Curtis Edwin Lee (October 28, 1939 – January 8, 2015) was an American

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

of the early 1960s, who was twice a beneficiary of

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

's productions in 1961. These were "

Pretty Little Angel Eyes "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" is a 1961 song by American singer Curtis Lee. It was released on Dunes Records, #45-2007. Phil Spector served as producer, and also produced Lee's follow-up hit " Under the Moon of Love". Background The track is in the ...

" ( US #7) and "

Under the Moon of Love "Under the Moon of Love" is a song written by Tommy Boyce and Curtis Lee, and first recorded in 1961 by Curtis Lee. Produced by Phil Spector, Lee's recording was released on Dunes Records #45-2008, with the "B" side "Beverly Jean". It peaked ...

" (U.S. #46).

Career

Born in

Yuma, Arizona Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...

, Lee began his

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

career in 1959. He traveled to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1960 to cut a demo for Dunes Records. He wrote some songs with

Tommy Boyce Sidney Thomas "Tommy" Boyce (September 29, 1939 – November 23, 1994) and Bobby Hart (born Robert Luke Harshman; February 18, 1939) were a prolific American duo of singer-songwriters. In addition to three top-40 hits as artists, the duo is ...

, in this period. Lee's first three singles were "Special Love", "Pledge of Love", and "Pretty Little Angel Eyes". In the UK, "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" was a minor

hit record A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

, peaking at No. 47 in 1961. "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" has been

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

Zombina and the Skeletones Zombina and the Skeletones are an English rock band from Liverpool, formed in 1998 around the nucleus of vocalist Zombina and songwriter Doc Horror. , their last recording was a self-released EP in 2017, and their official website is disman ...

and

Showaddywaddy Showaddywaddy are a rock and roll group from Leicester, England. They specialise in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, while also issuing original material. Showaddywaddy spent 209 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and had 10 T ...

. Without Spector's influence, Lee's hits dried up. He went into the

construction industry Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and come ...

with his father in 1969. He died from cancer on January 8, 2015, in Yuma, Arizona, aged 75.

Singles

References

External links

Curtis Lee discography at the Rockin' Country Style website

* Curtis Lee biographyat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Curtis 1939 births 2015 deaths American male singer-songwriters People from Yuma, Arizona Singer-songwriters from Arizona