From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Feb 7, 2002  1:15 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : King Curtis
 
KING CURTIS

Born Curtis Ousley, 7 February, 1934, Fort Worth, Texas
Died 13 August, 1971, Manhattan, New York City, NY

Probably the most famous tenor saxophonist associated with rock
and roll. Initially playing alto sax, he switched to the more popular
R&B style tenor sax. In the early fifties he played with Lionel Hampton.
From May 1956 onwards, Curtis began to appear on many Atlantic/
Atco sessions, but this was not an exclusive arrangement and his
presence can be heard on dozens of outside sessions too. After The
Coasters relocated to New York City, Curtis played on all their sessions
(from "Yakety Yak" onwards) until 1961. It was in 1958 that he also
first recorded his own sessions for the same label as The Coasters,
the Atco subsidiary of Atlantic Records. In 1962 he had a # 1 R&B hit
with "Soul Twist" on the Enjoy label (# 17 pop), was signed to Capitol
from 1962-65, before returning to Atco (11 entries in the Billboard Hot
100, 1965-1971). King Curtis was stabbed to death by a derelict outside
an apartment building he owned in Manhattan. He died the next morning
at Roosevelt Hospital.
His 1958-59 Atco recordings are collected on the CD "Hot Sax, Cool Licks"
(Ace 757), released in 2000. Included as a bonus are some of the hits he
played on: "Yakety Yak" and "That Is Rock & Roll" by The Coasters and
"What Am I Living For" by Chuck Willis.