JAMES “ JC ” CURLEIGH , the Canadian Who Saved Gibson ,
On the Health of the Guitar Market & MI Retail
By Michael Raine
James “ JC ” Curleigh
When James “ JC ” Curleigh was hired as Gibson Brands ’ new president and CEO in 2018 , he was somewhat of a surprising choice to be the man who would save one of the most iconic guitar companies in the world from financial doom . Gibson was at a very low point in its history , as a number of ill-advised acquisitions and other decisions had left it $ 500 million in debt and bankrupt . On top of that , it was also contending with a severely damaged reputation among dealers and guitarists . And so , by October 2018 , long-time CEO Henry Juszkiewicz was forced out of the company as part of its post-bankruptcy restructuring plan and a fresh leadership team was installed .
Leading that new executive group was Curleigh , who came to Gibson after years as the president of Levi Strauss – another iconic brand , though in a very different market – and who also happened to be a passionate guitarist . For us , being Canadian Music Trade after all , we were also pleasantly surprised find out he ’ s Canadian . In fact , he has three citizenships – American , British , and Canadian – though Nova Scotia is where he grew up and considers home . “ I ’ m more Canadian than most ,” he tells CMT , explaining that his father was a helicopter pilot in Canadian Navy and his grandfather was an officer in the North-West Mounted Police and RCMP . Curleigh himself has spent a third of his life in each of the U . S ., Europe , and Canada , and attended St . Mary ’ s University in Halifax . Though what makes us most jealous is that Curleigh was in the arena when Sidney Crosby scored the “ golden goal ” at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver .
So , being the good Canadian that he is , when he found out CMT wanted to chat , he eagerly accepted the invite to discuss the current and future health of the guitar market and how MI retail will need to adapt . It was a long conversation , and only a portion can fit on these pages . As such , the interview here has been edited for clarity and length . If you ’ d like to hear the full conversation – which includes Curleigh ’ s open and frank assessment of Gibson ’ s past mistakes and financial troubles and what he did internally to fix the situation – it will air on the May 5 , 2021 , episode of the Canadian Musician Podcast , which is also produced by NWC .
CMT : What do you recall about the making the decision to leave Levi ’ s for Gibson ?
James “ JC ” Curleigh : You got to get Jimmy Rankin on the phone from The Rankin Family ! He ’ s one of my best friends and could tell you ….
So , I ’ m sitting there at Levi ’ s deciding and I had this opportunity to join Gibson . You know , I read about the bankruptcy and , as a musician and a lover of music , was like , “ Oh my god , how can this happen ?” I was the president of the Levi ’ s brand , and all of a sudden , in the summer I went back and I called them and they called me and they said , “ Would you ever consider being the CEO of Gibson ?” It ’ s just one of those positive dilemmas in life . My passion was telling me one thing , but also Levi ’ s was about to do this IPO and all this crazy stuff in California .
24 CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE