Clem Curtis

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Clem Curtis
Birth name Clem Curtis
Born 28 November 1940
Origin Trinidad, West Indies
Genre(s) Soul, R&B, Pop
Occupation(s) musician
Instrument(s) vocals
Years active 1966 - Present
Label(s) Acid Jazz Records, EMI, Pye Records, Riverdale
Associated acts The Foundations , Clem Curtis & The Foundations , The Travelling Wrinklies , Lord Large , Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon, The Ramong Sound, Alan Warner
Notable instrument(s)
vocals

Clem Curtis (born 28 November 1940, Trinidad) is a singer and former lead vocalist of sixties British soul group soul group The Foundations.

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[edit] Early years

Curtis came to England at the age of fifteen and later found employment as an interior decorator. He entered boxing and won most of his fights as a professional boxer. His mother was a popular singer in Trinidad and Clem Curtis claims that this contributed to his ear for music.

[edit] Mid to late sixties

Between 1966 and 1967 he joined a band called The Ramong Sound. After a few name changes they became The Foundations. Curtis is the lead voice on their hits "Baby Now That I've Found You", "Back On My Feet Again" and "Any Old Time (You're Lonely And Sad)".

[edit] Late sixties to present

After having found success with The Foundations, two hit singles, releasing two albums some problems started within the group. Clem felt that after their hit a couple of The Foundations members were taking things a little too easy thinking that they didn't need to work so hard now that they'd scored a hit. After being disillusioned with the band, he left The Foundations in 1968 just after recording a fantastic version of "It's All Right," a song that they had been belting out live to crowds for some time. So he went over to pursue a solo career in the United States. This was probably helped along by the encouragment of Sammy Davis, Jr who he had become friendly with. He did stuck around long enough to help the band audition a replacement singer. His replacement was a singer called Colin Young.

After some well received club appearances and having a ball and haning out with artists like Wilson Pickett , staying with The Cowsills etc , he wasn't getting much work done and he decided to come back to England. He returned to the UK in the early 1970s and did some work with Donnie Elbert and Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon and later reformed a version of The Foundations.

Over the years, Curtis has fronted various line ups of The Foundations and, as well as appearing on his own as a solo artist. He has recorded and released records on various record labels which include EMI, Opium, Pye Records, RCA Records, Riverdale and various others. He even teamed up with Alan Warner the original guitarist of The Foundations in the late 1980s or early 1990s to re-cut the original hits of The Foundations.

In the late 1980s, Curtis joined the line up of "The Corporation", also referred to as "the Traveling Wrinklies", which was a parody of sorts, of the popular Traveling Wilburys. The Traveling Wrinklies were composed of Curtis, Mike Pender, Brian Poole, Tony Crane and Reg Presley, former lead singer of The Troggs. They released a single "Ain't Nothing But A House Party" on the Corporation label in 1988.

Curtis appeared on stage as the Lion in "The Wiz" at The Hammersmith Lyric, and gave a successful gospel stage performance in "Amen Corner" at The Lyric in Shaftesbury Avenue. He has also appeared on TV chat shows, British reality television series Airport and had a bit part in the ITV series The Bill.

Curtis is still recording and performing today, hecan regularly be seen as part of the "soul explosion" night with former Flirtations singer Earnestine Pearce and Jimmy James (of "Jimmy James and the Vagabonds" fame) at resorts such as Butlins in the United Kingdom [1] [2] [3]. He has acquired the unofficial title of "The Godfather of English Soul".[citation needed] In 2005, Curtis and Lord Large released "Stuck In A Wind Up" and "Move Over Daddy", which is a hit with the Northern Soul crowd.

Since reforming The Foundations in the early 1970s Clem Curtis has kept it going all along and in spite of an American band somehow adopting the Foundations name and covering their material and adding to the confusion, lead singer Curtis has kept fans entertained with the Foundations original hits.

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