Curtis Stigers

With a smooth, ballad-centric approach, vocalist Curtis Stigers has secured commercial success by moving fluidly among traditional jazz crooner, pop performer, and R&B singer. His breakthrough arrived via the 1991 release Curtis Stigers, which produced the Top Ten Hot 100 single “I Wonder Why.” Additional notice came from his interpretation of Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding,” included on The Bodyguard soundtrack. Stigers has stayed a consistent presence on jazz charts, placing inside the Top 20 with 2002’s Secret Heart, 2005’s I Think It’s Going to Rain Today, and the 2012 country-infused Let’s Go Out Tonight. In 2017 he reached number four on Billboard’s Traditional Jazz Albums chart with One More for the Road, a Frank Sinatra-inspired project recorded alongside the Danish Radio Big Band. The 2020 album Gentleman further illustrated his wide-ranging tastes through a mix of original material and longtime favorites by Nick Lowe and Tom T. Hall.

Born in Hollywood in 1965, Stigers was raised in Boise, Idaho. Music entered his life during adolescence through punk and blues bands, while high-school studies also supplied classical instruction on clarinet and saxophone. After finishing school he relocated to New York intending to pursue rock, yet soon gravitated toward the city’s blues and jazz venues. Label interest developed while he served as saxophonist and vocalist in a jazz trio, leading to a contract with Arista and the issuance of the self-titled Curtis Stigers in 1991. That multi-platinum effort yielded the Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten single “I Wonder Why.” Building on this momentum with 1995’s Time Was, he supplied another Nick Lowe cover, “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding,” to The Bodyguard soundtrack, which held the top spot on the Billboard 200 for twenty straight weeks.

Stigers issued his third album, Brighter Days, in 1999; it included contributions from Jackson Browne and Benmont Tench plus songs co-written by Carole King and Jules Shear. The single “To Be Loved” also featured on the Dawson’s Creek soundtrack, sustaining his visibility. Parallel to these efforts he performed and recorded as a jazz vocalist with figures such as Gene Harris and the Doky Brothers. In 2001 he delivered the jazz-standards collection Baby Plays Around for Concord Jazz, supported by Randy Brecker, Chris Minh Doky, and additional musicians. Five further Concord releases followed, among them 2002’s Secret Heart, which climbed to number 18 on Billboard’s Traditional Jazz chart, 2003’s You Inspire Me, and 2005’s I Think It’s Going to Rain Today, which reached number 16 on the jazz chart. After 2007’s Real Emotional he returned to the Top 30 of the jazz listings with 2009’s Lost in Dreams.

The country-tinged Let’s Go Out Tonight appeared in 2012, presenting covers of material by Steve Earle, Hayes Carll, Richard Thompson, and others; it peaked at number 12 on the jazz chart. Another set of carefully selected covers and originals, Hooray for Love, surfaced in spring 2014. One More for the Road, a live tribute to Sinatra at the Sands captured with the Danish Radio Big Band, followed and attained number four on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. The refined studio album Gentleman arrived in 2020 and incorporated work by pianist Larry Goldings.