The Unfortunately Overlooked Music of Legendary Actor Tim Curry

Even though actor Tim Curry has appeared in many famous theatrical, television, and movie productions like Amadeus, Stephen King’s It (the original), Annie, Legend, Clue, Home Alone 2, and many more, I don’t think I’d be too out of line here to say that he is probably best known for his legendary performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the classic 1975 movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

---

In 1976, Tim Curry branched out from singing on screens and stages and headed into a recording studio to make what was supposed to be his first album. He recorded an album’s worth of songs for Ode Records, but the album was never released — well, not until 34 years later in 2010, when it was released with the title From The Vaults.

After the ill-fated album for Ode, Tim went on to record three albums for A&M Records between 1978 and 1981. Though none of the albums were big hits and only one single from any of them made it on to the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, A&M Records released an anthology called The Best of Tim Curry in 1989. In addition to featuring songs from the three albums Tim had made for A&M, it also included two live songs that had never before been released.

I bought The Best of Tim Curry as soon as it came out, mainly for the song “I Do The Rock,” which was the song I mentioned above that made Billboard’s Hot 100. It didn’t make it far, though. It got up to just #91 on the chart in 1979. It was from Tim’s exceptional second album Fearless from 1979.

I didn’t know the song at that time, though. I didn’t discover it until a few years later when I went to a movie theater to see Rocky Horror for my first time. “I Do The Rock” wasn’t in the movie, but the music video for it was played weekly on the movie screen before the movie began. I went to that theater dozens of times to see Rocky Horror, so I got to know the song very well.

I Do The Rock

I mean, seriously, how awesome is Tim Curry in this video??? The man looked and sounded like a rock star! This song really should have been a much bigger hit than it was.

What I’ve always thought was a big lost opportunity was that MTV didn’t embrace this video when the network premiered in 1981. A&M Records should have somehow pushed for it. MTV was struggling to find videos to play back then. They quite literally didn’t have enough videos to fill up their broadcast days. If they had grabbed ahold of this video and shown it regularly during their early days, it could have been very beneficial for both them and A&M Records — and Tim Curry’s singing career.

Not that Tim was struggling for work, of course. Even though his last album, Simplicity, was released in 1981, Tim went on to act and sing in many famous stage and film productions. Even now, though he’s been confined for several years to a wheelchair because of a stroke he suffered, Tim Curry is still working, primarily as a voice actor in animated film and television productions.

But I think he could have — and should have — also been a popular rock/pop singer. As I learned from The Best of Tim Curry anthology, Tim recorded several great songs throughout his brief recording career. Here are some of my favorites of them:

I Will

A reggae-style version of The Beatles’ classic song “I Will,” from Tim’s 1978 debut album Read My Lips. Very unique and very entertaining.

---

Working On My Tan

This fun-sounding and very catchy song from Tim’s 1981 album Simplicity was released as a single in several countries. Unfortunately, it didn’t become a hit in any of them. However, it did much, much later make it into a movie — 1991’s McHale’s Navy, which co-starred Tim Curry. It can be heard briefly during a scene in which Tim is onscreen. (Great song, but definitely not a great movie.)

---

Out Of Pawn

Another track from the Simplicity album. Tim’s voice sounds fantastic on it. I also love the music, which includes several great saxophone parts. I know that legendary saxophonist David Sanborn played on the Simplicity album, but so did three other saxophonists, so I’m not sure if it’s Sanborn on this song. It sounds like him, though.

---

Simple Twist Of Fate

This live remake of Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist Of Fate” had been previously unreleased until it was included on The Best of Tim Curry album. I didn’t know Bob Dylan’s original version of the song until 2020 or 2021, so this was my introduction to the song. Even though I now also love Bob’s version, I prefer this one by Tim. He gets very passionately into the singing on it. Also, his live band is quite good in this performance.

---

Paradise Garage

Over time, this song from the Fearless album has grown to become my favorite song by Tim Curry. Like “I Do The Rock,” the music video for “Paradise Garage” was often shown in movie theaters before the start of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Even though I love “I Do The Rock,” I think “Paradise Garage” is a much better song.

It’s got great vocals, fun lyrics, and awesome rocking music.

The music video for it is fantastic too. Tim Curry seems to be having a great time here and he oozes coolness and charisma throughout the entire thing. No big surprise here — he’s a natural onscreen in this video.

---

Like I said above, I’m sorry that Tim Curry didn’t have a much more successful singing career. I think he definitely deserved it.

Below is the The Best of Tim Curry album on Spotify. Enjoy!

---

NOTE: The above post was originally published on Medium.