Curtis Mayfield was born to parents Marion Washington and Kenneth Mayfield in Chicago, Illinois, on June 3, 1942. They are number four, his siblings.

When his father abandoned them, he was only five years old. His mother and maternal grandmother moved the kids around before they finally settled in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green district.

How did Curtis Mayfield get paralyzed?

On August 13, 1990, Mayfield experienced a tragedy. Lighting fixtures smashed into him while he was performing on stage at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn. He was rendered paraplegic from the neck down as a result of this catastrophe.

He was a brave man who persisted in his career as a recording artist despite suffering a stage accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

He was a double inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame and a recipient of both the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. At the age of 57, he passed away in 1999 from complications related to type 2 diabetes.