Mike Curb

Michael Curb
42nd Lieutenant Governor of California
In office January 8, 1979 – January 3, 1983
Governor	Jerry Brown
Preceded by	Mervyn M. Dymally
Succeeded by	Leo T. McCarthy
Personal details
Born	(1944-12-24) December 24, 1944 Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Political party	Republican

Michael "Mike" Curb (born December 24, 1944, Savannah, Georgia, United States) is an American musician, record company executive, NASCAR car owner, and politician who served as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of California from 1979 to 1983 under Democratic Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr. He was acting governor of California while Brown spent time outside of California pursuing presidential ambitions. He is also the founder of Curb Records as well as an inductee of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.^[1]

Early music career

As a freshman at San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge), while working in the practice rooms of the Department of Music, Curb wrote the song "You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda (Go Little Honda)" which the company selected for its ad campaign. Dropping out of college in 1963 at the age of 19, Curb formed his first record company, Sidewalk Records (a predecessor of Curb Records) and helped launch the careers of West Coast rock and roll artists such as the Stone Poneys (featuring Linda Ronstadt), The Arrows (featuring Davie Allan) and the Electric Flag (featuring Mike Bloomfield and Buddy Miles).

Curb scored the music for the short film, Skaterdater (1965), as well as The Wild Angels (1966), Thunder Alley (1967), Devil's Angels (1967), The Born Losers (1967) - the first of the Billy Jack films, Maryjane (1968), The Wild Racers (1968), The Savage Seven (1968), The Big Bounce (1969), The Sidehackers (1969) and Black Water Gold (1970). In 1969, he merged his company with MGM and became President of MGM Records and Verve Records. Curb composed or supervised over 50 film scores and wrote over 400 songs.

Curb (center) with members of the Mike Curb Congregation and Davy Jones on a television special in 1972.

Curb organized his own musical group, The Mike Curb Congregation in the 1960s; they had a Top 40 pop hit in early 1971 with the title cut from their album Burning Bridges (written and composed by Lalo Schifrin and Mike Curb) which was used as the theme of Clint Eastwood's film Kelly's Heroes. They had an adult contemporary chart hit in 1970 with the song "Sweet Gingerbread Man" from the film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart^[2] and had a minor hit in 1973 with the Sherman Brothers composition "It's A Small Small World".^[3] The group was featured on Sammy Davis Jr.'s number-one Billboard Hot 100 hit of 1972, "The Candy Man" (the Aubrey Woods version was featured in the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) and in 1978, the Mike Curb Congregation was featured in the musical The Magic of Lassie, starring James Stewart. They recorded "Together, a New Beginning" in 1980, the theme song for Ronald Reagan's successful presidential bid that year. The Mike Curb Congregation were weekly regulars on Glen Campbell's CBS' National Network Television Show.

In 1969, Curb signed Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman to Capitol Records.^[4]

In the 1970s, Curb wrote for and produced Roy Orbison, the Osmond Family, Lou Rawls, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Solomon Burke; he also signed artists such as the Sylvers, Eric Burdon, War, Richie Havens, the Five Man Electrical Band, Gloria Gaynor, Johnny Bristol, Exile, The Four Seasons and the Dutch singer Heintje Simons. Curb ran a short-lived country music subsidiary label for Motown called Hitsville Records.^[5] Curb composed "It Was a Good Time" for Liza Minnelli's Emmy Award winning Liza with a Z. He also received BMI awards for composing "Burning Bridges" for Clint Eastwood's Kelly's Heroes, and for composing "All for the Love of Sunshine", which was Hank Williams, Jr.'s first #1 Record.

MGM anti-drug controversy

In 1970, Billboard reported that "MGM Records president Mike Curb has dropped 18 acts who, in his opinion, promote and exploit hard drugs through music."^[6] Billboard reported that Curb was alarmed by the drug-related deaths of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Alan Wilson of Canned Heat.^[6] Among the musicians thought to be included in the purge were The Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa's group The Mothers of Invention. However Zappa spoke out against drug use throughout his career and by early 1969 had fulfilled his MGM/Verve contract and moved to his own Bizarre Records label, distributed by Warner Bros. Also, when Eric Burdon, who was an advocate of psychedelics, dared Curb to release him from his contract although he was his biggest selling artist, Curb acquiesced.^[7][8]

Curb claimed industry support, but the only record company official he cited, Bill Gallagher, the president of Paramount Records, contradicted him.^[9] Columbia Records president Clive Davis said Curb was "grandstanding," and that his anti-drug stance had made him "a minor hero of the Nixon administration."^[10] In 1997, Curb said the affair had happened at a time when "you were considered a freak if you spoke out against drugs."^[8]

Throughout Curb's career he has helped artists through drug and substance abuse issues through numerous charities.^[11]

Political career

Signatures from a resolution signed by Curb in his ceremonial role of President of the California State Senate

Encouraged to enter politics in part by Ronald Reagan, Curb was elected lieutenant governor of California in 1978, defeating the incumbent Democrat, Mervyn M. Dymally. Democratic candidate Jerry Brown was re-elected governor in the same year. During much of Brown's 1979–1980 bid to become the Democratic presidential candidate, Curb served as acting governor, vetoing legislation, issuing executive orders and making appointments; actions the California's Supreme Court upheld as Curb's constitutional prerogative.^[12] Curb worked with Harvey Milk on the campaign against the Briggs Initiative and persuaded Reagan to oppose it, leading to its defeat. Curb has been a leading conservative supporter of gay rights ever since.^[13]

Curb lost the 1982 Republican gubernatorial nomination to California attorney general George Deukmejian. In 1986, Curb ran again for lieutenant governor as the Republican nominee against the incumbent Democrat Leo T. McCarthy in a bitterly contested race that largely centered around punishment for drug trafficking and violent crimes. A vocal opponent of drug use, Curb advocated extension of the death penalty to include drug pushers whose narcotics trafficking resulted in a death.^[14]

In 1980 Curb served as the National Co-Chairman of Ronald Reagan’s successful presidential campaign. Curb also served as the Chairman of the convention program in Detroit and was later appointed by President Reagan, to be chairman of the national finance committee in Washington DC.^[15]

Involvement in car racing

A motorsport enthusiast, Curb is a co-owner of the Curb Agajanian Performance Group, a team that has won 10 national championships. His sponsorship and ownership have included three of NASCAR's most celebrated drivers: he previously owned Richard Petty's famed No. 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 Winston Cup championship winning season, and sponsored Darrell Waltrip's No. 12 Toyota Tundra in the Craftsman Truck Series, driven by Joey Miller in 2006. Curb-Agajanian also ran cars for many years in the Indianapolis 500 with drivers including Billy Boat and Dan Wheldon with whom he won the 2011 Indianapolis 500.^[16]

Curb was the only car owner to win in all 10 NASCAR auto racing series in the United States – the Sprint Cup (formerly Nextel and Winston Cup), the Xfinity Series (formerly the Nationwide series and Busch Series), the Camping World Truck Series (formerly the Craftsman Truck Series), the Grand-Am Rolex Daytona Prototype National Sports Car Series (now the United Sports Car Series merged with American Le Mans), the IMSA GT Series (formerly IMSA Camel GT), Continental Series (formerly IMSA GTS), the Late Model All American Series, the Modifieds and the K&N East and West Series. Curb became the only car owner/entrant who has won in the ten different series.^[17]

Rico Abreu's 2014 USAC Midget car

Curb was also the co-owner with Richard Childress of the No. 98 Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon.^[17] Curb is also a long-time sponsor of ThorSport Racing in the Camping World Truck Series, being part-owner of the team's No. 98 Toyota driven by Rico Abreu. Since 2012, he has maintained a similar partnership with Phil Parsons Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, which also runs the No. 98.

The Curb Racing team has cars in United States Automobile Club (USAC) competition. Their drivers Christopher Bell and Rico Abreu won the 2013 and 2014 USAC National Midget tours.

Elvis House

In 2006, Curb purchased a house at 1034 Audubon Drive, Memphis, which was once owned by Elvis Presley.^[18] Curb renovated the house and turned oversight over to the Mike Curb Institute at Rhodes College.^[18]

Public honors

In Nashville, Curb has become a civic leader and benefactor of Belmont University, where his donation toward the construction of a new arena resulted in it being named the Curb Event Center. The University also runs "The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business." He also endowed the Curb Center and the Curb Creative Campus program at Vanderbilt University and the Mike Curb Institute of Music at Rhodes College in Memphis. In 2001, Curb was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame. In 2003, Curb was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Curb was next inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.^[19]

In August 2006,^[20] Curb pledged $10 million to California State University, Northridge (in Los Angeles) to endow his alma mater's arts college and provide a lead gift for the university's planned regional performing arts center that will serve as a "learning laboratory" for students. Of the $10 million gift, $5 million will support CSUN's College of Arts, Media, and Communication, one of the university's largest colleges that offers degree and certificate 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. As a result, the college was named in his honor.

On June 29, 2007, Curb was honored with the 2,341st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[21]

On October 21, 2010, CSU Channel Islands dedicated the Mike Curb Studio in Napa Hall on the Camarillo, California university campus. The studio provides a new film and video production and post-production facility to the campus.

Curb has also endowed numerous other colleges and programs for the underserved communities.^[22]

In 2014 Curb was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.^[23]

Discography

Albums

Collaboration albums

Singles

Guest singles

References

External links

• MikeCurb.com
• Mike Curb Family Foundation
• Mike Curb on IMDb
• Mike Curb discography at Discogs
• The Mike Curb Congregation at Allmusic
• Mike Curb owner statistics at Racing-Reference