Celebrated American singer, songwriter and saxophonist Curtis Stigers has a large and loyal fanbase in the UK and is due back to these shores for a 12-show residency at famed London venue Ronnie Scott’s club – with most shows sold out – from 24th February to 2nd March 2025 [12 shows across seven days].
These Ronnie Scott’s shows are scheduled just ahead of the release of his 18th album [includes three compilations], “‘Songs From My Kitchen, Volume 1” on 21st March. He will also be back to the UK in May and June for a full 14-date tour.
Curtis has also just released “Good To Know You”, the first single from “Songs From My Kitchen, Volume 1”, and he reveals the poignant sentiment behind the song: “I was born in October 1965, but I didn’t meet my biological father until the summer of 2012.
“It’s a long story best told over dinner and a bottle of red wine, but ‘Good To Know You’ is my musical reflection about gaining a father at midlife, and learning how to navigate that relationship. Spoiler: It has a happy ending.”
Curtis Stigers initially burst onto the music scene in 1991 with an eponymous debut album that sold more than one and a half million copies and spawned several self-penned pop and soul hits including, “I Wonder Why”, a worldwide smash. He followed it up by recording Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding” for the soundtrack of “The Bodyguard”, which has sold in excess of 45 million copies.
After making two more pop-oriented albums, plus guesting on several others [including a pair by the legendary jazz pianist Gene Harris, an early mentor], the new millennium saw Curtis pivot artistically and sign with Concord Jazz. Recording nine genre-busting records that combined his jazz sensibilities with a penchant for emotional rock, blues, soul, country and folk.
He also co-wrote and sang “This Life”, the Emmy award-nominated theme song to the popular TV show “Sons Of Anarchy”, and made cameo appearances in the Seth MacFarlane movies “Ted” and “Ted 2”.
All the while, Stigers was cultivating a successful and enduring touring career, playing concerts around the world, performing songs from his jazz albums as well as newly reconstructed ‘jazz’ versions of the hit songs from his early records.
Then….2020 and the pandemic arrived, bringing a new artistic reality. Side-lined at home in Idaho, he continued to make music and stayed in touch with his fans by creating a popular weekly live-streamed show he called “Songs From My Kitchen”.
The freedom of playing solo and unplugged with just his voice and guitar as accompaniment allowed him to rediscover some of his older material, as well as previously unrecorded songs and songs by other artists he admired. It was also an opportunity to hone his guitar skills.
“Being stuck at home allowed me the chance to challenge myself and actually grow as an artist,” he says. “I even taught myself how to edit video, so I could make clips for the show. It was one of the most creative periods of my life, that strange, isolated year and a half.”
His brand new album, “Songs From My Kitchen, Volume 1”, nods back to that time, but also looks ahead to the current and future Curtis Stigers. A stripped-down affair containing intimate performances of songs he has either written, rediscovered or covered, all recorded with a crack team of local musicians.
He explains: “Some of the original songs are relatively new, and some are many years old and only now getting a chance to be heard and sung. I like to think I curated this album as much as I created it. I called it ‘Volume 1’ partly as an inside joke, and partly because there are still a lot of great songs out there, and in here, too. You never know.” The album is available as a CD, vinyl LP and digitally.
- See all the May & June 2025 UK tour dates at the bottom of the page…
Curtis Stigers’ “Track Record”
1. First song you recall hearing as a child?
Not sure if it was first, but I have a vivid memory of Tina Turner singing
“Proud Mary” on the TV. My mom loved her. So do I.
2. First single you owned?
Dr. Hook: “The Cover Of The Rolling Stone” (b-side: “Queen of the Silver
Dollar”).
3. First LP/album you owned?
I bought Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” when I was nine years old.
4. First CD you owned?
Elvis Costello “Taking Liberties”.
5. Last music you bought and in what format (CD/vinyl/digital download)?
Hayes Carll: “You Get It All” (Vinyl).
6. Which album would you be happy to receive as a gift?
Bob Dylan: “Planet Waves” (Original vinyl please!)
7. Favourite album? (Choose more than one if need be…)
Impossible to say, but today at this moment:
The Band: “Music From Big Pink”
Ray Charles: “Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music”
Nick Lowe: “The Convincer”
Kirsty MacColl: “Kite”
Joni Mitchell: “Hejira”
John Prine: “John Prine”
Elvis Costello: “Armed Forces”
Blossom Dearie: “Once Upon A Summertime”
Jason Isbell: “Southeastern”
Hayes Carll: “KMAG YOYO”.
8. Best record ever made (can be single/album/EP – and choose more than one
if need be)?
There’s no such thing.
9. Guilty secret (or anything unusual or perhaps unexpected) in your music
collection?
Supertramp “Crime Of The Century”
10. What does music mean to you and how does it make you feel?
That’s two questions. Both are silly.
[Editor’s note: Silly? Seemingly not to the almost 100 artists who have answered this question already without issue!!!]
11. Which song or album is a guaranteed mood booster?
B.B. King “Live At The Regal”.
12. Which song or album would be the soundtrack to a film about your life?
Nobody’s making that movie!
13. Your favourite driving track – or music to exercise to?
Michael Penn: “Resigned” (Album).
14.Best song or album for a romantic moment?
At my house, Steely Dan’s album “Aja” always does the trick.
Coleman Hawkins’s “The Hawk Relaxes” is also nice.
15.Which song was played for the “First Dance” at your wedding (if you are
married) or which song would you choose if you did get married?
I’ve been married twice. Nobody danced…
16. Your choice of song to sing at karaoke?
I’ve never actually even seen karaoke attempted, except on TV. Is it real?
17. Which song takes you back to your childhood – and to which specific
memory/memories?
“Midnight Train To Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pips always takes me back to the early 1970s,
singing along to the car radio with my mom while driving around southern California.
18. Favourite band (or bands)?
The Band
Count Basie Orchestra (50’s and 60’s)
Larry Goldings Trio
The Pretenders (first two albums)
XTC
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (with Horace Silver & Hank Mobley).
19. Favourite singer (or singers)?
Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Joe Williams, Aretha Franklin, Frank
Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Chrissie Hynde, Al Green, Paul Carrack, Albert King,
etc etc etc…
20. Which song would you like played at your funeral?
Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again”.
UK TOUR | MAY-JUNE 2025
01.05.25 RAINHAM St. Margaret’s Church
02.05.25 CHELTENHAM Jazz Festival
03.05.25 CHELTENHAM Jazz Festival
04.05.25 MANCHESTER The Stoller Hall
05.05.25 BURY ST. EDMUNDS The Apex
06.05.25 LEEDS Leeds City Varieties
07.05.25 NEW BRIGHTON Floral Pavilion Theatre
08.05.25 GATESHEAD Glasshouse Int’l – Sage 1
09.05.25 GLASGOW Mackintosh Queen’s Cross
26.05.25 + 27.05.25 WAVENDON The Stables
28.05.25 + 29.05.25 EASTLEIGH The Concorde
30.05.25 FROME Cheese And Grain
31.05.25 WORTHING Pavilion Theatre
01.06.25 ST ALBANS Alban Arena
Colour live ‘sax’ photo by J. Schlenker
Black & white live photo by J. Schlenker
‘Kitchen’ photo by Ruby Stigers
Brown jacket and black scarf portrait photo by Andy Lawless
