Biography
Mike Curb, active as a songwriter, composer, producer, politician, and label executive, founded the Mike Curb Congregation, a harmony-driven pop chorale that reached the charts in the early 1970s via tracks such as “Burning Bridges” and “Sweet Gingerbread Man.” The ensemble took shape in 1969, coinciding with Curb’s appointment as president of MGM Records, and drew together more than a dozen singers whose backgrounds spanned rock, country, and gospel. During his time at the label Curb instituted a widely debated roster shift that prioritized family-oriented vocal groups such as the Osmonds and the Cowsills while parting ways with acts like the Velvet Underground, who moved to Atlantic, and those he labeled “hard drug groups,” although prior sales performance also influenced the decisions. The Congregation’s layered harmonies, AM-radio style, and broad social themes aligned with this new direction. In 1970 they scored a Top 40 single with “Burning Bridges,” the title song from Clint Eastwood’s film Kelly’s Heroes, which Curb co-wrote with Lalo Schifrin. The group later climbed to the Top Ten on the country charts in both the United States and Canada by supporting Hank Williams, Jr. on numbers including the 1970 release “Rainin’ in My Heart” and “All for the Love of Sunshine,” a country chart-topper also co-written by Curb. They further contributed to Sammy Davis, Jr.’s “Candy Man,” which held the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in 1972. Three of the Congregation’s first albums—Come Together (1970), Sweet Gingerbread Man (1970), and Burning Bridges and Other Motion Picture Themes (1971)—entered the Billboard 200. Additional projects from the period encompassed the Hank Williams, Jr. collaborations All for the Love of Sunshine (1970) and Sweet Dreams (1971) along with the group’s own LPs Put Your Hand in the Hand (1971), Softly Whispering I Love You (1972), and Song for a Young Love (1972). After becoming frequent guests on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, they issued the album Sing Their Hits from The Glen Campbell Show in 1972. Their version of “It’s a Small World” was later adopted as the official theme for the Disneyland attraction of the same name.
Following PolyGram’s 1972 acquisition of MGM Records and its subsequent absorption into Polydor, the Mike Curb Congregation delivered the gospel album I Saw the Light on Word in 1976, while Warner Bros. released The Mike Curb Congregation in 1977. The ensemble also lent its voices to 1970s recordings by artists including Solomon Burke, Pat Boone, and Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme.
Curb later served as Lieutenant Governor of California under Governor Jerry Brown from 1979 to 1983. In 1980 the Mike Curb Congregation recorded “Together, A New Beginning,” the theme for Ronald Reagan’s successful presidential campaign.
Following PolyGram’s 1972 acquisition of MGM Records and its subsequent absorption into Polydor, the Mike Curb Congregation delivered the gospel album I Saw the Light on Word in 1976, while Warner Bros. released The Mike Curb Congregation in 1977. The ensemble also lent its voices to 1970s recordings by artists including Solomon Burke, Pat Boone, and Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme.
Curb later served as Lieutenant Governor of California under Governor Jerry Brown from 1979 to 1983. In 1980 the Mike Curb Congregation recorded “Together, A New Beginning,” the theme for Ronald Reagan’s successful presidential campaign.
Singles
