Overview

• Curtis died Friday at age 88, according to his wife Louise Curtis, with no medical details beyond the family's note of a sudden illness.
• A member of the Crickets and a childhood friend of Buddy Holly, he rejoined the band after Holly's 1959 death and appeared on the 1960 album that introduced "I Fought the Law."
• "I Fought the Law" gained wide fame via the Bobby Fuller Four's 1966 Top 10 version and was later covered by artists across rock, punk and country.
• He wrote and sang the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme, "Love Is All Around," which later saw a 1980 single featuring his vocal reach No. 29 on Billboard's country chart.
• His career spanned hundreds of songs recorded by major artists, and he was honored by the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Musicians Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Crickets in 2012.