Reminiscing On Good Music And Race Cars
Mike Curb's Multi-Faceted Success As A Songwriter, Producer & Record Label Owner Led Him To North Carolina Running His Own Motorsports Museum
Many people dream of taking the big chance, chasing their dreams and ending up a huge success. Unfortunately for many, chasing their dreams never happens. For Mike Curb, it was almost like it was destined to happen.
“I’ve tried just about everything. I don’t think I’m great at anything, but I’ve tried just about everything in my life, so I guess it was just a desire to try it. I started school in Compton, California which at that time was a very racially mixed part of the city, which I loved. From there, I went to the San Fernando Valley, I was very much a product of those public schools.
In college, I had written a song called ‘You Meet the Nicest People Driving a Honda’. I got three thousand dollars from the Gray agency and they used it as the Honda commercial. I thought I was rich, so I started a record company down on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. I ran out of money and had to give up my apartment and I ended up living in the janitor section of the building where I had my office. The good news is that I could hear the music from all the different clubs on Sunset. It’s not what I intended, I really don’t know, I was just trying to get my music out”, recalled Curb.
Curb’s music career took off when he got involved with musical legend Eddie Ray. Ray helped Curb press his record and opened up the distribution of Capital Records, where he was the first African-American Vice President. “Eddie Ray is a wonderful man. He is the grandson of a slave. He went from being the grandson of a slave all the way to being the first African American Vice President of a major record company. He played a huge role in the careers of Rickey Nelson, Fats Domino, many of the African American artists”, stated Curb.
Along with starting a successful independent label record company, Mike Curb took on many other challenges. Curb served as the Lieutenant Governor of California from 1979-1983, and also serving a year as acting governor. Curb also ran an active motorsports program boasting top talent such as Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Darrell Waltrip.
Oddly enough, it was Curbs motorsports business that gave him the opportunity to work with Eddie Ray again. Curb’s motorsports company was no longer building cars, and was operating as a motorsports museum. Curb dedicated half of the building, located in Kannapolis, North Carolina to house the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2014. “Eddie was trying to retire, we said wait a minute the country still needs you. Since he had been born in North Carolina he was willing to take on the responsibility of growing the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. He says he’s slowing down, but everyone else says he’s working just as hard as ever, and he’s over 90”, claimed Curb.
The North Carolina Music Hall of Fame is dedicated to honoring those in the music industry from North Carolina. Each year several inductees are introduced into the hall of fame and exhibits are changed to showcase the inductees. Mike Curb was inducted in the class of 2009. “You know it’s great. Anytime you are inducted into any hall of fame, it’s a nice recognition, but Willie Nelson made a wonderful quote when he was being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, he said ‘Would I accept this honor when there’s so many people much more deserving than me?’ and he said, damn right”, Curb chuckled.
Curb joked, but his success in the music industry has been consistent through the years. In fact, aside from his wife and kids, Curb claims his record label as one of his proudest accomplishments. “Just staying in the music business for fifty-five years now, wow there’s a lot of challenges. Back when I got involved, they were still making 78 records. One thing we’ve always tried to do is distribute as much of our own product as we could so that we could be independent. We are competing with these huge majors like Sony, Warner, and Universal; they bought up most of the independent companies, so competing with them is a daily challenge”, claims Curb. Curb is right to be proud of his success, after 55 years, Curb records is the oldest independent record label still operated by the original owner.
The North Carolina Music Hall of Fame features rotating exhibits not only showcasing inductees, but also musical legends who have recently passed. “My favorite exhibit is the Eddie Ray exhibit, showing his life. They change it each year based on the future inductees or if someone is being honored or if someone died. For example, for Ben E. King, they have a wonderful display showing his career with the drifters, the early songs he wrote, and the songs he made hits with”, explained Curb. “People should go back every time they have a chance. There will always be new exhibits, and if they get bored with the music exhibits, they can look at the race cars”.
Included in the same building as the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame is the Curb Motorsports Museum. The museum highlights historic cars from Curb Motorsports. “There are historic cars of ours like the car Richard Petty drove to his 200th victory in Daytona and the car that Dale Earnhardt won his first NASCAR championship in. We have about 40 cars at the museum that are a part of Curb motorsports history”, said Curb.
Curb shows no signs of slowing down, in fact his record company just had a number one record with Dylan Scott’s My Girl. “It’s a daily challenge, but each day I wake up and am ready to do it again”, stated Curb.
Jared Langenegger
A graduate of New Mexico State University with B.S. in wildlife and fisheries science, Jared spent 15 years working in fisheries and parks management. He enjoys camping, fishing, hunting, painting, and wood working.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Camping World Racing Resort, which has camping facilities available next to the location's RV service and sales centers. Tom Johnson Camping Center even boasts a Rally Park, which regularly stock hundreds of new and used RVs.