Nick Curran (September 30, 1977 – October 6, 2012) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

singer and guitarist. He has been likened to

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

, Little Richard,

The Sonics The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington that formed in 1960. Their aggressive, hard-edged sound has been a major influence on punk and garage music worldwide, and they have been named inspirations to the White Str ...

Doug Sahm Douglas Wayne Sahm (November 6, 1941 – November 18, 1999) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in San Antonio, Texas. Sahm is regarded as one of the main figures of Tex-Mex music, and as an important per ...

Misfits Misfits or The Misfits may refer to: Film and television * ''The Misfits'' (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift * ''The Misfits'' (2011 film), a Mexican film * ''The Misfits'' (2021 film), an American ...

, and

The Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United S ...

Early life

Nick Curran was born in

Biddeford, Maine Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddeford Po ...

. He began playing drums at the age of 3, showing an amazing ability to keep time even at such a young age. It was a daily ritual for him. He would turn on his radio and play along with the music. His dad, Michael, taught Nick everything he wanted and needed to know with the guitar. Any "lick" that Nick learned early on, he simply asked Michael (Mike) to show him how to do it... and a few hours later, Nick would emerge from his room having learned and practiced it. When asked at a young age why he wanted to play so badly, he replied, "I got the feelin'." He had received no formal lessons for guitar. At age 15, he played guitar and harp in his father's band, Mike Curran and the Tremors, and at the age of 17 played drums, again alongside his father, guitarist Michael Curran, in a band called The Upsetters-based out of

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

. That same year, he also formed the Rockabilly band Nick Danger and the Sideburners, frequently playing at a number of clubs in the

area. At 18, he auditioned for James Montgomery.

Career

Curran began his professional career at age nineteen, leaving Maine to tour with Ronnie Dawson, "The Blonde Bomber". Although Dawson was primarily a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

musician, many blues and punk fans appreciated his performances. He taught Curran not to get pigeonholed. Curran toured next with Texas rockabilly doyenne Kim Lenz, moving to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

to join her backup band the Jaguars, and performing on Lenz's recording, ''The One And Only''. Curran would stay with the Jaguars for two years. He is also featured on Lenz's next CD, ''It's All True'', and toured with her in the summer of 2009. In 1999, the Texas Jamboree label issued Curran's debut solo recording, ''Fixin' Your Head''. As he would do on all future CDs, Curran used vintage recording equipment to achieve the feel and sound of old 45s and

78s A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

, and the LPs of the 1950s. To support the recording he formed the band, Nick Curran & the Nitelifes. From 2004 to 2007 Curran played with

The Fabulous Thunderbirds The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American blues band formed in 1974. Career After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records and later signed with Epic Recor ...

appearing on their 2005 recording, ''Painted On''. During that time, bassist

Ronnie James Ronnie James (8 October 1917 – 12 June 1977) was a British Lightweight boxing champion. Born in Swansea, Wales, James had over 130 professional bouts winning 114 of them, 61 through knockout. In 1946 he challenged Ike Williams at Cardiff fo ...

started the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band Deguello. In 2008, James and Curran formed The Attitudes with Nick, singing and playing drums standing up, and with guitarist CoffeeBoy Johnson. "This band is like when you and your buddy wanted to have a band in high school and there was no bass player. We just play what ever we wanted to," according to CoffeeBoy Johnson. Their set consisted of covers of The Misfits, The Ramones, Howlin' Wolf,

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), " ...

, Muddy Waters and Little Richard. "We wanted to give

the Black Keys The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their ...

a run for their money." Curran performed four songs in a scene in the 2008 HBO Series, ''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. A reboot is currently in development. The serie ...

,'' based on

The Southern Vampire Mysteries ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', also known as ''The True Blood Novels'' and ''The Sookie Stackhouse Novels'', is a series of books written by bestselling author Charlaine Harris. The first installment, '' Dead Until Dark'' (2001), won the A ...

Charlaine Harris Charlaine Harris Schulz (born November 25, 1951) is an American author who specializes in mysteries. She is best known for her book series ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', which was adapted as the TV series ''True Blood''. The television show ...

, which explores the co-existence of humans and vampires. After performing a solo show in November 2008, Curran formed the rock ‘n’ roll roots band, The Lowlifes, who were critically acclaimed and became a mainstay on

Little Steven Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin ...

's Underground Garage, earning three "Coolest Song in the World" titles with tracks from the album, ''Reform School Girl''.

Death

In 2009, Curran was diagnosed with

oral cancer Oral cancer, also known as mouth cancer, is cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless white patch, that thickens, develops red patches, an ulcer, and continues to grow. When on ...

. In June 2010, he had been deemed cancer free, but by April 2011 the cancer had returned and he underwent treatment. Curran eventually succumbed to the disease on October 6, 2012, at the age of 35.

Discography

*2000 – ''Fixin' Your Head'' *2001 – ''Nitelife Boogie'' *2003 – ''Doctor Velvet'' *2004 – ''Player!'' *2010 – ''Reform School Girl'' Allmusic gave four stars for every album.

References

External links

Music AOLBlind Pig RecordsNick Curran High quality video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curran, Nick 1977 births 2012 deaths Deaths from cancer in Maine American blues guitarists American male guitarists People from Biddeford, Maine People from Sanford, Maine Guitarists from Maine Deaths from oral cancer The Fabulous Thunderbirds members