Curtis Mayfield had already lived several musical lifetimes by the time fate intervened. He’d helped invent socially conscious soul, soundtracked the civil rights movement, and quietly influenced generations of artists who followed. Then, in 1990, a falling stage light changed everything. What came next wasn’t a dramatic comeback or a victory lap—it was a slow, stubborn refusal to stop creating. This is how Curtis Mayfield kept making music when almost nothing worked the way it used to.
