Curley Moore
Curley Moore: An Unsung Hero Of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues
Curley Moore was born in 1943 and began his music career as a New Orleans Rhythm and Blues vocalist with Huey "Piano" Smith's band The Clowns. During the 1960s Curley had minor regional solo hits under his own name. Those songs included "Don't Pity Me" on SanSu Records, "Soul Train" on Hotline Records and "Get Low Down" also on SanSu. SanSu was headed by Marshal Seehorn and Allen Toussaint who were prolific producers and writers of many New Orleans R&B 45's issued in the 1960s. The 1970s was a period of struggle for Curley as New Orleans R&B and soul music in general moved toward a harder funk sound and Curley struggled with drugs and gun related issues. An instrumental stab at this harder sound yielded the 45 "Funky, Yeah" on the House of the Fox label which became a cult classic for its hard driving heavy psychedelic sound. In 1979, Curley Moore joined a reformed version of the Clowns with Huey "Piano" Smith at the 1979 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. After serving prison time in the early 1980s, in December 1985 Curley Moore's murdered body was found in Algiers, Louisiana a ward in New Orleans. He was 42 years old.[1][2]