Clifford Curry

Funeral services for Nashville’s soul music mainstay Clifford Curry were held in Knoxville on Saturday (Sept. 17).

Best known for his evergreen hit “She Shot a Hole in My Soul,” Curry became a star on the “beach music” circuit in the 1980s and 1990s. He toured with such R&B greats as Maurice Williams, Percy Sledge, Archie Bell, Clarence “Frogman” Henry and his fellow Nashvillians Earl Gaines and Roscoe Shelton.

Clifford Curry Jr. was born in Chicago on Nov. 3, 1936 and was raised in Knoxville. He originally gained local notoriety in 1956 in East Tennessee as a member of the doo-wop group The Echoes.

In 1959-63, Curry sang lead for the touring Bubba Suggs Band. Suggs dubbed him “Sweet Clifford.” For years thereafter, Clifford Curry commuted between Knoxville and the Nashville area trying to further his music career.

He sang with a variety of groups, including The Five Pennies, The Bingos, The Hollyhocks, The Fabulous Six and The Midnights. Curry became popular on the Southern fraternity-party circuit in the early 1960s. Billed as “Sweet Clifford,” he released singles on Nashville’s Excello Records in 1963 and 1965.

Music City songwriters Mac Gayden and Chuck Neese co-wrote “She Shot a Hole in My Soul.” After Curry recorded it in Nashville, Buzz Cason put it out on his Elf Records label. It topped the charts on many radio stations in Tennessee, Kentucky and other Southern states, was a hit on the national R&B charts and also became a minor pop success in 1967.

Curry followed it with recordings of such Nashville tunes as Arthur Alexander’s “We’re Gonna Hate Ourselves in the Morning,” Bobby Russell’s “I Need a Little Help, Girl” and Cason’s “Good Humor Man.” He continued to record in Nashville throughout the 1970s.

As a songwriter, Curry tasted gospel success with “He’s Gonna Smile on Me,” which became a hit for The Oak Ridge Boys in 1974.

Meanwhile, Clifford Curry records such as “The Natives Are Restless Tonight” and “Soul Ranger” became popular on the “Northern Soul” scene in England.

It turned out that his oldie “She Shot a Hole in My Soul” had a longer shelf life than expected. Its loping, easy-rocking tempo made it an ideal single for a dance called The Shag, which steadily grew in popularity in the beach-resort culture of the Carolinas. As a result, during the 1980s, Clifford Curry found himself in demand as an entertainer in the nightclubs of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and the surrounding area.

He became a permanent Nashville resident in 1985. Curry reignited his recording career with such Music City albums as Then and Now, Cold Beer and Hot Women, The Soul of Clifford Curry, Blues I Can’t Lose, The Provider, Clifford’s Blues and She Shot a Hole in My Soul Again!

He also recorded a tune called “Shag With Me” to capitalize on his “beach music” notoriety. His 1986 single “Mr. Lonely”/”25 Hours a Day” was also aimed at the beach-music market.

Clifford Curry eventually became known as “The King of Beach Music.” He was regularly honored at the annual Carolina Beach Music Awards (known as The Cammys). He was inducted into the Beach Music Hall of Fame in 1995. His version of Joe Turner’s “Boogie Woogie Country Girl” was named Beach Music Record of the Year at the same ceremony.

This musical genre was notably saluted in the group Alabama’s 1997 country hit “Dancin,’ Shaggin’ on the Boulevard.” Around this same time, Curry saluted his hometown and his UT loyalty with his single “Pat Summit, Dad Gummit.”

Clifford Curry recorded blues albums in Nashville during the 1990s. He toured Europe to promote these in 1995 and 1997.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001. The Nashville music community organized a benefit show for Curry’s medical expenses. Billed as “An Evening of Classic Rock ‘n’ Roll,” the event starred Cason, Dobie Gray, Bruce Channel, Dennis Yost, Dickey Lee, Ray Peterson, Bucky Wilkin, Troy Shondell, Robert Knight, Larry Henley, Gene Hughes, Freddy Weller, The Sons of the Beach and more.

Curry came back into the spotlight via the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Night Train to Nashville exhibit in 2004. “She Shot a Hole in My Soul” was included on the exhibit’s companion CD, which won a Grammy Award.

Clifford Curry suffered a stroke on Aug. 29 and was hospitalized at UT Medical Center in Knoxville. He died there on Sept. 7 at age 79.

He is survived by sons Tony, Jackie and Clifford III, by daughters Deborah Curry, Jessica Blaylock and Lydia Holmes, by brother Floyd and by several grandchildren and great grandchildren. He was buried in Knoxville’s Highland Memorial Cemetery.

Hoot Hester

Longtime Opry staff fiddler Hoot Hester died Tuesday (Aug. 30) at age 65. Hester joined the Grand Ole Opry staff band in 2000 and remained there until 2014.

He also appeared with the Western swing ensemble The Time Jumpers, was once a member of Wylie & The Wild West and had an extensive resume as a session musician. Though best known as a fiddler, Hester was also proficient on mandolin and guitar.

Born Hubert Dwane Hester in Kentucky, he was inspired by his fiddle-playing father, piano-playing mother and four uncles who were also musicians. Following high school, he joined the Louisville bluegrass band Bluegrass Alliance.

He moved to Nashville in 1973 and was hired by The Whites. Stints touring with Jerry Reed, Mel Tillis and Donna Fargo ensued.

In the 1980s, he decided to focus on studio work. He joined forces with steel guitarist Buddy Emmons and guitarist Phil Baugh to form Sound Factory. They formed the basis for the “house” bands on the TV shows That Nashville Music and Nashville Alive.

Beginning around 1983, Hoot Hester became a regular at Nashville recording sessions. Throughout the rest of that decade he backed Gary Morris, Randy Travis, Dan Seals, Moe Bandy, Vern Gosdin, Conway Twitty and more on their hit records.

Studio success continued in the 1990s, with Hester appearing on the recordings of Ricky Van Shelton, Kenny Rogers, Ray Price, The Statler Brothers, George Strait, Gene Watson, Steve Wariner and more. In the 2000-2010 era, he could be heard on the discs of such stars as Charley Pride, John Conlee, Radney Foster, Dale Watson, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Larry Gatlin, Merle Haggard and many others. More recent clients have included Alan Jackson and Charlie McCoy.

He was one of the original members of The Time Jumpers when the band was formed in 1997. In 2012, he appeared on The Time Jumpers debut album. Hoot Hester has also recorded with such diverse talents as Alabama, Manhattan Transfer, Hank Williams Jr. and Ray Charles.

In recent years, he has been performing with his daughter Rachel Hester. Billed as Rachel Hester & The Tennessee Walkers, they had a regular weekly gig at Robert’s Western Wear on Lower Broadway.

Richard Fagan. Photo: Bev Moser/Moments By Moser

Hit Nashville songwriter Richard Fagan has succumbed to liver cancer.

He died Friday (Aug. 5) with his wife by his side, The Tennessean reported.

Working with a variety of collaborators, Fagan was responsible for such country hits as John Michael Montgomery’s “Be My Baby Tonight,” “I Miss You a Little” and “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident),” as well as George Strait’s “Overnight Male.”

As a writer, Fagan had six Top 10 hits, 20 charted songs and more than 65 recorded titles.

His songs were sung by Shania Twain, Hank Williams Jr., Neil Diamond, George Jones and The Blues Brothers, among many others. Albums containing his songs have sold more than 25 million copies. His works have appeared on the soundtracks of five feature films and in national television sports broadcasts.

Noted for his colorful lyrics and novelty numbers, Fagan was just as colorful as a personality. His high-strung personality often manifested itself in an irreverent sense of humor.

Richard Fagan was born in 1947. His father died of tuberculosis when the boy was 3, and he was raised in the housing projects of South Philadelphia. His mother cleaned homes and offices for a living. Fagan’s education was on the rough streets of his hometown.

He picked up the guitar at age 14 and began leading street-corner harmony groups shortly thereafter. Fagan was drafted and sent to Vietnam, where he turned 21. His tour of duty included singing war protest songs, going AWOL, growing his moustache and being arrested for having subversive literature.

Following his discharge in 1968, he became a homeless vagabond. He married and had a son, but when the marriage ended in 1975, he sank into drug and alcohol abuse. He again became homeless.

But he also began writing songs. Philadelphia music entrepreneur Tom Oteri recorded Fagan singing his works in 1976 and began sending the tapes to industry tastemakers. Producer Bob Gaudio heard and liked one of them. Gaudio had famously worked with The Four Seasons, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. He took Fagan’s “The Good Lord Loves You” to Neil Diamond, and it became an adult contemporary hit for the singer in 1980.

Guadio also got the songwriter a pop recording contract with Mercury Records and produced his debut LP Richard Fagan. It was released in 1979. But the follow-up LP was shelved by the label two years later and Fagan lost his recording contract. In 1985, he made his first exploratory trips to Nashville.

Up to this point, he had mainly written songs alone. In Nashville, he discovered he enjoyed co-writing. His collaborators over the ensuing years included Larry Alderman, Robb Royer, Ed Hill, Patti Ryan, Ralph James, Rich Grissom and Gordon Kennedy.

Fagan and Oteri moved to Music City in January 1986. Within a week, Con Hunley became the first country star to record one of his tunes, “Blue Suede Blues.” In 1988, Fagan had his first Top 10 success when Moe Bandy recorded his “Americana.” It became an official campaign theme song for President George H.W. Bush, who was a big country fan.

Next, Opry star Mel McDaniel had a Top 10 success with Fagan’s “Real Good Feel Good Song.” McDaniel also recorded 1989’s “You Can’t Play the Blues (In an Air Conditioned Room),” which was covered by The Blues Brothers in 1992. In the early 1990s, the songwriter also began providing novelty tunes to such comedy acts as Pinkard & Bowden, Ethel & The Shameless Hussies, Cledus T. Judd, Kacey Jones and his own band, Phillybilly.

In 1992, Strait included “Overnight Male” on the multi-million-selling soundtrack album of his movie Pure Country. Twain sang Fagan’s “Crime of the Century” on the soundtrack of the Nicolas Cage thriller Red Rock West the following year. Kevin Costner’s 1996 film Tin Cup included Patty Loveless singing the songwriter’s “Where Are You Boy.”

Meanwhile, Tom Oteri’s daughter, Cheri Oteri, gained national fame as a manic comic force on NBC-TV’s Saturday Night Live in 1995-2000. She memorably lampooned Barbara Walters, Judge Judy, Kathie Lee Gifford and other celebrities and starred opposite Will Ferrell in the “Spartans Cheerleaders” segments.

During this same period in Nashville, Tom Oteri ran Fagan’s publishing company as Collin Raye, B.B. Watson, Jason Ringenberg, Ray Kennedy, Chris LeDoux, The Crickets, Jeff Carson, Shenandoah, Ricochet and others were snapping up the songwriter’s compositions. The team’s publishing company was called “OF music,” the “O” standing for Oteri and the “F” standing for Fagan.

The songwriter reached the peak of his success when John Michael Montgomery hit the top of the charts with a trio of his works in 1994-97. Clay Walker had a big 1996 hit with “Only on Days That End in ‘Y.’”

Fagan’s band Phillybilly released its self-titled CD in that same year. As the lead vocalist of a later group called Superfan, Fagan was widely heard singing the rocking “My House” promoting the 2002 Winter Olympics for eight months on NBC-TV. That song has subsequently been used in more than 30 major-league sports facilities nationwide.

Fagan had a comeback on the country charts with Hank Williams Jr. singing his “Why Can’t We All Get a Longneck” in 2004. He also had cuts with a number of independent-label artists.

Then old demons returned to haunt Richard Fagan. According to The Tennessean, he and Oteri drank heavily on Saturday, April 26, 2008 and had a huge argument around 9 p.m. Fagan slashed Oteri’s wrist with a pocketknife. They were roommates, business partners and longtime friends.

Oteri, 69 at the time, was not a big drinker and was noted for his congenial personality, fatherly manner and gentle disposition. He was not argumentative. He was also weak and ill at the time. Fagan had never been violent and was much loved by Oteri’s adult children.

At about 10:45 p.m. that night, Fagan was arrested on a D.U.I. charge while driving in East Nashville. He called a friend to check on Oteri. After entering the home, this friend called the police. Gaetano Thomas Oteri was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fagan was charged with homicide. He was ordered to enter an alcohol and drug treatment facility. Tom Oteri’s death was later ruled an accident.

Kacey Jones and Cledus T. Judd continued to record his songs, but mainstream country stars stopped recording his works. He reportedly had been ill for some time before he was correctly diagnosed.

Bonnie Brown

Funeral services were held for Country Music Hall of Fame member Bonnie Brown on Saturday, July 23 at 10 a.m. at the Presbyterian Church in Dardanelle.

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Bonnie Brown, who entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015 as a member of The Browns, died Saturday (July 16) at age 77.

With her siblings Jim Ed Brown and Maxine Brown, she created a dulcet-singing harmony trio that achieved success on both country and pop hit parades. The Browns’ 1959 smash hit “The Three Bells” was the first true “Nashville Sound” single to “crossover” and become a No. 1 pop success. Bonnie, Jim Ed and Maxine also had simultaneous pop and country hits with the tender folk-flavored, ballad singles “Scarlet Ribbons” and “The Old Lamplighter.” Bonnie Brown sang with her siblings throughout most of the 1950s and 1960s, placing 20 titles on the country charts.

She was the youngest member of the trio, being four years younger than her brother and seven years younger than her sister. All of the singing Browns were raised in Arkansas. Jim Ed and Maxine came to local prominence as a duo, then achieve national success with the 1954 hit “Looking Back to See.” Bonnie Brown joined them the following year, just after she graduated from high school.

From the start, the trio’s sibling harmony blend was exquisite, with Jim Ed’s fluid baritone, Maxine’s resonant alto and Bonnie’s lilting soprano creating memorable audio overtones. They scored immediately on the country charts with “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow” (1955), “I Take the Chance” (1956) and “I Heard the Bluebirds Sing” (1957).

The Browns’ country successes continued with “Would You Care” (1958) and “Beyond the Shadow” (1959). All three Brown siblings were pitch-perfect harmony singers, but the pattern became Jim Ed singing lead with Bonnie and Maxine as his blending vocalists. They became stars at both The Louisiana Hayride and The Ozark Jubilee. In the early 1950s, The Browns toured with the then-emerging star Elvis Presley, who took a shine to both Bonnie and Maxine.

Bonnie Brown provided the group with much of its visual appeal. Her striking beauty remained with her throughout her subsequent life, onstage and off. The trio’s elegant harmony singing was nowhere better illustrated than on 1959’s “The Three Bells.” This charming, chiming story song was adapted by The Browns from a French pop hit. Produced by Chet Atkins, it was No. 1 on the country charts for 10 weeks and No. 1 on the pop charts for four weeks. Then as now, this was a stunning feat for a Nashville country record.

Bonnie and her siblings replicated that hit’s sound on the pop and country successes “Scarlet Ribbons” (1959) and “The Old Lamplighter” (1960). Then The Browns solidified their country stardom with “Send Me the Pillow You Dream On” (1961), “Then I’ll Stop Loving You” (1964), “Everybody’s Darlin’ Plus Mine” (1964), “I’d Be Just Fool Enough” (1966), “Coming Back to You” (1966) and other hits.

Bonnie Brown

The Browns joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in 1963.

Bonnie Brown withdrew from the group in 1967 to settle back home in Arkansas with her husband and raise their daughters. Jim Ed Brown went on to have a hugely successful solo career. Maxine Brown also made solo records. The trio reunited several times over the years, usually at the Opry. Bonnie and Maxine also appeared on Jim Ed’s final album, 2015’s In Style Again. Later that year, Jim Ed Brown was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died in June 2015, but was presented with his Hall of Fame honor at his bedside before he passed away. Bonnie and Maxine attended the group’s official Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Nashville that fall.

Bonnie Brown also had lung cancer. She died of the disease on Saturday afternoon, July 16, at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock.

Dr. Gene “Brownie” Ring, her husband of more than 56 years, died in January. Bonnie Jean Brown is survived by their daughters Kelly and Robin, by several grandchildren and by her sister Maxine.