Born in Trinidad as Curtis Clements, he arrived in England at the age of fifteen and later found employment as an interior decorator.

[7] During the time of the band's evolving from the Ramong Sound to the Foundations, Curtis was tied up by a protection racket gang with someone holding a knife to his throat.

Curtis is the lead voice on their hits "Baby Now That I've Found You", "Back on My Feet Again", and "Any Old Time (You're Lonely and Sad)".

[10] Curtis was the guest reviewer for the Blind Date Section of the October 28, 1967 issue of Melody Maker.

He reviewed singles by Stevie Wonder, The Kinks, John Walker, Lee Dorsey, Madeline Hell, Chris Barber's Band, Brian Auger and the Trinity, Arthur Conley, The Creation, Mille Small and Astrud Gilberto.

[12] After having found success with The Foundations, two hit singles and releasing two albums, some problems started with their songwriter producer Tony Macaulay as well within the group.

[citation needed] After being disillusioned with the band, he along with another member, Mike Elliott, left The Foundations in 1968 just after recording a version of "It's All Right", a song that they had been playing live for some time.

[16][17] The songs "Any Old Time (You're Lonely and Sad)", "Back on My Feet Again", "Harlem Shuffle", "Tomorrow" and "We Are Happy People" had appeared on the Rocking the Foundations album released the previous year.

[18][19] "Baby Now That I've Found You" with Colin Young on vocals from the Marble Arch LP[20] has the same backing track as the original version by Clem Curtis.

[23][24] "Tomorrow" was originally on the Rocking the Foundations album[25] which was a mixture of actual live and studio tracks.

[1] In 1977, Clem Curtis and the Foundations nearly got into the Eurovision final with "Where Were You When I Needed Your Love",[29] a John Macleod and Dave Meyers composition.

[30] They came third in the heats, and were picked as a favourite to win, but an electricians' strike ruined their chances, and "Rock Bottom" by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran was the winner.

This was probably helped along by the encouragement of his friend Sammy Davis Jr.[31] According to the October 12, 1968 issue of Melody Maker, Curtis' first solo disc was to be "Just for Tonight" which was a Tony Macaulay composition.

[35] It was announced in 7 December 1968 issue of Melody Maker that Curtis' debut single would be the Tony Macaulay composition, "Marie Take a Chance and it would be released by United Artists on 9 January.

Making note of the fact that this was Curtis' first release since leaving The Foundations, Ginsberg said that the song was "rhythmically lyrical, and could be his first big one".

Reviewer Derek Johnson said that it was "a busy, bouncy extremely exhilarating number" and that it sounded that Clem was back with his former group.

[42] As shown by Record World in the 26 April issue, the single was getting played on US radio stations, KIMN, WAKY and KCPX.

[43] After some well-received club appearances and hanging out with artists such as Wilson Pickett, and staying with the Cowsills, he did not receive enough work and decided to return to England in the early 1970s.

[48][49] "Point of No Return" had earlier been recorded by Pickettywitch and was the B side of their single, " Number Wonderful" (cat# Pye 7N.45126) which was produced by Mcleod.

Jones said that the Biddu production was good and noted the gently building performance but said that it was a hard one to assess and that it wasn't a strong enough song, almost but not quite.

[58] Curtis had a part as a member of the congregation in the Anton Philips production of the James Baldwin play, The Amen Corner which ran in March 1987 at the Lyric Theater in London.

The Traveling Wrinklies were composed of Curtis, Mike Pender, Brian Poole, Tony Crane, and Reg Presley, former lead singer of the Troggs.

[62] Curtis recorded and performed until near the end of his life; he was regularly seen as part of the "soul explosion" night with former Flirtations singer Earnestine Pearce and Jimmy James at resorts such as Butlins and Warner Leisure Hotels in the United Kingdom.