Curley Moore


June "Curley" Moore was an American R&B singer.
He began his music career in New Orleans in 1960, as vocalist with Huey "Piano" Smith's band The Clowns. He sang on most of the band's recordings over the next decade. During the 1960s Curley had minor regional solo hits under his own name. Those songs included "Don't Pity Me" on SanSu Records, "Soul Train" on Hotline Records and "Get Low Down" also on SanSu. SanSu was headed by Marshall Sehorn and Allen Toussaint who were prolific producers and writers of many New Orleans R&B 45's issued in the 1960s.
The 1970s was a period of struggle for Curley as New Orleans R&B and soul music in general moved toward a harder funk sound and Curley struggled with drugs and gun related issues. An instrumental stab at this harder sound yielded the 45 "Funky, Yeah" on the House of the Fox label which became a cult classic for its hard driving heavy psychedelic sound. In 1979, Curley Moore joined a reformed version of the Clowns with Huey "Piano" Smith at the 1979 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
After serving prison time in the early 1980s, Moore's murdered body was found in Algiers, Louisiana, in December 1985. He was 42 years old.

Discography