Curt Boettcher
| Curt Boettcher | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Curtis Roy Boettcher |
| Also known as | Curt Boetcher, Curt Becher |
| Born | January 7, 1944 |
| Origin | Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States |
| Died | June 14, 1987 (aged 43) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genres | Pop, rock, folk, country, psychedelic pop |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer, songwriter, musician, arranger |
| Years active | 1964–1983 |
| Labels | Epic, Valiant, Warner Bros., Columbia, Elektra, Boardwalk |
| Associated acts | The GoldeBriars, The Millennium, The Association, Sagittarius, Tommy Roe, Gary Usher |
| Website | link |
Curt Boettcher (January 7, 1944 – June 14, 1987), sometimes credited as Curt Boetcher or Curt Becher, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer from Wisconsin. He was a pivotal figure in the mid-1960s emergence of (what is now termed) sunshine pop, working with the Association, the Millennium, Sagittarius, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Tommy Roe, Elton John, Gene Clark (formerly of The Byrds), Emitt Rhodes, Tandyn Almer, the Beach Boys, and others.
The New York Times wrote of Boettcher: "If his life had gone just a bit differently, [he] might have been another Brian Wilson. ... As it stands, Boettcher — a pop-music producer whose heyday was the late ’60s — now survives in rock history mostly as a liner-note credit. He could have been, but never was. Yet he enjoys a godlike status among a select group of music fans, for whom obscurity is more enticing than fame."
He was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to Peggie and Arland Boettcher. His father was a Navy pilot in World War II and later worked at the Pentagon.
Boettcher entered the University of Minnesota in fall 1962, where in 1963 he formed the folk quartet The GoldeBriars with the Holmberg sisters, Dotti and Sheri, and Ron Neilsson. They relocated to Los Angeles after being signed by Epic Records, for whom they recorded and released two albums in 1964, The GoldeBriars and Straight Ahead! (A third was reportedly recorded in 1965 but withheld from release.) Under the guidance of recording producer Bob Morgan, the vocals were mixed upfront and enriched by double-tracking to sound like six voices. Prior to recording their third album, the group added drummer Ron Edgar (later of The Music Machine; Edgar also worked with Boettcher in the bands The Ballroom and The Millennium). According to music historian Joseph Lanza, the GoldeBriars' material tended to follow the standard folk formula of songs such as "Shenandoah", but "acoustically, their style blended the homespun and the sugarspun." Boettcher arranged most of the group's songs, but he also contributed as a songwriter. Morgan, quoted in Lanza's Vanilla Pop, said that Boettcher's childhood as a navy brat influenced songs like "Haiku" on the album Straight Ahead!.Bobb Goldsteinn, an accomplished songwriter (who wrote the 1963 folk-dixie hit "Washington Square" for the Village Stompers), became "Boettcher's manager [and] confidant[e]", as well as lyricist for some GoldeBriars songs. As manager, Goldsteinn inched the band in a more pop-flavored direction. The GoldeBriars performed live in the 1965 film Once Upon a Coffee House.
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