Curtis Harding facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Curtis Harding
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Harding performing in 2018
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| Born | June 11, 1979 Saginaw, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genres | Soul |
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| Years active | 2002–present |
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Curtis Harding (born June 11, 1979) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for his unique "slop 'n' soul" music style. This style mixes different types of music like soul, blues, gospel, and rock.
Curtis Harding's first album, Soul Power, came out in 2014. Later, in 2017, he released Face Your Fear. Famous music producers like Danger Mouse and Sam Cohen helped create this album.
Harding was born in Saginaw, Michigan. When he was a teenager, his family moved to Atlanta. He grew up around music because his mother was a gospel singer who toured. In the early 2000s, Curtis sang backup for CeeLo Green. In 2009, he started a band called Night Sun in Atlanta.
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Early Life and Musical Beginnings
Curtis Harding was born on June 11, 1979, in Saginaw, Michigan. His mother, Dorothy, was a gospel singer. Curtis and his five brothers and sisters were raised in the Mennonite faith. His family moved around a lot when he was young, living in places like Alabama, Arizona, and California. They finally settled in Atlanta, Georgia, when he was 14 years old.
His mother traveled in a van, singing at churches and helping at homeless shelters. Curtis grew up surrounded by her music. Sometimes, he would even join her on stage as a backup singer until he was 15. His family would stay for a while in communities with different types of Christian churches. Curtis's sister, who was an amateur rapper, introduced him to other kinds of music.
Curtis shared with The Austin Chronicle that being around older people when he was young made him feel more grown-up early on. He said, "My goal when I was a kid was to be an old man. That's what I was around. I wanted to be that old guy sitting on the porch."
Curtis Harding's Music Journey
Early Collaborations and Bands
In the early 2000s, Curtis Harding was part of a hip-hop group called Proseed in Atlanta. He met singer CeeLo Green while working in music promotion. Curtis rapped on some songs from Green's 2002 album, Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections. He also toured with CeeLo Green as a backup singer in 2002. They performed with famous groups like Outkast and The Roots. Curtis also helped write a song called "Grand Canyon" for Green's 2010 album, The Lady Killer.
In 2008, Curtis moved to Toronto to find new musical ideas. There, he bought a guitar and started writing songs just for fun. He returned to Atlanta in 2009 and formed a band called Night Sun. This band mixed rhythm and blues with garage rock. He started the band with Cole Alexander from the group Black Lips.
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Solo Albums and Success
In 2014, Curtis Harding spent two weeks recording twenty songs in Atlanta. Twelve of these songs became his first album, Soul Power, released on May 6, 2014. Critics liked the album because it blended many different music styles. One popular song from the album was "Keep on Shining." He even performed this song live on a French TV show in 2015.
Curtis met fashion photographer Hedi Slimane at a music festival. Slimane chose Curtis to be the face of Yves Saint Laurent's Paris Music Project in 2015. For this project, Slimane took photos of Curtis for his album cover and made a video featuring Curtis and his song "Next Time."
His second album, Face Your Fear, came out on October 27, 2017. He recorded it in New York City at Danger Mouse's studio. Face Your Fear was named one of the best R&B albums of 2017 by NPR Music. Music critic Ken Tucker praised Curtis's honest and direct singing style on the album.
The first song on the album, "Wednesday Morning Atonement," was produced by Danger Mouse and Sam Cohen. This song is about a father missing his children, which was a way for Curtis to talk about not recording another album for a while. GQ magazine described the album's title track, "Face Your Fear," as a song that could fit both a wedding and a funeral because it's happy, sad, and soulful all at once. Curtis performed his song "Need Your Love" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in January 2018.
In 2018, Curtis released a single called "It's Not Over" before touring with Lenny Kravitz. In 2019, Curtis was the main performer at the end of the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina.
Curtis Harding's Musical Style
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Curtis Harding calls his music style "slop 'n' soul." This name combines soul with sounds from blues, gospel, and rock. He explains that "slop" refers to Southern culture, and "soul" is about the music he grew up with. He told GQ magazine that "Soul is an experience. It's a feeling that you can share with someone through whatever you're doing."
His music often includes sounds not usually found in soul, like old-fashioned synthesizers. Both of his albums feature soft strings under his calm singing. In other songs, his strong and emotional voice moves into a higher, falsetto range with lively brass instruments.
Curtis has said that his musical inspirations include Mahalia Jackson, MC Lyte, Bob Dylan, and Albert King. In 2015, a writer for The Guardian called Curtis Harding and Leon Bridges "the new stars of classic soul." Curtis believes that soul music's popularity comes and goes in cycles, and its return is "just the way people are."
Acting Roles
Curtis Harding has also acted in a TV show. He appeared in the third season of the Sundance TV drama Hap and Leonard. In the show, he played a blues musician named L.C. Soothe. This season was filmed in late 2017 and started airing in March 2018.
