The entire world just recently lost probably the greatest entertainer of all-time . Yes ! Prince in my opinion and many others agree that the fallen musical genius was ahead of his time and a visionary of what real music embodied . Although he was a musical genius who had a great voice , stage presence , and the ability to play a plethora of instruments , there are by far more other musicians who display erudition . When I think of such prodigious artists , I consider a one Curt Jones ( formerly of the funk band Slave , Aurra , and Déjà ).
Upon conversing with Curt just a few weeks ago , I couldn ’ t have imagined the guy that I grew up watching perform with other bandmates was really an immense break-out star in his own right . See , I had never seen Curt perform as a solo artist thus not knowing just how inordinate his own musical talents were . We ’ re talking about a man that plays just as many if not more instruments as the late Prince and has a voice that is as pitch perfect as it was in the 70s & 80 ’ s when I discovered him in bands , Aurra and Déjà . To not include him in the class of musical geniuses would be unjust as he comes from a background of great performers and was in the company of legends like , Earl “ Fatha ” Hines ( a popular early 20 th century jazz pianist and bandleader ).
Curt Jones III was born in Linden , New Jersey to George Irving Jones , a contractor / brickmason and Emma Janice Jones from a small town outside of Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . He has one sister , Lisa Jones who is younger . Curt grew up in the 60 ’ s thus remembering the Beatle ’ s “ British Invasion ” and listened to James Brown , Sam Cooke , Sly and the Family Stone , and others . He came from a very close knit family . He remembers gathering money with his friends and taking the train to New York City getting off at Penn Station to go to Madison Square Garden .
They would purchase tickets for orchestra seats for $ 7.50 to see The Jackson 5 every year . Young Curt recalls one of their most memorable shows where the band that opened up for the iconic group was so good he and his buddy and future bandmate thought . Moreover , the saxophone player in this group put down his instrument , came to the front , and started singing a rendition of “ Me and Mrs . Jones ” ( a Grammy award winning song sung by the late Billy Paul ). Curt revealed the group was the legendary The Commodores and that singer was the iconic award winning singer / songwriter Lionel Richie . They had just gotten signed to Motown . Curt really loved music from the time he was in
elementary school singing around the house matching tones well . As he got older , the inspiring singer joined the glee club and choir in school . He took private lessons to play different instruments from a musical instructor at his elementary school named Mr . Wolf . Curt didn ’ t hold back as he learned to play instrument after instrument . He knew he had a talent for being a serious musician as it was in his blood . His maternal grandfather had a big band in Western Pennsylvania called The Davenport Blue Ribbon Band . His grandfather played every instrument as the legendary pianist and bandleader , Earl “ Fatha ” Hines joined the band . He still holds fond memories and pictures of the influential jazz musician .
His mother ’ s sisters also had a group called The Davenport Sisters who sang with Motown in the early days of the legendary record label . They were signed to a subsidiary label of Motown being managed by Harvey Fuqua . He watched his aunts rehearse down in the basement . When Curt was seven , he recalls asking his father if Santa Claus would be interested in delivering him an electric guitar . Sure enough when he awoke that Christmas morning , there was an electric guitar sitting under the tree and remembers being very grateful .
Upon receiving it , he took over a year worth of lessons . This is the first instrument he learned to play and ( is main instrument that he plays to this day ). Still a kid , at the end of the day the young prodigy grew tired of taking lessons and playing guitar to join his friends in normal child activities like , the Cub Scouts . At first his father was not pleased with the idea as knew his son could make a living off playing guitar but his mother convinced his father to give him a break . By the time Curt got to junior high school , he continue to pursue his musical journey by playing in stage bands and the orchestra . This encouraged the talented teen to pick back up the electric guitar and start playing it never putting it down ever again . Curt began forming bands in
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