KING CURTIS

"Games People Play" by King Curtis (real name Curtis Ousley, 1934-1971) -- one-sided 45 test pressing recorded in 1969 with Atlantic/Atco Records (Mono, Matrix #69-C-16320-1, #6664). In 1970, Curtis won the Best R&B Instrumental Performance Grammy for this song, "Games People Play."
>>> A genuine Atlantic/Atco 45rpm record (#69-C-16320) with "Games People Play" by King Curtis.
BACKGROUND: Saxophonist, songwriter and producer. Successful both as a solo artist (best known for his 1967 hit Memphis Soul Stew) as well as a session musician and producer. Curtis mainly played and composed rhythm and blues or soul but also some Rock and roll and great bop or soul jazz. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Around midnight on August 13, 1971 Curtis was lugging an air-conditioning unit towards his brownstone apartment on West 86th Street in New York City when he noticed two junkies were using drugs on the steps to his home. When he asked them to leave, an argument started. The argument quickly became heated and turned into a fist-fight with one of the men, 26-year old Juan Montañez. Suddenly, Montañez pulled out a knife and stabbed Curtis in the chest. Curtis managed to wrestle the knife away and stab his assailant four times before collapsing. Montañez staggered away from the scene and Curtis was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where he died from his wounds less than an hour later. Montañez was arrested at the same hospital Curtis had been taken to. When police officers investigating the murder learned that another man had been admitted to Roosevelt hospital with stab wounds around the same time as Curtis, they quickly realized that the two events were connected. Montañez was charged with Curtis' murder and subsequently sentenced to a term of imprisonment.