Curb Records was founded in 1963 by Mike Curb while attending California State University as a student, remains intact.
At the half-century mark as a creative brand, Curb’s presence eclipses
history as the longest operating record label with the same ownership.
Accumulated accolades include:
432 #1 Records
1,514 Top Ten Records
4,518 Charted Records
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3,231 singles
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1,287 albums
Today, Mike Curb is one of the most prominent figures in the
music/entertainment world and presides over his own independent record
label that is recognized as one of the most successful in music industry
history.
If Curb has a magic formula for success, it might be captured in the
portrait of its artistic family. Throughout the early years, Curb scored
success with artists as diverse as the Stone Poneys (featuring Linda
Ronstadt), Eric Burdon & War, Sammy Davis Jr., the Osmond Family,
(including Donny & Marie), Lou Rawls, Exile, the Righteous Brothers,
Solomon Burke, Gloria Gaynor, the Hondells, the Arrows (featuring Davie
Allan), Debby Boone, Shaun Cassidy, Roy Orbison, the Electric Flag
(featuring Buddy Miles and Mike Bloomfield), the Sylvers and the Four
Seasons.
In 1969, Curb merged his young label with MGM Records and became the
President of MGM. Under his reign, he boosted MGM’s war chests with a
litany of hits, some of which he produced. His signings brought a new
emphasis on Nashville based artists including Kenny Rogers and the First
Edition, Hank Williams Jr., Don Gibson, Mel Tillis, Ray Stevens, and
Eddy Arnold. Curb also served as president of Verve Records, the
historic jazz label, and scored a coup by signing superstar Tony
Bennett. During the same period, Mike Curb went on to receive the
Billboard Overall Producer of the Year Award, and he acquired the highly
coveted BMI Award for writing Hank Williams Jr’s first #1 single, “All
For The Love Of Sunshine”. He also won the BMI Award for composing the
theme song to Clint Eastwood’s motion picture,
Kelly’s Heroes - “Burning Bridges” which was a worldwide hit by the Mike Curb Congregation.
In the 80’s, Curb Records signed such emerging artists as Lyle Lovett,
The Judds, Don & Phil Everly, Sawyer Brown, Chris Hillman’s Desert
Rose Band, Jeffrey Steele’s band Boy Howdy, The Bellamy Brothers, Ronnie
McDowell, Hal Ketchum and The Righteous Brothers who delivered the
triple platinum selling album and single “Unchained Melody.”
Throughout the 90’s, Curb Records continued to establish ground as an
independent force to be reckoned with. The label surprised many with
the meteoric launch of superstar Tim McGraw, whose album
Not A Moment Too Soon
went on to become one of McGraw’s top selling albums to date. All
told, Curb Records has sold over 40 million units and produced over
ninety seven billion impressions at radio with Tim McGraw’s music. By
1997, Curb was Billboard’s #1 country label in four major categories for
albums and singles and recognized as the overall #1 country label in
the industry according to Nielsen SoundScan. Additional milestones for
Curb in the 90’s included the signing of teenage superstar LeAnn Rimes
whose single “Blue,” became an industry phenomenon who crossed multiple
genres. Rimes’ “How Do I Live,’ co-produced by Mike Curb and written by
Diane Warren, earned the label a Billboard Award for the longest
running record of the 20th Century on Billboard’s Top Hot 100 chart.
Curb also co-produced LeAnn Rimes’ “You Light Up My Life” which became
the first album to debut #1 on Billboard’s pop, country, and
contemporary Christian charts. Co-published by Curb’s publishing
division, “You Light Up My Life” won both an Academy Award and a Grammy.
This credit brought further honors to the Curb Publishing division—a
side of the indie giant too often overlooked. Curb’s publishing
interests have scored more than 100 ASCAP, BMI and SESAC award winning
songs including the first record in Billboard history to debut at #1 on
the Billboard Country Chart – Garth Brooks “More Than A Memory”.
History was in the making when Curb published and released Lee Brice’s
record, “Love Like Crazy” which was Billboard’s #1 record of the year in
2010 and the longest running song in the history of the Billboard
chart. Curb recently co-published “Crazy Girl” by The Eli Young band
which was the 2012 ACM Song Of The Year and Billboard’s most played song
of 2011.
At the launch of the 21st century Curb Records had established one of
the strongest country rosters in Nashville. Superstar artists such as
Tim McGraw, LeAnn Rimes, Jo Dee Messina, Hank Williams Jr., Wynonna,
Lyle Lovett, Clay Walker, Trick Pony, and Rodney Atkins were
consistently pushing out hit product. In 2001, and for the first time
in the history of music business, Curb Records became the first
independent label to be named Billboard’s Country Music Label of the
Year.
In 2012, this their 50th Anniversary, label success on the scoreboard already includes:
Breaking Lee Brice as one of the most exciting new artists in country music in recent memory. His
Hard 2 Love
album debuted with a trifecta as the #1 Digital Country Album, #2
Billboard Country Album and Billboard’s #5 best selling album on the Top
200 Chart across all genres. The album has already scored a #1 single
and a platinum certification for its lead single, “A Woman Like You”.
Rodney Atkins’ has produced his 7th number one record with the title track to his current album,
Take A Back Road.
Curb’s January 2012 release of Tim McGraw’s
Emotional Traffic,
debuted as Billboard’s #1 Country album and the single “Better Than I
Used To Be” became McGraw’s historic 100th Top 5 record on the Billboard
charts.
Curb Records has achieved over 300 number one records on the Billboard
chart and Mike Curb recently received a star on both the Music City Walk
of Fame and the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame.
