Sonny Curtis, Crickets Frontman Who Penned Fearless Punk Anthem, Dies at 88

September 21, 2025 5:17 pm

Sonny Curtis, the man behind the rebellious Clash hit “I Fought the Law” and the hit Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song, died Sept. 19, 2025, following a sudden illness. He was 88 years old.

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Curtis’ daughter revealed his death Saturday (Sept. 20) in a heartbreaking social media post. “He was 88 and he lived a more exceptional life than anyone I’d ever met,” she wrote. “He made a mark on this world, and he made a mark on the hearts of all who knew him. It’s a sad day, but what a life. May we look at his life with joy rather than sadness. He would have wanted that.”

Curtis is survived by Louise, his wife of more than 50 years, and their daughter, Sarah.

Sonny Curtis Got His Start in Buddy Holly’s Backup Plan

What an exceptional life, indeed. Born May 9, 1937, in tiny Meadow, Texas, Sonny Curtis grew up picking cotton on his father’s farm. While he called it “a miserable job,” the long, tedious workdays did lend themselves to daydreaming.

“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,” Curtis previously told CBS correspondent Mo Rocca. “You have plenty of time to write a song!”

At just 14, his paths crossed with the legendary Buddy Holly’s in nearby Lubbock. “We sorta skipped all the niceties and got our guitars and started playing,” Curtis said of that relationship.

Together, the two opened for a little-known artist named Elvis Presley. After spending time on the road with other musicians, Curtis joined Holly’s seminal band, The Crickets, in late 1958. Tragically, Holly would pass away just a few months later in a February 1959 plane crash. He was just 22 years old.

Drifting in and out of the Crickets for the next six decades, Curtis wrote one of his best-known works, “I Fought the Law,” with the band. While the Crickets’ version didn’t quite take off, a wide range of artists—including the Bobby Fuller Four, the Clash, Bruce Springsteen, and Waylon Jennings—would go on to put their spin on it.

Curtis’ next big break came in March 1970 when he penned and recorded “Love Is All Around,” the theme to a brand-new sitcom called The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Initially, producers only asked him to write the song, but he insisted on singing it as well.

“I was probably more pushy than I should have been, if I’da known better,” said the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. “But fortunately, I didn’t know better at the time!”

Featured image by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage