Here's what I wrote about Mayfield on my website:
Curtis Mayfield was justifiably recognized as the pre-eminent talent and one of the principal architects of Windy City Soul. He wrote and sang deeply humanistic songs that represented the highest ideals and aspirations of African-Americans, evoking their pain, struggle and fortitude, and preached that with goodwill, love, pride and self-achievement, they could find a respected role in American society.
With his fellow high school student Jerry Butler, Mayfield (born June 3, 1942) formed the Impressions as a doo-wop quintet in 1957. A year later, their ballad "For Your Precious Love," one of the first true soul records, climbed to #11 pop and #3 R&B. The record's success caused lead singer Butler to go solo, but he remained in touch with Mayfield, who went on to write some of the Ice Man's greatest songs.
By 1961, the Impressions comprised Mayfield, Fred Cash, Sam Gooden, and brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks. That year, they went to New York to record their first song for the ABC-Paramount label, "Gypsy Woman." The evocative, dream-like ballad reached #20 pop and #2 R&B in December of 1961. Despite the subsequent creation of some fine doo-wop and early soul recordings, the Impressions found themselves off the national charts for the next two years, by which time they were reduced to a trio as the Brooks brothers had left.
In the autumn of 1963, the Impressions waxed the song that both changed and defined their sound. Unlike their previous recordings, which featured Mayfield on lead and the rest of the guys doo-wopping it up in the background, "It's All Right" sported tightly-sung unison vocals by all three members. The song also featured blaring horns and a forceful, percussive bottom that lifted its energy level right up into the clouds. "It's All Right" went to #4 pop and #1 R&B, and set the tone for many Impressions songs to follow.
Nineteen-Sixty-Four was an excellent year for the trio. They reached the pop top twenty four times, with "Talking About My Baby," "I'm So Proud," "Keep On Pushing," and "You Must Believe Me." The Impressions entered 1965 in grand style, too, when "Amen" hit #7 pop and #12 R&B.
But the trio's finest hour came later that year, with the gospel-heavy "People Get Ready," the first Impressions record to feature Mayfield's guitar in the break. Amazingly, this lovely ballad did not make the pop top ten, although it gets a whole lot of well-deserved airplay in the '90s.
In 1966, Curtis started his own label, Mayfield Records, and produced a female soul group called the Fascinations. Obviously, that taste of creative autonomy appealed to the man. Two years later, he started a new label, Curtom, and recorded the Impressions on it when their contract with ABC expired.
Mayfield used Curtom as a launching pad to musically express his political and social views. The Impressions' output from 1968-70 included such message-laden songs as "Choice of Colors," "This Is My Country," "Mighty Mighty Spade and Whitey," and "Check Out Your Mind."
When Mayfield went solo in 1970, it was expected that he would become a superstar. But he didn't. Oh, Mayfield had some hits, especially when he scored the 1972 blaxploitation film "Superfly," but he achieved nowhere near the amount of artistic and commercial success that he had with the Impressions.
Meanwhile, his former group floundered. It wasn't until 1974 that the Impressions recaptured a taste of their previous success. With new members Reggie Torian and Ralph Johnson, the group, now a quartet, hit #17 pop and #1 R&B with "Finally Got Myself Together (I'm A Changed Man)."
In 1983, Mayfield, Cash, Gooden, and Jerry Butler all reunited for a reunion tour.
On August 14, 1990, Mayfield was at an outdoor concert in Brooklyn when a lighting scaffold fell on him. The tragedy left him permanently paralyzed from the neck down. Eight years later, Mayfield lost a leg to diabetes. But following the advice of his own lyrics, Curtis kept on pushing.
The Impressions were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, while Mayfield was inducted as a solo artist eight years later. Unfortunately, Curtis was too ill to attend the induction ceremony. He died on Sunday, Dec. 26, 1999, at the age of 57.
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