Sonny Curtis, the singer songwriter who wrote the theme to the Mary Tyler Moore Show and fronted Buddy Hollys The Crickets, has died at 88 after a sudden illness. He passed away surrounded by close loved ones, his daughter said in a post on social media on Saturday. Curtis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991, honoring a career that bridged early rock and roll with television theme making.
Born in Meadow, Texas on May 9, 1937, Curtis learned to play guitar at age four, inspired by his uncles in a bluegrass group called the Mayfield Brothers. In the mid 1950s he began collaborating with Buddy Holly and joined The Crickets in 1958 after Holly formed the group. He became lead vocalist and guitarist for the Crickets in 1959 following Hollys death at 22. The Crickets released In Style With The Crickets in 1960, which included I Fought The Law, a Curtis original. The song would later be covered by The Bobby Fuller Four and reach the top 10, and it has since been covered by The Clash and Green Day.
During his career Curtis wrote Walk Right Back, recorded by The Everly Brothers, which climbed to number seven on the U S Billboard Hot 100 and topped the U K Singles Chart in 1961. In 1970 he wrote Love Is All Around, which became the theme song for The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He described writing the tune in about two hours and presenting it to the shows producers on the same day. The song and the program proved a cultural touchstone during the early 1970s women empowerment era and helped define a lighthearted but socially engaged image of a changing America.
Curtis later relocated to Los Angeles, where he wrote jingles for commercials and songs for other artists, including Andy Williams. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a Crickets member. He is survived by his daughter Sarah and his wife of more than 50 years, Louise.
Sarah Curtis, in a social media post, said she was heartbroken to tell fans that her father had passed away after a sudden illness. She described his life as exceptional and noted that he would have wanted people to celebrate it with joy rather than sadness.