General Background

Known as: artist, producer, composer label owner and symbol for and Black Capitalism within the industry Born: June 3, 1942 Location of birth: , Passed on: December 29, 1999 Location of passing: Roswell, Georgia

Key Highlights: - 1956: Met and later formed in 1957

- 1970: Embarked on a solo career Early Musical Influence

Music career before his teen years:

- Began singing at age seven

- he taught himself to play guitar at eight

- led his own gospel and group, the Alphatones

- began composing and writing lyrics

- Toured with Chicago gospel outfit, the Northern Jubilee Singers Early Life and the Impressions

- Formed the impressions with Jerry Butler and a motley crew drawn from different doo-wop groups

- At 16, Mayfield become ’s de facto head after then-lead singer Butler left to go solo

- In July of 1961 they recorded gold-selling “Gypsy Woman” for ABC-Paramount

- Mayfield was only 18 when the group signed with ABC-Paramount - was the beginning of Mayfield’s seven-year string of composing popular R&B hits.

- 1961: Mayfield wrote “Gypsy Woman” - 1963: group recorded “It’s All Right,”

- Was Chicago’s one-man hit machine, writing and/or producing a parade of chart toppers Solo Career

- Announced departure from the Impressions in 1970 and began solo career in 1971

- Viewed as a contemporary preacher through music and offered perspectives of the American scene and oppressed people

- A Times music critic said of his first solo , “He sings in a breathlessly high, pure voice, breaking his phrases into speech-like patterns, his rhythms pushed by the urgency of his thought”

- The 1972 movie, Superfly, launch Mayfield’s successful career writing soundtracks for films

- Mayfield has a particular influence on a new generation of listeners. His anti-drug messages fit well and were often used by young black filmmakers The Impressions Reunion

■ Original members of the Impressions, came back together for a reunion tour in 1983

■ Played 1960’s Impressions hit songs and Butler and Mayfield solo hits

■ As reviewed by Robert Palmer in , the performances “amounted to a capsule history of recent black popular music, from the slick doo-wop and grittier gospel-based vocal group styles of the 1950s to Mr. Butler’s urbane pop-soul, ’s soul message songs and later , and the styles the Impressions have tackled as a group.” Career Conclusion

- Outstanding comeback year in 1990

- Released album and promoted it on tour in the U.S., Europe and

- Capital Records released The Return of Superfly, a rap sample featuring four of Mayfield’s songs

- Involved in an accident that paralyzed him from the neck down

- Various artists including, , Phil Collins, , Whitney Houston, , B.B. King, , , and , got together to put out a tribute album in honor of the great Curtis Mayfield.

- Mayfield even got back in the studio to record, “All Men Are Brothers”, for the tribute album.

- Passed away of natural causes in his Georgia home Awards and Achievements

- 1961: Mayfield wrote their gold-selling “Gypsy Woman”

- 1963: group recorded “It’s All Right,” which Robert Pruter of Chicago Soul termed “the first single to define the classic style of the Impressions.”

- Wrote/produced a parade of chart toppers for the likes of (“”), (“Nothing Can Stop Me”), Billy Butler (“I Can’t Work No Longer”), and others for Chicago’s OKeh Records

- Two top-ten hit singles resulted from the soundtrack: “Freddie’s Dead” and “Superfly

- Impressions were nominated for a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

- Donated $100,000 to start the Curtis Mayfield Research Fund at Miami Project to Cure Paralysis

- Was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for his solo recordings