Nick Curran (September 30, 1977 – October 6, 2012) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

singer and guitarist. He has been likened to

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

The Sonics The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, that formed in 1960. Their aggressive, hard-edged sound has been a major influence on Punk rock, punk and Garage rock, garage music worldwide, and they have been named inspir ...

Doug Sahm Douglas Wayne Sahm (November 6, 1941 – November 18, 1999) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from San Antonio, Texas. He is regarded as a key Tejano music, Tex-Mex music and Music of Texas, Texan Music pe ...

Misfits MiSFiTS was the acronym for the ''Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy''. This organization has now changed its name to GPS, an acronym for Geek Partnership Society. It was founded in 1999 and was the parent non-profit org ...

Eddie Cochran

Early life

Nick Curran was born in

Biddeford, Maine Biddeford ( ) is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddef ...

. He began playing drums at the age of 3, showing an amazing ability to keep time even at such a young age. It was a daily ritual for him. He would turn on his radio and play along with the music. His dad, Michael, taught Nick everything he wanted and needed to know with the guitar. Any "lick" that Nick learned early on, he simply asked Michael (Mike) to show him how to do it... and a few hours later, Nick would emerge from his room having learned and practiced it. When asked at a young age why he wanted to play so badly, he replied, "I got the feelin'." He had received no formal lessons for guitar. At age 15, he played guitar and harp in his father's band, Mike Curran and the Tremors, and at the age of 17 played drums, again alongside his father, guitarist Michael Curran, in a band called The Upsetters-based out of

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

. That same year, he also formed the Rockabilly band Nick Danger and the Sideburners, frequently playing at a number of clubs in the

area. At 18, he auditioned for James Montgomery.

Career

Curran began his professional career at age nineteen, leaving Maine to tour with Ronnie Dawson, "The Blonde Bomber". Although Dawson was primarily a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

musician, many blues and punk fans appreciated his performances. He taught Curran not to get pigeonholed. Curran toured next with Texas rockabilly doyenne Kim Lenz, moving to

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

to join her backup band the Jaguars, and performing on Lenz's recording, ''The One And Only''. Curran would stay with the Jaguars for two years. He is also featured on Lenz's next CD, ''It's All True'', and toured with her in the summer of 2009. In 1999, the Texas Jamboree label issued Curran's debut solo recording, ''Fixin' Your Head''. As he would do on all future CDs, Curran used vintage recording equipment to achieve the feel and sound of old 45s and

78s A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The gro ...

, and the LPs of the 1950s. To support the recording he formed the band, Nick Curran & the Nitelifes. From 2004 to 2007 Curran played with

The Fabulous Thunderbirds The Fabulous Thunderbirds is an American blues rock band formed in 1974. Singer Kim Wilson is the only constant member through the band's entire history. Their 1986 album ''Tuff Enuff'' sold over a million copies, and spawned two minor hit singl ...

appearing on their 2005 recording, ''Painted On''. During that time, bassist

Ronnie James Ronnie James (8 October 1917 – 12 June 1977) was a British Lightweight boxing champion. Born in Swansea, Wales, James had over 130 professional bouts winning 114 of them, 61 through knockout. In 1946 he challenged Ike Williams at Cardiff fo ...

started the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band Deguello. In 2008, James and Curran formed The Attitudes with Nick, singing and playing drums standing up, and with guitarist CoffeeBoy Johnson. "This band is like when you and your buddy wanted to have a band in high school and there was no bass player. We just play what ever we wanted to," according to CoffeeBoy Johnson. Their set consisted of covers of The Misfits, The Ramones, Howlin' Wolf,

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with a wide variety of audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby Wha ...

, Muddy Waters and Little Richard. "We wanted to give

the Black Keys The Black Keys are an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, Singing, vocals) and Patrick Carney (Drum kit, drums). The duo began as an Independent music, independent act, record ...

a run for their money." Curran performed four songs in a scene in the 2008 HBO Series, ''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy Horror fiction, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball (screenwriter), Alan Ball. It is based on ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels ...

,'' based on

The Southern Vampire Mysteries ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', also known as ''The True Blood Novels'' and ''The Sookie Stackhouse Novels'', is a series of books written by The New York Times Best Seller list, bestselling author Charlaine Harris. The first installment, '' ...

Charlaine Harris Charlaine Harris Schulz (born November 25, 1951) is an American author who specializes in mysteries. She is best known for her book series '' The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', which was adapted as the TV series '' True Blood''. The television sh ...

, which explores the co-existence of humans and vampires. After performing a solo show in November 2008, Curran formed the rock ‘n' roll roots band, The Lowlifes, who were critically acclaimed and became a mainstay on

Little Steven Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin. He has appeared i ...

's Underground Garage, earning three "Coolest Song in the World" titles with tracks from the album, ''Reform School Girl''.

Death

In 2009, Curran was diagnosed with

oral cancer Oral cancer, also known as oral cavity cancer, tongue cancer or mouth cancer, is a cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless red or white patch, that thickens, gets ulcerated ...

. In June 2010, he had been deemed cancer free, but by April 2011 the cancer had returned and he underwent treatment. Curran eventually succumbed to the disease on October 6, 2012, at the age of 35.

Discography

*2000 – ''Fixin' Your Head'' *2001 – ''Nitelife Boogie'' *2003 – ''Doctor Velvet'' *2004 – ''Player!'' *2010 – ''Reform School Girl'' Allmusic gave four stars for every album.

References

External links

Music AOLBlind Pig RecordsNick Curran High quality video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curran, Nick 1977 births 2012 deaths Deaths from cancer in Maine American blues guitarists American male guitarists People from Biddeford, Maine People from Sanford, Maine Guitarists from Maine Deaths from oral cancer in the United States The Fabulous Thunderbirds members