Editing Curtis Mayfield (section)

==Career==
===The Impressions===
{{Main|The Impressions}}
[[File:The Impressions, 1964.png|thumb|The Impressions in 1964, from left to right: Sam Gooden, Curtis Mayfield, and Fred Cash|alt=The three singers wearing suits]]
Mayfield's career began in 1956 when he joined the Roosters with Arthur and Richard Brooks and [[Jerry Butler (singer)|Jerry Butler]].<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/579113.stm|title = Soul icon Curtis Mayfield dies|date = December 27, 1999|work = BBC News}}</ref> Two years later the Roosters, now including [[Sam Gooden]], became the Impressions.<ref name="BBC" /> The band had two hit singles with Butler, "[[For Your Precious Love]]" and "Come Back My Love", then Butler left. Mayfield temporarily went with him, co-writing and performing on Butler's next hit, "He Will Break Your Heart", before returning to the Impressions with the group signing for ABC Records and working with the label's Chicago-based producer/A&R manager, [[Johnny Pate]].<ref name=boz>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-19691231/curtis-mayfield-20110420|first=Boz|last=Scaggs|author-link=Boz Scaggs|title=100 Greatest Artists: 98 Curtis Mayfield|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=December 3, 2010 }}</ref>

Butler was replaced by [[Fred Cash]], a returning original Roosters member, and Mayfield became lead singer, frequently composing for the band, starting with "[[Gypsy Woman (The Impressions song)|Gypsy Woman]]", a Top 20 Pop hit. Their hit "Amen" (Top 10), an updated version of an old [[gospel music|gospel]] tune, was included in the soundtrack of the 1963 [[United Artists]] film ''[[Lilies of the Field (1963 film)|Lilies of the Field]]'', which starred [[Sidney Poitier]]. The Impressions reached the height of their popularity in the mid-to-late-'60s with a string of Mayfield compositions that included "[[Keep On Pushing (song)|Keep On Pushing]]", "[[People Get Ready]]", "[[It's All Right (The Impressions song)|It's All Right]]" (Top 10), the up-tempo "Talking about My Baby"(Top 20) and "Woman's Got Soul".

He formed his own label, Curtom Records in Chicago in 1968 and the Impressions joined him to continue their run of hits including "Fool For You", "This is My Country", "Choice Of Colors" and "Check Out Your Mind". Mayfield had written much of the soundtrack of the [[Civil Rights Movement]] in the early 1960s, but by the end of the decade, he was a pioneering voice in the [[black pride]] movement along with [[James Brown]] and [[Sly Stone]]. Mayfield's "[[We're a Winner (song)|We're a Winner]]" was their last major hit for ABC. Reaching number 14 on ''Billboard''{{'}}s pop chart and number one on the R&B chart, it became an anthem of the [[black power]] and black pride movements when it was released in late 1967,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qY9Igv12EVEC&q=we%27re+a+winner+impressions+black+power&pg=PA114|title=Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity|last=Ogbar|first=Jeffrey O. G.|publisher=JHU Press|year=2005|isbn=9780801882753|page=114}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|date=February 15, 1968|title=Impressions' Tune, 'We're A Winner' Stirs Racial Fuss|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LrgDAAAAMBAJ&q=we%27re+a+winner+impressions+black+power&pg=PA58|magazine=Jet|volume= 33| issue =  19|pages=58–59}}</ref><ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0562631/bio Curtis Mayfield biography], Internet Movie Database (IMDb). "...1968 hit 'We're A Winner,' became a civil rights anthem". Accessed November 28, 2006.</ref> much as his earlier "Keep on Pushing" (whose title is quoted in the lyrics of "We're a Winner" and also in "[[Move On Up]]") had been an anthem for [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and the Civil Rights Movement.<ref>Phillipsn, Richard (January 24, 2000), [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/jan2000/curt-j24.shtml Curtis Mayfield dies: A modest man of great musical talent and sensitivity], World Socialist Web Site (International Committee of the Fourth International). Retrieved November 28, 2006.</ref>

Mayfield was a prolific songwriter in Chicago even outside his work for the Impressions, writing and producing scores of hits for many other artists. He also owned the Mayfield and Windy C labels which were distributed by [[Cameo-Parkway]], and was a partner in the [[Curtom]] (first independent, then distributed by Buddah then Warner Bros and finally RSO) and Thomas labels (first independent, then distributed by Atlantic, then independent again and finally Buddah).

Among Mayfield's greatest songwriting successes were three hits that he wrote for Jerry Butler on Vee Jay ("He Will Break Your Heart", "Find Another Girl" and "I'm A-Tellin' You").  His harmony vocals are very prominent.  He also had great success writing and arranging [[Jan Bradley]]'s "Mama Didn't Lie".  Starting in 1963, he was heavily involved in writing and arranging for OKeh Records (with Carl Davis producing), which included hits by [[Major Lance]] such as "[[Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um]]" and "[[The Monkey Time]]",<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/major-lance |title=Major Lance &#124; Billboard |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=April 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611200954/https://www.billboard.com/music/major-lance |archive-date=June 11, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> as well as Walter Jackson, Billy Butler and the Artistics.  This arrangement ran through 1965.

===Solo career===
In 1970, Mayfield left the Impressions and began a solo career. Curtom released many of Mayfield's 1970s records, as well as records by the Impressions, [[Leroy Hutson]], [[the Five Stairsteps]], [[the Staple Singers|the Staples Singers]], [[Mavis Staples]], [[Linda Clifford]], [[Natural Four]], [[The Notations]] and [[Baby Huey and the Babysitters]]. [[Gene Chandler]] and Major Lance, who had worked with Mayfield during the 1960s, also signed for short stays at Curtom. Many of the label's recordings were produced by Mayfield.

Mayfield's first solo album, ''[[Curtis (Curtis Mayfield album)|Curtis]]'', was released in 1970, and hit the top 20, as well as being a critical success. It pre-dated [[Marvin Gaye]]'s album, ''[[What's Going On (Marvin Gaye album)|What's Going On]]'', to which it has been compared in addressing social change.<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Curtis|publisher=Sequel Records|id=NEM CD 965|year=1998}}</ref> The commercial and critical peak of his solo career came with ''[[Super Fly (soundtrack)|Super Fly]]'', the soundtrack to the [[blaxploitation]] ''[[Super Fly (1972 film)|Super Fly]]'' film, which topped the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top LPs]] chart and sold more than 12 million copies.<ref name="Thurber-1999" /> Unlike the soundtracks to other blaxploitation films (most notably [[Isaac Hayes]]' score for ''[[Shaft (1971 film)|Shaft]]''), which glorified the ghetto excesses of the characters, Mayfield's [[lyrics]] consisted of hard-hitting commentary on the state of affairs in black, urban [[ghetto]]s at the time, as well as direct criticisms of several characters in the film. Bob Donat wrote in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine in 1972 that while the film's message "was diluted by schizoid cross-purposes" because it "glamorizes [[machismo]]-[[cocaine]] consciousness... the anti-drug message on [Mayfield's soundtrack] is far stronger and more definite than in the film."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/super-fly-181672/|title=Super Fly|last=Donat|first=Bob|date=November 9, 1972|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US|access-date=November 1, 2019}}</ref> Because of the tendency of these blaxploitation films to glorify the criminal life of dealers and pimps to target a mostly black lower class audience, Mayfield's album set this movie apart. With songs like "Freddie's Dead", a song that focuses on the demise of Freddie, a junkie that was forced into "pushin' dope for the man" because of a debt that he owed to his dealer, and "Pusherman", a song that reveals how many people in the ghetto fell victim to drug abuse, and therefore became dependent upon their dealers, Mayfield illuminated a darker side of life in the ghetto that these blaxploitation films often failed to criticize. However, although Mayfield's soundtrack criticized the glorification of dealers and pimps, he in no way denied that this glorification was occurring. When asked about the subject matter of these films he was quoted stating "I don't see why people are complaining about the subject of these films", and "The way you clean up the films is by cleaning up the streets."<ref name="waxpoetics.com">{{cite web|title = Curtis Mayfield injected his own cultural commentary into Super Fly|url = http://waxpoetics.com/features/articles/curtis-mayfield-super-fly/|website = Wax Poetics|access-date =October 22, 2015|language = en}}</ref>

Along with ''What's Going On'' and [[Stevie Wonder]]'s ''[[Innervisions]]'', this album ushered in a new [[social consciousness|socially conscious]], [[funk music|funky]] style of popular [[soul music]]. The single releases "[[Freddie's Dead]]" and "[[Superfly (song)|Super Fly]]" each sold more than one million copies, and were awarded [[music recording sales certification|gold discs]] by the [[R.I.A.A.]]<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book| first= Joseph| last= Murrells| year= 1978| title= The Book of Golden Discs| edition= 2nd| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/316 316]| isbn= 0-214-20512-6| url-access= registration| url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/316}}</ref>

''Super Fly'' brought success that resulted in Mayfield being tapped for additional soundtracks, some of which he wrote and produced while having others perform the vocals. [[Gladys Knight & the Pips]] recorded Mayfield's soundtrack for ''[[Claudine (movie)|Claudine]]'' in 1974,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.essence.com/news/flashback-fridays-claudine/|title=Flashback Fridays: 'Claudine'|last=Robertson|first=Regina R.|date=April 22, 2010|website=Essence|language=en-US|access-date=November 1, 2019}}</ref> while [[Aretha Franklin]] recorded the soundtrack for ''[[Sparkle (1976 film)|Sparkle]]'' in 1976.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/aretha-franklin-sparkle-album-713268/|title=Aretha's Greatest Albums: 'Sparkle' (1976)|last=Reeves|first=Mosi|date=August 20, 2018|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US|access-date=November 1, 2019}}</ref> Mayfield also worked with [[The Staple Singers|The Staples Singers]] on the soundtrack for the 1975 film ''[[Let's Do It Again (1975 film)|Let's Do It Again]]'',<ref name="Thurber-1999" /> and teamed up with [[Mavis Staples]] exclusively on the 1977 film soundtrack ''[[A Piece of the Action (film)|A Piece of the Action]]'' (both movies were part of a trilogy of films that featured the acting and comedic exploits of [[Bill Cosby]] and [[Sidney Poitier]] and were directed by [[Poitier]]).

In 1973 Mayfield released the anti-war album ''[[Back to the World (Curtis Mayfield album)|Back to the World]]'', a concept album that dealt with the social aftermath of the [[Vietnam War]] and criticized the United States' involvement in wars across the planet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Curtis%20Mayfield.html|title=Curtis Mayfield Page|website=Soulwalking.co.uk|access-date=October 7, 2019}}</ref> One of Mayfield's most successful funk-disco meldings was the 1977 hit "Do Do Wap is Strong in Here" from his [[Short Eyes (album)|soundtrack]] to the [[Robert M. Young (film director)|Robert M. Young]] [[Short Eyes (film)|film]] of [[Miguel Piñero]]'s play ''[[Short Eyes (play)|Short Eyes]]''. In his 2003 biography of Curtis Mayfield, ''People Never Give Up'', author Peter Burns noted that Mayfield has 140 songs in the [[Curtom]] vaults. Burns indicated that the songs were maybe already completed or in the stages of completion, so that they could then be released commercially. These recordings include "The Great Escape", "In The News", "Turn up the Radio", "What's The Situation?" and one recording labelled "Curtis at Montreux Jazz Festival 87".Two other albums featuring Curtis Mayfield present in the Curtom vaults and as yet unissued are a 1982/83 live recording titled "25th Silver Anniversary" (which features performances by Mayfield, the Impressions, and [[Jerry Butler (singer)|Jerry Butler]]) and a live performance, recorded in September 1966 by the Impressions titled ''Live at the Club Chicago''.

In 1982, Mayfield decided to move to Atlanta with his family, closing down his recording operation in Chicago.<ref name="Thurber-1999" /> The label had gradually reduced in size in its final two years or so with releases on the main RSO imprint and Curtom credited as the production company. Mayfield continued to record occasionally, keeping the Curtom name alive for a few more years, and to tour worldwide. Mayfield's song "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" has been included as an entrance song on every episode of the drama series [[The Deuce (TV series)|''The Deuce'']]. ''The Deuce'' tells of the germination of the sex-trade industry in the heart of New York's [[Times Square]] in the 1970s. Mayfield's career began to slow down during the 1980s.

In later years, Mayfield's music was included in the movies ''[[I'm Gonna Git You Sucka]]'', ''[[Hollywood Shuffle]]'', ''[[Friday (1995 film)|Friday]]'' (though not on the soundtrack album), ''[[Bend It Like Beckham]]'', ''[[The Hangover Part II]]'' and ''[[Short Eyes (film)|Short Eyes]]'', where he had a cameo role as a prisoner.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fVF58UFjlysC&pg=PA94 |title=Only the Strong Survive: Memoirs of a Soul Survivor|first=Jerry  |last=Butler |page=94|publisher=Indiana University Press|year= 2004 |isbn=0253217040|access-date=November 27, 2011}}</ref>