Sonny Curtis, writer of ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ theme, member of Buddy Holly’s Crickets, dead at 88

Sonny Curtis, a member of Buddy Holly‘s Crickets who also wrote The Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song and other hits, has died, according to a Facebook post by his daughter. He was 88.

“I’m heartbroken to tell you that my dad Sonny passed away yesterday after a sudden illness,” she wrote Saturday. “I’m so grateful that I was with him at the end, along with my mom. It was peaceful and he didn’t suffer.”

“He was 88 and he lived a more exceptional life than anyone I’d ever met,” she continued. “He made a mark on this world, and he made a mark on the hearts of all who knew him. It’s a sad day, but what a life. May we look at his life with joy rather than sadness. He would have wanted that.”

Born in Meadow, Texas, Curtis met Buddy Holly at age 15 and formed a band with him. He eventually left to work with other musicians, but rejoined Holly and his band, now dubbed the Crickets, in 1958. After Holly died in 1959, Curtis became the band’s frontman and toured and recorded with them on and off until 2016.

In 2012, the Crickets, including Curtis, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by a special committee convened to correct the fact that the band hadn’t been inducted along with Holly in 1986.

Curtis was also a hitmaking songwriter; in 1970, he wrote “Love Is All Around,” the theme for The Mary Tyler Moore Show. His other compositions included the Everly Brothers‘ 1961 hit “Walk Right Back;” “I Fought the Law,” a hit for the Bobby Fuller Four that was later recorded by The Clash and dozens of others; Leo Sayer‘s 1980 hit “More Than I Can Say” and Keith Whitley‘s 1989 country hit “I’m No Stranger to the Rain.”