It wasn’t long before successful musicians heard Curtis play and wanted him for their albums. He recorded the saxophone parts for the Chuck Willis song What Am I Living For and the Clyde McPhatter song A Lover’s Question. His breakthrough performance came when he recorded Yackety Yak with the Coasters. Following his impressive performance on that album, his staccato laced style would come to be known as “yackety sax.” Curtis felt that jazz wasn’t the best direction for a profitable career in music and fully embraced the opportunity to play on more commercial friendly albums. He recorded Reminiscing with Buddy Holly and released songs of his own, the most notable being Soul Twist and Soul Serenade.

During the mid to late sixties, King Curtis recorded his two most successful songs of all time, Memphis Soul Stew and Ode to Billie Joe. He also led Aretha Franklin’s backing band, The Kingpins during this time. He continued his relationship with the Coasters into the late sixties and spent some time producing albums for other acts, often in partnership with legendary producer Jerry Wexler. Curtis became a popular attraction at rock shows across the world and had the opportunity to play at some of the greatest venues of the time.

In 1971, Curtis contributed the sax break on John Lennon’s song It’s So Hard, which was a track on Lennon’s Imagine album. Sadly, one month before the U.S. release of the album, Curtis got into an altercation on his doorstep when a group of men blocking the doorway to his apartment building refused to move so that he could get in. Curtis was stabbed to death, and the music world lost another one of its greats.