What was Curtis Mayfield's Net Worth?
Curtis Mayfield was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer who had a net worth of $4 million at the time of his death. That's the same as around $7 million in today's dollars after adjusting for inflation. Curtis Mayfield was best known as one of the most influential African-American musicians in bringing social awareness into music. His talents are known for providing the background music for the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Early Years
Curtis Lee Mayfield was born on June 3, 1942, in Chicago's Cook County Hospital. The son of Kenneth Mayfield and Marion (Washington) Mayfield, he had four siblings. When Mayfield was five years old, his father walked out on the family. His mother, Mariam, then moved them around to several different public housing projects.
When he was seven years old, Mayfield performed live at church for the first time with the Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers. Soon, he began singing in the gospel choir.
Mayfield's family moved to the north side of Chicago in 1956. There, he attended William H. Wells Community Academy High School – a public Chicago school which he would drop out of after two years. He received his first guitar that year, taught himself how to play and started a musical group called the Alphatones.
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The Impressions
In 1957, Curtis Mayfield befriended a young man named Jerry Butler, and soon he and Butler, along with brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks, were performing as The Roosters. The following year, the name of the group would change to The Impressions and would include Sam Gooden. Butler eventually left the group and was replaced by Fred Cash. The music of The Impressions would end up wrapping around the civil rights movement of the 1960s with songs like "We're A Winner" and "Move On Up."
In 1965, Mayfield wrote the song "People Get Ready" for the group, the title track for the album of the same name. It became their best-known hit, reaching number three on the Billboard R&B chart and number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100. Rolling Stone magazine later ranked it at number 24 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and it was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 1998, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Mayfield remained a member of the group, which was inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame, until 1970.
Going Solo
In 1970, after leaving The Impressions and setting out on a solo career, Curtis Mayfield recorded his first solo album, "Curtis," which reached the top 20 lists. He went on to work on soundtracks with Aretha Franklin, Mavis Maples, and several other artists and began writing and arranging music for artists such as Walter Jackson and Jan Bradley.
In 1972, he wrote the soundtrack for the American crime drama film "Super Fly" about a cocaine dealer trying to break free of the underworld drug business. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album at number 72 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It sold over 12 million copies, and two songs from the album, "Freddie's Dead" and "Super Fly," sold more than one million copies and received a gold certification.
In 1973, he released his album "Back to the World," which focused on the aftermath of the Vietnam War. It hit number one on the R&B album charts.
Deciding to relocate with his family to Atlanta in 1982, Mayfield closed down his recording studio in Chicago, from which he operated his Mayfield, Windy C, and Curtom record labels.
(Photo by Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images)
Tragedy
On August 13, 1990, a gust of wind dislodged a stage light during the sound check for a live concert at Wingate Field in Brooklyn, New York. The light fell just as Curtis Mayfield was being introduced and forcefully struck him from behind. He was knocked to the ground and pinned beneath the rigging, which broke his neck and crushed his spine in three places. The injuries left him permanently paralyzed from the neck down. Although he was no longer able to play guitar following the horrific accident, he discovered he could still sing if he was lying down and letting gravity pull on his chest and lungs. He began to compose and record music in a reclining position. His final album, "New World Order," was recorded line by line with him lying on his back in 1996.
Accolades
In 1994, Curtis Mayfield won a Grammy Legend Award. The following year, he was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1999, he was again inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this time as a solo artist.
"People Get Ready" was chosen as one of the Top 10 Best Songs of All Time as announced by Mojo magazine, and, in 2019, "Super Fly" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Just prior to his death, Mayfield was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The Music Lives On
Each year, a Curtis Mayfield Scholarship is awarded to one exemplary graduating senior at the Chicago High School for the Arts and one exemplary graduating senior at the DeKalb School for the Arts in Atlanta, Georgia. Awarded according to a combination of need and musical merit, the $3,000 scholarships are provided by the BMI Foundation, which gives preference to students going on to pursue college majors in performance, composition, and songwriting.
Personal Life
Curtis Mayfield was married twice and had ten children: two with his first wife Helen, two with a companion named Diane, and six with his second wife Altheida Marie (Sims), who died in 2021 after a two-year battle with cancer. Seventeen years before her death, Altheida Mayfield founded the Curtis Mayfield Foundation in honor of her late husband. The purpose of the foundation was to help less fortunate students obtain music scholarships.
In 1998, Curtis had to have his right leg amputated due to diabetes. He died on December 26, 1999, at North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Georgia, from complications of type 2 diabetes.
