Curtiss A Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

Almsted has four daughters; the third, Alyson, died in 1987 of sudden infant death syndrome. He has five grandchildren.

In 1978, Curtiss (as Buzz Barker) released the single-cum-political rant, I Don’t Wanna Be President. Its B-side, Land of the Free, was played at Solidarity rallies as the Polish trade union protested martial law. Following those classic singles, Twin/Tone released a full-length album in 1980. The acclaimed Courtesy received four stars in Rolling Stone. Curtiss followed with two more albums on Twin/Tone, The Damage is Done and A Scarlet Letter, the latter produced by Al Anderson of NRBQ. The next LP was to have been produced by Peter Holsapple and the dBs, but Curtiss took a break from performing following a family tragedy.

Curtiss formed Wire, his first Twin Cities band, in 1969 and played with various permutations of that group through the 1970s. (Almsted’s band is unrelated to the English post-punk band of the same name.) His first recording, a six-song EP, was with the Spooks, which he started with future Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap.

Curtiss A (born Curt Almsted on January 31, 1951) is a musician and visual artist from Minneapolis. One of the original artists on the Twin/Tone Records label, he performs one of the most popular shows in the Twin Cities, an annual tribute to John Lennon held at First Avenue. He was the first musician to headline at First Avenue’s sister club 7th Street Entry, and opened for Prince’s first concert at First Avenue (then still called Uncle Sam’s).