Mike Curb
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Michael Curb (born December 24, 1944 in Savannah, Georgia) is an American musician, record company executive, race car owner (in both NASCAR and IRL), and politician who served as Lieutenant Governor of California from 1979 until 1983. He is a member of the Republican Party.
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[edit] Early career in music
As a freshman at California State University, Northridge (in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles), working in the practice rooms of the Department of Music building, Curb wrote the breakthrough song that helped launch his career — "You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda (Go Little Honda)" — and founded his first record company, a predecessor to Curb Records. He left college in 1963 as his success in the music business began building.
Curb did the musical scoring for the short film "Skater Dater" in 1965. He also did the scoring to Born Losers (1967), the first of the Billy Jack films featuring Tom Laughlin. A "boy wonder" in business, at age 21 he started his own record company, Sidewalk Records, sold it out for a large amount of money, and was then appointed head of MGM Records in 1969. At MGM in the 1970s, he was associated with Roy Orbison and others such as the Osmond Family. But he was perhaps best known for his culturally conservative policy of ridding the company of bands that were associated with drugs or hippies, thus dumping the Velvet Underground, the Mothers of Invention and others. In 1969 he organized his own group, The Mike Curb Congregation, which along with the Osmonds was accused by critics of presenting a "white bread" sound but which sold millions of records. The band scored a hit with Burning Bridges, the theme song from the film Kelly's Heroes, and their recording of It's a Small World was chosen by Disneyland as the ride's official theme song. In 1978 the Mike Curb congregation was featured in the Sherman Brothers' musical The Magic of Lassie soundtrack and in 1980 they recorded Together, a New Beginning, the theme song for Ronald Reagan's successful presidential bid.
[edit] Politics
Curb was encouraged to enter politics in part by Ronald Reagan. Curb was elected lieutenant governor in November, 1978, at the same time as the reelection of Governor Jerry Brown. Brown was out of state for much of 1979 and early 1980 seeking the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Curb often took advantage of this to fill the role of acting governor, sometimes vetoing legislation or issuing executive orders that would not be in any way the intent of Brown. Much of this resulted in litigation,[1] but the ability of Curb to act when Brown was out of state was upheld in most instances, setting an important precedent for future lieutenant governors.
Despite being seen briefly as one of the Republican Party's rising stars and being promised a bright political future by some national Republican leaders, Curb lost the Republican nomination for Governor in 1982 to Attorney General George Deukmejian. Although he won his party's nomination for Lieutenant Governor in 1986, he was defeated in the general election by incumbent Lieutenant Governor Leo McCarthy.
[edit] Later career in music
Returning to the music industry, he established Curb Records. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1994 where his company records for artists such as Wynonna Judd, LeAnn Rimes, Hank Williams, Jr., Tim McGraw, Sawyer Brown, Nemesis and others. Curb also, in cooperation with Warner Music Group, is an equity partner in church music publishers Word Label Group.
[edit] Involvement in car racing
A stock car racing enthusiast, he is the owner of Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, a full-time team in NASCAR's Busch Series. Curb's sponsorship and ownership have included three of NASCAR's greatest drivers; he previously owned Richard Petty's famed #43 in 1984 and 1985, including the 199th and 200th career wins for Petty. Curb was also a sponsor for Dale Earnhardt during his 1980 championship winning season, and currently sponsors Darrell Waltrip's #12 Toyota Tundra in the Craftsman Truck Series, driven by Joey Miller. Curb-Agajanian has also run cars in the Indianapolis 500 on occasion.
[edit] Public honors
In Nashville Curb has become known as something of a civic leader and as a benefactor of Belmont University, where his donation toward the construction of a new arena was sufficient to result in it being named the Curb Event Center in his honor. The University also runs "The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business."
In August 2006 link Curb pledged $10 million to California State University, Northridge (in Los Angeles) to endow his alma mater's nationally renowned arts college and provide a lead gift for the university's planned regional performing arts center that also will serve as a "learning laboratory" for students. Of the $10 million gift, $5 million will support CSUN's exceptional College of Arts, Media, and Communication, one of the university's largest colleges that offers cutting-edge programs for more than 4,400 students. Four million of that will go into a general endowment for the college, and $1 million will endow a faculty chair specializing in music industry studies.
[edit] Reference
- ^ In re the Petition of the Commission on the Governorship of California (Brown v. Curb), 26 Cal. 3d 110.
[edit] External links
- Mike Curb at the Internet Movie Database
- Mike Curb Political History
- Mike Curb - Politics at MikeCurb.com
- The Mike Curb Congregation at All Music Guide
| Preceded by Mervyn M. Dymally |
Lieutenant Governors of California 1979 – 1983 |
Succeeded by Leo T. McCarthy |
