The Chicago Soul Series concludes today with the incomparable Curtis Mayfield.
(From Curtis Mayfield Official Site)
Curtis Mayfield was born July 3, 1942 in the Cabrini-Green housing projects, Chicago’s North Side, part of a single parent, seven member family in a small apartment. Mayfield first sang before the public in his grandmother’s Traveling Soul Spiritualists’ Church at age 7, the church where he obtained and retained his lifelong appreciation of black gospel music.
At age 16, Mayfield quit school, leaving to form a five piece group called The Roosters. Later the name would change to The Impressions. After Jerry Butler left the group, Mayfield took over (that distinctive falsetto) as lead singer and put together arrangements and harmonies for three voices that worked to set the group apart. As a result, The Impressions became a powerhouse group of the Soulful Sixties, with a consistent string of chart hits.
In 1970, Mayfield left the Impressions and founded his own record label, Curtom Records and was severely in danger of claiming the Hardest Working Man In Show Business title, producing The Staple Singers, Mavis Staples, Leroy Hutson, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Impressions and more, for Curtom and other labels.
In 1972, Mayfield released his most commercially successful recording, the soundtrack to “Superfly,” Here he showed Hollywood, that “you didn’t need a room the size of a football field to lay music in…. to be a Henry Mancini.” For the “Superfly” soundtrack, Mayfield was writer, performer, producer and he provided a concise picture-in-song of ghetto existence and its collision with street drugs. “Superfly” and “Freddie’s Dead,” from the movie, have been listed among the greatest inner city soul songs. Critics have noted that Mayfield’s work on the “Superfly” soundtrack in 1972 pointed the way to the gritty realism of the rappers and hip hop artists that followed two decades later. Rolling Stone magazine placed “Superfly” at #69 in the list of the 500 greatest albums.
Other Mayfield soundtracks followed: the much underrated “Claudine” (with Gladys Knight), “Sparkle” (Aretha Franklin), “A Piece of the Action” (Mavis Staples) and “Short Eyes” (in which Mayfield also acted). In all these Mayfield was writer, performer, arranger, producer.
Curtis Mayfield died, aged 57, on December 26, 1999. He left behind Altheida, his widow, six sons, three daughters, and seven grandchildren. And millions of devotees around the world.
