Sonny Curtis, writer of The Mary Tyler Moore Show theme and Crickets frontman, dies at 88

Sonny Curtis, the Texas-born singer-songwriter who wrote the theme to The Mary Tyler Moore Show and led Buddy Holly’s Crickets after Holly’s death, has died at age 88 after a sudden illness, surrounded by loved ones, his daughter said in a Facebook post on Saturday. Curtis’s career spanned six decades and included songs that became pop staples, earning him a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Crickets member in 2012.

Curtis was born May 9, 1937, in Meadow, Texas, to cotton farmers. He started playing guitar at age four, inspired by uncles in the bluegrass group the Mayfield Brothers. In the 1950s he began collaborating with Buddy Holly and eventually joined the Crickets in 1958 following Holly’s death. The Crickets would later become one of the era’s defining rock groups, with Curtis stepping into the lead vocalist and guitar role in 1959 after Holly died at age 22.

The Crickets released In Style With The Crickets in 1960, an album that included I Fought The Law, a Curtis-penned track that would become one of the band’s signature songs. The tune would go on to become a top-10 hit for the Bobby Fuller Four in 1966 and later be covered by The Clash and Green Day, cementing Curtis’s influence on rock’s evolving landscape. In later years, Curtis recalled writing the song on a windy day in West Texas for Classic Rock, saying that the idea arrived almost spontaneously and that the words simply came together in about 20 minutes.

In 1970 Curtis wrote Love Is All Around, which became the theme song for The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The tune’s jaunty brass-and-guitar motif helped define the show, which ran for seven seasons on CBS and became a cultural touchstone during a period of social change. Curtis said he wrote the song quickly and later recalled that the show’s success came at a pivotal moment in the women’s liberation movement, with Moore and her peers identifying with the sentiment of independence and optimism the series espoused.

Curtis also pursued other songwriting projects, including jingles for commercials after relocating to Los Angeles, and songs recorded by artists such as Andy Williams. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Crickets in 2012. He is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Louise, and by his daughter, Sarah, who publicly shared the news of her father’s passing.