Clifford Curry Jr. (November 3, 1936 – September 7, 2016) was an American

beach music Beach music, also known as Carolina beach music, and to a lesser extent, beach pop, is a regional genre of music in the United States which developed from rock/ R&B and pop music of the 1950s and 1960s. Beach music is most closely associate ...

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

, and R&B singer.

Early life and career

Curry was born on November 3, 1936, in the Bearden neighborhood of

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. Curry's career began in high school and he was a member of several groups, including The Echoes, The Five Pennies (for whom he wrote a 1956 release, "Mr. Moon"), Hollyhocks (1957), and the Bubba Suggs Band (1957–1964). As Sweet Clifford he recorded for the Nashville-based

Excello Records Excello Records was an American blues independent record label, started by Ernie Young in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, in 1953 as a subsidiary of Nashboro, a gospel label. History It recorded such artists as Louis Brooks, Lightnin' Slim, ...

label, before beginning work with the Fabulous Six and the Contenders. In 1967, he had a hit on the US R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

with " She Shot A Hole In My Soul", which

Buzz Cason James Elmore "Buzz" Cason (November 27, 1939 – June 16, 2024) was an American rock singer, songwriter, record producer and author. Life and career James Elmore Cason was born in Nashville, Tennessee on November 27, 1939. He was a founding mem ...

produced. The song was written by Mac Gayden and performed by Gayden and his bandmates Kenny Buttrey and Norbert Putnam. Despite its commercial failure at the time, his 1968 single "I Can't Get A Hold Of Myself" became a

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

anthem from the start of that scene, being played extensively at the

Twisted Wheel Club The Twisted Wheel was a nightclub in Manchester, England, open from 1963 to 1971. It was one of the first clubs to play the music that became known as Northern soul. History The nightclub was founded by the brothers Jack, Phillip and Ivor Ab ...

and

Wigan Casino The Wigan Casino is the colloquial name for the nightclub the Casino Club, that operated in Wigan between Friday, August 27 1965 (with Shirley Bassey topping the bill) and 1981, associated with the Northern Soul movement in the UK. The club's end ...

. Known as "The King Of Beach Music," Curry continued to play in the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

with his brand of Carolina Beach Music, and was inducted into the Beach Music Hall of Fame in 1995, along with his peers Maurice Williams and

Bill Pinkney Willie "Bill" Pinkney (August 15, 1925 – July 4, 2007) was an American performer and singer. Pinkney was the last surviving original member of The Drifters, who achieved international fame with numerous hit records. He was chiefly responsib ...

. In 1997, Curry recorded an album titled ''Tennessee R&B Live'' with

Earl Gaines Earl Gaines Jr. (August 19, 1935 – December 31, 2009) was an American soul blues and electric blues singer. Born in Decatur, Alabama, he sang lead vocals on the hit single "It's Love Baby (24 Hours a Day)", credited to Louis Brooks and his ...

and Roscoe Shelton. Curry joined and backed Faye Adams on her number one R&B smash "Shake a Hand".

Personal life

Curry resided in

. In 2010, he was hospitalized for blood clots in his lungs. He suffered a stroke on August 29, 2016. Curry died, after being taken off of life support, in Knoxville at the

University of Tennessee Medical Center The University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) is an academic medical center located in Knoxville, Tennessee and serves as a referral center for East Tennessee and regions in Kentucky and North Carolina. The University of Tennessee Graduate S ...

on September 7, 2016, at the age of 79. He had also suffered from prostate cancer and diabetes.

References

External links

Clifford Curry Soulful Kinda Music - Clifford Curry Discography Page
* ttp://www.billboard.com/artist/clifford-curry/discography/compilations/119557# Clifford Curry Billboard Magazine Bio {{DEFAULTSORT:Curry, Clifford 1936 births 2016 deaths Musicians from Knoxville, Tennessee Singers from Nashville, Tennessee American rhythm and blues singers