 and No. 327 respectively.
2012 Curtis Mayfield music was reintroduced to a new generation with Whitney Houston’s revision of the movie Sparkle. Curtis classic music was revamped by the actresses of the stellar movie.
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