A Bite of Curtis Mayfield 🍪
The civil rights hero who made music that changed history
Monday Bites are bite-sized musician spotlights & playlists by Grace Lilly.
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• 3 min read •
Nothing could stop Curtis
Not radio bans, not even becoming paralyzed. He made music through it all.
Curtis Mayfield had a once-in-a-century ability to deftly inject social commentary into his songs while simultaneously inspiring courage and hope. He was so good at it that Dr. King used to play his songs during Civil Rights Movement marches because of their unique power to motivate marchers.
Then radio stations started banning him.
They knew he was affecting change, big change. But little did they know he couldn’t be stopped.
Three decades later, after suffering from an accident that left him paralyzed and unable to play guitar, Curtis figured out a way to lie down and sing using gravity to pull down on his chest and lungs. He even recorded an entire album that way, 1996’s New World Order.
“How many 54-year-old quadriplegics are putting albums out? You just have to deal with what you got, try to sustain yourself as best you can, and look to the things that you can do.”
No matter what obstacles he encountered, Curtis kept going. By the time of his death in 1996, he had 140 unreleased songs and two albums in the vaults.
He truly paved the way for generations of revolutionary-minded artists and made music that has stood the test of time (one of his albums is even preserved by the Library of Congress). The best part? His music is fun to listen to. He makes you dance while making you think. Maybe that was his most powerful magic of all.
Curtis Mayfield
The basics
🤝 American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer
🤝 b. 1942 (Chicago, Illinois) - 1999 (Roswell, Georgia)
🤝 Dubbed the “Gentle Genius,” a pioneering voice in the black pride movement
Why you should know him: Compared to Martin Luther King Jr. for making a lasting impact in the civil rights struggle with his inspirational music; one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music
If you like
✨ Stevie Wonder
✨ Jimi Hendrix
✨ James Brown
Known for
🏆 His evocative falsetto voice & unique rhythm guitar style that inspired Jimi Hendrix
🏆 One of the first musicians to bring themes of social awareness into soul music
🏆 A member of the band The Impressions, wrote the songs that soundtracked the Civil Rights Movement
🏆 His album Super Fly, noted for its socially conscious themes — preserved by the Library of Congress for being culturally & historically significant
🏆 Grammy Legend Award & Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, also a two-time Grammy Hall of Fame inductee
🏆 Ranked no. 34 on Rolling Stone′s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, no. 40 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time
Bite-sized facts
🍪 Taught himself guitar when he was 10, loved his guitar so much he used to sleep with it
🍪 Started writing songs at 14 after joining his friend’s group The Roosters; they’d later become The Impressions & he’d become the lead singer
🍪 A prolific songwriter in Chicago, he started his own label, wrote & produced hits for many other artists (like Gene Chandler’s chart-topping single “Rainbow”)
🍪 Left The Impressions in 1970 to pursue a solo career; his first solo album Curtis hit the top 20 & was a critical success
🍪 Commercial and critical peak of his solo career came with the soundtrack album Super Fly (1972) — sold more than 12 million copies and ushered in a new socially conscious, funky style of popular soul music
🍪 Continued to make music after being paralyzed from the neck down when lighting equipment fell on him during a 1990 live performance in Brooklyn
Activism & The Civil Rights Movement
💪🏾 Sang about black pride & civil rights, known for introducing social consciousness into popular African-American music
💪🏾 Was raised in the Cabrini-Green projects of Chicago, had a personal connection to the struggles of urban poverty
💪🏾 His group’s song “Keep On Pushing” became the number one sing-along during the Freedom Rides
💪🏾 Black students sang The Impressions’ songs as they protested outside their universities and marched to jail
💪🏾 Despite persistent radio bans & revenue loss, he continued his work for equality until his death
In film & TV
📺 Super Fly (1972): Mayfield’s soundtrack for this film is considered an all-time great body of work, ranked at no. 72 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Songs & dates
♫ 1965 Writes and releases “People Get Ready” with The Impressions; later ranked at no. 24 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time; inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
♫ 1967 His Impressions’ song “We’re a Winner” becomes an anthem of the black power and black pride movements, reaches #13 on Billboard’s pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart
♫ 1972 “Freddie's Dead” and “Super Fly” each sell more than 1 million copies and are awarded gold discs by the R.I.A.A.
♫ 1973 Releases an anti-war album Back to the World, deals with the social aftermath of the Vietnam War
♫ 1977 “Do Do Wap is Strong in Here” becomes one of his most successful funk-disco meldings
He said
⭐ “Our purpose is to educate as well as to entertain.”
⭐ “Being a young black man, observing and sensing the need for race equality and women’s rights, I wrote about what was important to me.”
⭐ “My fights and arguments, even with God, went down on paper.”
⭐ “My teacher told me I’d never amount to anything. I left high school at 15, after one year. But my real teachers were all the people around me. And I was a good listener.”
⭐ “To talk about the ‘60s almost brings tears to my eyes. What we did. What we all did. We changed the world.”
We love Curtis
Los Angeles Times Music Critic Robert Hilburn
💗 “His most affecting songs carried the optimism and conviction of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s most celebrated sermons. His music was a major influence on many of today's most influential rap and hip-hop stars, from Lauryn Hill to Public Enemy.”
My Curtis Mayfield Playlist
I gathered my fav Curtis songs, from me to you with love. Like & save on Spotify and listen all week 💗
Where to start
Singing his gold hit
Curtis performing his hit single “Super Fly” on The Midnight Special on June 8, 1973
〰️
Performing with The Impressions
Curtis singing his song “It’s All Right” with his group in 1965
Down the rabbit hole
If you wanna dive even deeper:
VH1 Legends: Curtis Mayfield (1996)
Three years before he passed, Curtis Mayfield sat down with VH1 for this music biography television series to discuss his life & career. Watch on Youtube.
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Explore
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Curtis is one of my heroes and "New World Order", especially, is one of my favorite albums. One of the true giants of the 20th century.