Entertainment
Sonny Curtis on a career spanning Buddy Holly and Mary Tyler Moore
The theme song to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” is familiar to generations of TV watchers. The name of the man who wrote and sang it, less so.
Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Well, it’s you, girl, and you should know it
With each glance and every little movement you show it
Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have the town, why don’t you take it
You’re gonna make it after all
But by the time Sonny Curtis recorded “Love Is All Around” in 1970, he’d “made it” several times over himself, as a songwriter, as a recording artist, and as an early bandmate of the legendary Buddy Holly.
Born in 1937 in rural West Texas, Curtis grew up picking cotton on his father’s farm. “Oh, it was a miserable job,” he told correspondent Mo Rocca. “The heavier the cotton sack gets, the worse it is, man.”
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His love of music came from family. His aunt taught him to play the guitar, and while working those fields, Curtis dreamed up his own songs: “Driving a tractor, you go down half a mile that way, and when you get there, you turn around and come back a half mile this way. You have plenty of time to write a song!”
Curtis was just 14 when he met a young Buddy Holly in nearby Lubbock. “Buddy had black hair, but he had dyed it blonde, and it was growing out. And he reminded me of a black-and-tan coon hound. We sorta skipped all the niceties and got our guitars and started playing.”
Rocca asked, “How quickly did you realize this guy’s serious about music?”
“Buddy, he exuded confidence. He just knew he was gonna make it big one day.”
The two became fast friends, bonded by their love of music. Sometimes, Curtis said, he’d spend the night at Buddy’s. The two would wake up at midnight and flip on the car radio for a show out of Shreveport, Louisiana, to hear some of the rhythm and blues voices that would shape rock ‘n’ roll: “We heard, oh, Big Mama Thornton and Lonnie Johnson, and Lead Belly, Little Richard, Ray Charles, you name it.”
“Were you just absorbing this?” asked Rocca.
“Oh, boy, were we ever, yeah!”
Buddy and Sonny had formed a band and were still figuring out their own sound, when a then little-known Elvis Presley came to town. “And I mean, the girls were goin’ nuts, man. And that really got our attention. All a sudden, we thought, this not only involves music, this involves pretty girls!”
When Elvis came back to town in 1956, Buddy and Sonny’s band was the opening act. “Well, I guess we were right there sort of at the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll.”
“What was Elvis like backstage?” asked Rocca.
“He was just an old boy.”
The band went on to record some demos, but wasn’t making much money.
So, Curtis left to tour with country star Slim Whitman. “He treated me kind of like a little brother,” Curtis said. “I remember I’d be on the stage and he’d come over and say, ‘Now don’t be nervous.'”
Meanwhile, Buddy Holly formed a new band, which would prove to be seminal. The Crickets shot to fame, appearing on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Rocca asked, “When that was happening, did you feel a little left out, like, ‘Ugh’?”
“I did feel kind of like the train left the station and I wasn’t on it, you know?” Curtis replied.
But on February 3, 1959, Curtis’ friend and former bandmate died in a plane crash near Clear Lake Iowa.
Curtis served as a pallbearer.
“Buddy Holly was 22 when he died,” Rocca said.
“Yes. Can you imagine the amount of music he pumped into the system in a short period of, like, 18 months? No telling how much he would’ve contributed had he been around.”
By that time, Curtis had joined the Crickets. But with Holly gone, the band felt rudderless.
It was Curtis’ talent for songwriting that helped put the wind back in his sails. His song “Walk Right Back” became a big hit for the Everly Brothers:
And then there’s this classic, which Curtis claims he wrote in about 20 minutes: “I Fought the Law”:
“I Fought the Law” has been covered by artists from The Bobby Fuller Four to The Clash.
Sonny Curtis is 84 now. He and Louise, his wife of more than 50 years, live outside Nashville, where they raised their daughter, Sarah. He is enshrined in Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame – as is his old guitar.
In 2012, the year the Crickets retired, they were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
But it’s a song Curtis wrote for the small screen that may be his most enduring legacy.
In 1970, he was living in Los Angeles when he got a call from a friend about a new sitcom being produced for Mary Tyler Moore: “It was just this young girl gets jilted in this small community, and she moves to the big city of Minneapolis, gets a job at a news station. And that was about it.”
Curtis wrote the theme song based on a four-page description of the show. “I honed in on the part that she rented an apartment she had a hard time affording, and wrote, ‘How will you make it on your own?’ … ‘This world is awfully big, and girl, this time you’re all alone.'”
Within just a few hours, Curtis was summoned to the studio to play his song for producer James L. Brooks. Curtis recalled, “I got my guitar out and I sang it to him. He smiled and said, ‘Sing that again.’ And I had to sing it about ten times. And before I left that afternoon, the room was full of people standing all around the walls. I thought, ‘I believe I got a shot at this!'”
WEB EXTRA: Sonny Curtis on writing the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” theme song
Rocca said, “It wasn’t a given that you’d write and sing it.”
“No. As a matter of fact they didn’t want me to sing it. I said, ‘I wanna sing this,’ you know? And I was probably more pushy than I should have been, if I’da known better. But fortunately, I didn’t know better at the time!”
When the show became a hit, Curtis was asked to rework his song: “When they started to do the second season, he said, ‘Sonny, she’s obviously made it. And we have to have some new lyrics.'”
For a man whose career dates back to the birth of rock ‘n’ roll, Sonny Curtis remains disarmingly humble. “Oh, I’ve always sort of had a rule, don’t give advice in a crowd,” he laughed.
But when pressed, he will share some wisdom: “If they say, ‘Man, you oughta go back to Texas ’cause you’ll never make it,’ just look at them and say, ‘No, you’re wrong, because I am gonna make it.'”
Rocca replied, “You know, I should write this down, ’cause this sounds like a song right here!”
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Story produced by Michelle Kessel. Editor: Lauren Barnello. Illustrations: Mitch Butler.
- DPM Dar says Pakistan acts cautiously in mediation role.
- PM, CDF remain engaged in diplomatic efforts: Dar.
- Prolonged conflict may impact oil, economy: DPM.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday blamed Israel for seeking to derail Islamabad’s efforts to facilitate ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran by launching an attack on Tehran at a moment when both sides were preparing to engage.
“A major Israeli attack on Iran and the subsequent strike on Jubail in Saudi Arabia had made the situation more dangerous and sensitive,” he said while briefing the Senate on the current regional situation in the Middle East and Islamabad’s mediation efforts.
Pakistan emerged as a key mediator in one of the region’s worst conflicts, which erupted after joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
The war has since resulted in a sharp increase in global fuel and energy costs, triggered by the effective blocking of the Strait of Hormuz by Tehran.
Speaking in the Upper House on the current Mideast situation, DPM Dar, who also holds the portfolio of foreign minister, thanked Leader of the Opposition Senator Raja Nasir Abbas for acknowledging the government’s efforts and said Pakistan had remained actively engaged from the very outset of the crisis.
He said that when the first attack on Iran took place, he was in Madina after attending an OIC meeting and immediately contacted the Foreign Office, directing it to issue a strong condemnation of the Israeli attack on a sovereign country.
FM Dar said he also established immediate contact with the Iranian foreign minister and conveyed Pakistan’s support and sympathy, assuring him that Islamabad would make efforts to rally regional countries behind de-escalation.
He said Pakistan had since remained in continuous contact with countries in the region and beyond, including China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada and several European states, in an effort to promote restraint and prevent escalation.
The DPM said Pakistan had worked as a facilitator and mediator and had to proceed with caution so as not to undermine sensitive diplomatic efforts.
He said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and the Foreign Office remained fully engaged in the diplomatic process.
DPM Dar said Saudi Arabia hosted a meeting of 12 countries on March 19 in Riyadh on the issue, where Pakistan represented its position and helped secure a balanced joint statement, including condemning Israel.
He said a four-country group comprising Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkiye and Pakistan had also been working for peace, and its follow-up meeting, initially planned for Istanbul, was later shifted to Islamabad.
FM Dar further informed the Senate that the foreign ministers of the three countries visited Pakistan on March 29, where bilateral meetings as well as a quadrilateral meeting were held as part of efforts to advance peace diplomacy.
He went on to say that Pakistan had also engaged China at a high level, and during his visit there on March 31, the two sides discussed a five-point peace initiative for the region, which was later made public.
Dar said the United Nations Secretary-General had also telephoned him to appreciate Pakistan’s role and offered support for its peace efforts.
He said Pakistan had tried until the last moment to create space for a pause and meaningful engagement between the parties, but regretted that fresh developments had again complicated the situation.
He cautioned that prolonged conflict in the region could have serious consequences for the wider world as well as Pakistan, including on oil prices and the economy.
The deputy prime minister expressed hope that diplomatic efforts would ultimately help restore peace in the region and lead to a dignified resolution of the conflict.
Stocks fell on Tuesday, April 7, as President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran is approaching.
Since the Strait of Hormuz has not opened yet, the stock market rattled as hopes of a ceasefire are fading.
Dow Jones Industrials fell by 256 points or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 declined by 0.5%. Nasdaq fell by 0.8%, performing relatively poorer than the two indices due to weak chip stocks.
According to The Wall Street Journal, negotiators don’t hold hope that an agreement will be made before the deadline since there’s still too much space between both parties, according to US officials. Despite this, Iranian news sources have suggested that the negotiations aren’t over yet.
Oil prices jumped due to the increased tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed by 3%, trading at above $116 a barrel. At the same time, Brent crude climbed above $110 a barrel.
A standout performer was Broadcom, gaining 3% after entering into more agreements regarding artificial intelligence with Google and Anthropic. Arm Holdings, in turn, dropped by almost 6% after being downgraded by Morgan Stanley.
UBS cut its year-end S&P 500 target to 7,500 from 7,700, citing uncertainty from the U.S.-Iran war.
Demi Lovato is excited for her first tour as a married woman.
The Grammy-nominated singer will embark on her It’s Not That Deep Tour next week — her first tour since tying the knot with fellow musician Jordan “Jutes” Lutes on May 25, 2025. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Monday, April 6, the Grammy-nominated singer explained why she believes this tour will be “easier” since Lutes will also be on the road at the same time.
“I’m so excited for him,” Lovato said of Lutes’ upcoming Far From Dilworth Tour.
“We both play a show on our [one] year anniversary,” she continued. “He’ll be in Europe, I’ll be here in the states. And the next day I’ll fly out to see him. I wish we were together, but it’s okay, we’ll be together the next day.”
Indeed, Lutes will be playing a show in Amsterdam while Lovato will be performing in Texas on their one-year anniversary.
The Camp Rock star noted that she and Lutes “do a really great job at balancing work and spending time together” by “staying busy” when the other is at work.
“I think it’ll be a lot easier since he’ll be on the road at the same time, we’ll both be busy,” she explained.
The Sonny With a Chance alum added, “He knows the life and he’s just so supportive, and I wanna be equally as supportive for him.”
Lutes will additionally embark on another newly announced tour, the Smile You’re on Tour, from August. He will be performing in Toronto on Lovato’s 34th birthday on August 20.
Lovato, 33, and Lutes, 34, sparked a romance while working together on her eighth studio album, Holy Fvck, in 2022. The couple went Instagram official shortly after.
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