Friday, January 1, 2016

In Memoriam: Curtis Lee




This is the obit from The Dead Rock Stars Club website, which is oddly, very poorly written. Seems like maybe they ought to be a little more reverential when talking about the dearly departed:

Curtis Lee- Died 1-8-2015 in Yuma, Arizona, U.S. - Cancer ( Pop ) Born 10-28-1939 in Yuma, Arizona, U.S. - Singer - (He did, "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" and "Under The Moon Of Love").

I chose Curtis Lee for this month’s post not because I know a lot about him, but more so for his biggest song, “Pretty Little Angel Eyes”. This track has been part of my personal playlist of years. I don’t know when I first heard it, but I do know that tripping, percussive vocal intro,

‘pretty little, pretty little, pretty little angel eyeeeeeeeessssssss…”

was always oddly appealing to me. I loved Curtis’ deep baritone, loved that ‘doo wopp ditty’ delivery. I thought that was what early rock vox was all about… And I will forever measure up all vocals from the golden era of American pop to Lee’s silly, rhythmic didy diddy bop… a little silly, a lot of rhythm, a whole lot of that ineffable sense of gotta go go go that made rock and rock what it was, what it still is… 

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