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Curtis Ousley (February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), who performed under the name King Curtis, was an American tenor, alto, and soprano saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and soul jazz.

Curtis was born in Fort Worth, Texas. During the 1950s and early to mid 1960s he both worked as a session player on such records as Yakety Yak and recorded his own singles. His best known singles from this period are "Soul Twist" (Enjoy) and "Soul Serenade" (Capitol). In 1965 he moved to Atlantic Records, where his most successful singles were "Memphis Soul Stew" and "Ode to Billie Joe". He led Aretha Franklin's backup band, The Kingpins, and produced records, at first with Jerry Wexler and then by himself. He also recorded for Groove Records.^[1]

One of his last releases was the critically acclaimed [1] Live At Fillmore West which boasted heavyweight live versions of "Memphis Soul Stew" and Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered". Musicians such as Billy Preston (organ), Jerry Jemmott (bass), Cornell Dupree (guitar, Curtis had a long standing relationship with Dupree), Pancho Morales (percussion) and Bernard Purdie (drums) backed up Curtis. The album's live version of Procul Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale was used as the title music in the seminal 1980s British comedy film Withnail & I.

On Friday August 13, 1971, at the height of a New York heat wave, King Curtis was carrying an air conditioner unit into his apartment at 50W.86th St. He found his access blocked by two men administering drugs to themselves. He asked them to move, there was a scuffle, and one of the men, later identified as Juan Montanez, stabbed King Curtis in the heart with a knife.^{[citation needed]} (According to Sam Moore, the attack was witnessed by Aretha Franklin and Moore himself, both of whom were arriving at Curtis's apartment to discuss recording sessions he was producing for them.)^{[citation needed]} Curtis was hurried to Roosevelt Hospital, but was dead on arrival. The funeral was held four days later. As the mourners filed in, Curtis' Kingpins played an hour long version of "Soul Serenade" and a number of musicians got up to play. Jesse Jackson preached the service, and Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Cissy Houston, Brook Benton and Duane Allman were among those attending. Aretha sang the closing spiritual, 'Never Grow Old'. The Atlantic Records office closed for the day.^{[citation needed]}

Curtis also played a rousing sax solo on "It's So Hard", a song featured on John Lennon's seminal Imagine, which was released just weeks after Curtis' tragic death.

Curtis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 6, 2000.

• At Small's Paradise
• Eternally, Soul
• King Size Soul
• Soul Serenade
• Sweet Soul
• Live At Fillmore West
• Trouble In Mind

1. ^ Shaw, Arnold (1978). Honkers and Shouters. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, pp 460-466. ISBN 0-02-061740-2. 

• King Curtis entry at allmusic
• http://www.tsimon.com/curtis.htm