[1] Like many similar artists, Fletcher had numerous occupations, including cowboy/cowhand, mineral prospector, poet,[2] champion rodeo rider[3] as well as promoter,[2] musician, publisher, movie actor, and advisor for Hollywood films.
[2] His songs and poems are regarded as strong material that comes across beautifully with or without music.
They have been recorded by many musicians, particularly Marty Robbins and Michael Martin Murphey.
[4][5] Fletcher was born on September 22, 1892, in San Francisco to an Italian immigrant Benedetta Rossi and English Sailor William Henry "Harry" Fletcher Sr.[6][better source needed] The Fletchers moved to Bishop, California where Curley grew up with his three brothers and two sisters.
Around 1914, Curley was wed to his childhood sweetheart, Minnie Edna Flesher.