Meet: Curtis Parry

Curtis Parry is a Canadian born crooner hailing from Lethbridge Alberta, (where he was born). He roamed around quite a bit, particularly Penticton, Summerland and Vancouver, British Columbia until he found his permanent home in Los Angeles, California. 

He began singing at the age of five and shortly after, discovered a passion for jazz guitarists and vocalists such as Django Reinhardt, Joe Pass, Frank Sinatra and Harry Connick Jr. to name a few. 

Inspired by his musical family at the age of 11, he took up guitar and fell deeper in love with Jazz.  In college, he decided to take a voice class to help his guitar playing and on the first performance day, the instructor heard Curtis and suggested that he seriously consider a career in singing. So he began studying opera with professional opera singer Angelique Burzynski . 

Baffled with the decision of which instrument he should pursue, guitar or voice, he decided to train himself to do both at the same time. While he was able to make a decent living as a full time guitarist and singer in Penticton and Vancouver-his heart was pushing him to take a new step in his career. 

Curtis then decided to pack up the car and drive from Canada to Hollywood with $300 in his pocket, to enroll at Musicians Institute in the GIT program (Guitar Institute of Technology.) He studied with many of the greats during that time, but with tuition so high and the cost of living astronomical, Curtis spent that whole year sleeping in his car and living off pure faith and love for music. 

He eventually formed his own 5 piece band called "The Curtis Parry Jazz Cartel," and met and played with many L.A. musicians including crooner/actor Don Most aka "Ralph Malph from the hit 80s show "The Happy Days." These gigs helped him eventually find a more comfortable apartment in Downtown Los Angeles where he honed in on his craft as a singer/guitarist. 

It was in May or June of 2015 that Marco Palos had contacted Curtis on the recommendation of guitarist James Achor.  James reigns from the land of the ultra popular swing band Royal Crown Revue. Marco and Curtis decided to meet at one of their favorite places... Disneyland!

They shared each others vision of where they see themselves with this band and Curtis was immediately hooked.  The two celebrated with ice cream and by going on The Midway Mania - Toy Story the ride in Disney's California Adventure. Since then, they've been writing, singing, performing and touring with the ambition and strength to make their vision come to life.