Although the Foundations would have more than one hit song in the 1960s, one of their biggest hits came with a lead singer who left the band soon after that hit.
Clem Curtis was born in Trinidad on November 28, 1940 as Curtis Clements. His life took various turns, including working as an interior decorator and a professional boxer, but his biggest brush with fame came for a brief time with the band the Foundations, singing lead on the hit song, “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You.”
There are various versions of the early history of the Foundations in the UK, but we do know that Clem Curtis joined an R&B/ska band called The Ramong Sound around 1966 as a backup singer. The band unsuccessfully tried to get Rod Stewart to join their band and they went through a few lead singers, including Curtis.
Eventually, The Ramong Sound evolved into a band called the Foundations in 1967 with Curtis as their lead singer. The Foundations were somewhat unique for the time, with a large group of talented professional ethnically diverse musicians with ages from 18 to 38. The band is often cited as the “first multi-racial group to have a number 1 hit in the UK in the 1960s.”
Songwriters Tony Macaulay and John Macleod wrote the song “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You” and originally offered it to another band who turned it down. And so, Macaulay as a songwriter and producer, got the Foundations to record it. They band released the single on August 25, 1967. It became a surprise hit on BBC Radio 1. The song hit number one on the Canadian charts and number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.
Curtis recorded other songs with the Foundations, including “Back on My Feet Again” and “Any Old Time (You’re Lonely and Sad).” But he soon became unhappy with the band, and in mid or late 1968, he left the band along with band member Mike Elliott.
Apparently, the split was not too bitter, as reportedly Curtis helped the band find a new lead singer, who became Colin Young. It would not be long before Young sang lead on the next Foundations hit song, “Build Me Up Buttercup,” which hit the charts in November 1968. Young and the Foundations would soon also re-record Curtis’s version of “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You.”
As for Curtis, he went on to record as a solo artist in the 1970s. One of his first recordings as a solo artist was another song by Tony Macaulay and John Macleod, “Marie Take a Chance.” The recording, however, never gained the popularity he had with “Baby, Now that I Found You.”
For awhile in the 1970s, Curtis made up his own group of Foundations called Clem Curtis & the Foundations. His Foundations competed in the Eurovision Song Finals in 1977. As a solo artist he had a modest disco hit in 1979 with a disco version of “Unchained Melody.”
Curtis continued to perform and record until he died from cancer on March 27, 2017 at the age of 76. Although he never quite achieved the heights he achieved with the Foundations on “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You,” his talent gave him a lifelong career making music.
Watching his performance with the Foundations on “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You,” though, it is not hard to see a young man in his late 20’s spreading great joy, perhaps thinking of the possibility of the future of the band.
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