When Curtis Mayfield stepped onstage July 13 at an outdoor concert at Wingate Field in Brooklyn, N.Y., the 48-year-old singer was enjoying one of his most successful years in nearly a decade.
Several months earlier he had released his first U.S. album in five years, ”Take It to the Streets,” on his own Curtom label, and had toured the U.S., Europe and Japan to promote it. He also recorded several songs for the soundtrack album of the upcoming film, ”The Return of Superfly.” He and his former group, the Impressions, were nominated to be inducted into the Rock `n` Roll Hall of Fame this year, and thanks to a cover version by Santana, his Impressions-era hit ”Gypsy Woman” is upward bound on the adult contemporary charts.
Unfortunately, Mayfield never got the chance to sing a note that night in Brooklyn. According to both press reports and information provided by Mayfield`s associates, he had just plugged in his guitar when a strong gust toppled a lighting scaffold that struck the singer on the back of the neck.
He was taken to Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, conscious but listed in critical condition with a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed below the neck. A vigil held outside the hospital the following night drew some 2,000 fans. Eleven days later he was transferred to the Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta.
Reached at the family`s home Tuesday night, son Todd Mayfield said his father is alert, speaking and has some movement in his shoulders, though he remains paralyzed. He said that although his father will begin physical therapy this week, his doctors have been guarded about their prognosis.
”They haven`t definitively said one way or the other whether he`ll walk again or not,” he said. ”I`ve met a couple of people in the last two weeks who have had similar injuries and gotten it back together. They may not be exactly how they were, but they can walk, drive and basically do most of the things they could do before. In both of their cases their doctors had told them they`d never get out of their wheelchairs. They just fought their way back.”
A Chicago native who moved to Atlanta in the early `80s, Mayfield is considered one of the foremost black pop songwriters. With the Impressions, Mayfield`s songs such as ”I`m So Proud,” ”Gypsy Woman” and ”Talking About My Baby,” highlighted by his feathery falsetto vocals, gospel-influenced arrangements and idiosyncratic guitar style, garnered a large, racially mixed following. But Mayfield is best remembered for his ”message” songs, such as ”It`s All Right,” ”Keep On Pushing” and ”People Get Ready.”
”The mid-`60s was the period when the (civil rights) movement was really hot,” said Jerry ”Iceman” Butler, a founding member of the Impressions with Mayfield and one of his oldest friends.
”Curtis had already written most of those songs-`Keep On Pushing,`
`We`re a Winner`-before the movement really got in full gear. He set the stage for a lot of the message songs that came after.”
Born June 3, 1942, Mayfield grew up on the North Side, where he began writing and singing gospel songs at the age of 11, largely influenced by his grandmother, a reverend of the Traveling Spiritualist Church. At age 14 he started singing gospel music with friend and neighbor Butler, who today mixes his singing career with his duties as a Cook County commissioner.
Switching to secular music, Mayfield and Butler joined forces in 1957 with Sam Gooden and brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks to form the
Impressions. With Butler singing the lead vocal they hit the charts the following year with ”For Your Precious Love.” A plaintive ballad with strong gospel overtones, the song hit the No. 11 spot on the pop charts in 1958.
Butler soon left the group for a solo career, but Mayfield continued to write or cowrite such hits for Butler as ”He Will Break Your Heart” and
”Find Yourself Another Girl.”
With Fred Cash replacing Butler, the Impressions had a few lean years before they got on track in 1961 with Mayfield`s ”Gypsy Woman,” which became a Top 20 hit.
In 1963 the Brooks brothers left and the Impressions became a trio. From 1963 through 1970 the hits came in quick succession-14 Top 40 pop singles all written by Mayfield. His inspirational lyrics reflected a strong black consciousness, while preaching the tenents of hard work, persistance and faith as the key to achieving equality.
”Curtis was a black kid who grew up in Chicago, travelled through the South at an early age and understood the racism of the world-saw it, touched it and was saddened by it,” said Butler, who last appeared on the same bill with Mayfield two months ago. ”The poignancy and the realism that he brought to his songs were what made them so profound.”
At the time the Impressions were scoring regularly on the charts, Mayfield`s pen was providing other Chicago soul artists with hits: ”The Monkey Time” for Major Lance, ”Just Be True” for Gene Chandler and ”Mama Didn`t Lie” for Jan Bradley. Largely because of his efforts, the Windy City soul sound was giving Detroit`s Motown serious competition in the mid-`60s.
”Along with (record producer) Carl Davis, Curtis Mayfield was one of the two giants of Chicago soul music,” said author Robert Pruter, whose ”Chicago Soul” will be published in November by the University of Illinois Press.
In 1968 Mayfield formed Curtom Records, whose artist roster included the Impressions, Major Lance, Baby Huey and the Babysitters and the Five Stairsteps.
Two years later Mayfield embarked upon a solo career, while the Impressions continued on with various replacements. Switching to a more progressive sound featuring wah-wah guitars, conga drums and funkier rhythms, Mayfield had major hits with ”Superfly” and ”Freddie`s Dead” from the 1972 ”Superfly” movie soundtrack album.
Although he issued 16 albums in the `70s, as the decade progressed the hits became fewer and further between.
”In the `60s he could put out an Impressions album and 10 out of the 12 songs were absolute dynamite,” Pruter said. ”By the `70s on his albums there might only be two or three songs that were topnotch.”
In the `80s Mayfield`s recording output diminished, although he continued to tour, particularly in Europe. Since the mid-`80s there has been an explosion of cover versions of Mayfield songs: Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart with ”People Get Ready,” UB40 with ”I Gotta Keep Moving,” Herbie Hancock with ”Future Shock” and Deniece Williams with ”I`m So Proud,” among others.
According to Butler, Mayfild`s ownership of most of his music publishing as well as the master recordings for most of the Curtom releases has made him well able to provide for his wife and 11 children.
”Curtis has written so many successful songs that he could live for the rest of his life from his songwriting royalties alone,” Butler said.
As to how Mayfield will react to the possibility of being permanently disabled, his son Todd remains encouraged. ”His mood is good and he`s very positive, which is why we`re all optimistic that he will get back as much as he can,” he said. ”We know he`ll get something back, we`re just not sure how much.”
The lyrics to Mayfield`s ”Keep On Pushing,” though, may give the best clue to his strength of character:
Keep on pushing
I`ve got to keep on pushing
I can`t stop now . . .
`Cause I`ve got my strength
And it don`t make sense
Not to
Keep on pushing.
