Becky Curtis is one of the truly great up-beat soul singers from her teenage musical beginnings to her professional work in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York City, and national tours of the U.S. & Canada. Always a musical force to be reckoned with, her bands varied from The Back Alley Band & Sugar Smak in the 1970s, to the 80s' band Becky Curtis and the Blu Tones which would feature, other than her gut-wrenchingly raw soulful voice and stage presence, singer/keyboardist/guitarist Rick Randal, guitarists Jeff Gidrey & Bobby "Chevrolet" Kamoske, virtuoso sax player George Matoian, and the intense rhythm section of bassist Greg Willis and drummer Jack Pinney.
Becky performs an eclectic array of musical genres, but her abilities in the Rock and Roll, Rhythm & Blues and Soul arenas have made her a shining star. She sings songs as well as those who originally recorded them and that includes, Sam Cook, Otis Redding, Little Richard, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner! Bill Milkowski from the Milwaukee Journal and Village Voice called her a "Fiery ball of energy with a flair for Joplinesque vocals as she delivers such renditions as 'Respect,' 'Knock on Wood' and 'Me and Bobby McGee in convincing style.'"
Becky and the Blu Tones released a demo in 1981 that included San Diego radio hits "I'm Yours" (by Jerry Raney), "Try" (by Bob Kamoske), and several well written numbers by Becky herself such as "Empty Promises". The live sets include intense versions of Tina Turner's "River Deep Mountain High," Otis Redding's "A Change is Gonna Come," Etta James' Love and Happiness" and so many other great songs.
Becky Curtis went to New York City in 1982 to play NYC clubs the Bitter End, The Lone Star Cafe, and Kenny's Castaways. At Kenny's she hosted "The Midnight Jam," jaming with such players as Jaco Pastorius, Chris Speding (from Paul McCartney's Band), Buzzy Feton and Sal Barnardi (from Ricki Lee Jones' Band), Steve Forbert, Joe Jackson and rock legends
Doc Pomus and Otis Blackwell (Becky became one of Otis' favorite backup vocalists). Becky's NYC band included Rock guitar virtuoso John Putnam ( who played on Madonna's True Blue Album, and recently played in the Who's Broadway show Tommy and the show's album) -- Also Sammy Marendino on drums (currently in Cyndi Lauper's band) Also Ronny Gesser on bass, Roy Nathanson on sax . In NYC, she worked with the Mogul's Mogul Ahmet Ertegan, recording demo's at Atlantic Studios in NY.
Becky Curtis currently lives in Los Angeles and still performs at Rusty's Surf Ranch in Santa Monica, and she performed at a recent reunion at Kenny's Castaways in New York City, in January and in June 2007, and for the Kenny's 40th year anniversary in Sept. 07. She "rocked" the house.
