Long before Tim Curry became one of cinema’s most unforgettable performers, he was also determined to build a career in music. After finding worldwide fame as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Curry tried to step beyond the character with a series of ambitious rock recordings, culminating in 1979’s Fearless and his only U.S. Billboard Hot 100 hit, I Do the Rock.

Curry died on August 25, 2026, at age 80, leaving behind a career that stretched far beyond the stage and screen. His music remains a fascinating part of his legacy, particularly because he worked with musicians whose credentials were firmly rooted in rock.

Tim Curry wanted more than acting

Curry’s musical ambitions were serious. For Fearless, he reunited with composer and keyboardist Michael Kamen and guitarist Dick Wagner, both of whom had worked with him on his 1978 debut album, Read My Lips.

Wagner brought particularly impressive rock credentials to the project. His career included extensive work with Alice Cooper, as well as collaborations involving Lou Reed and Kiss. He and Kamen produced Fearless, while Wagner also played guitar and helped write several songs.

Wagner later remembered Curry as an intellectual actor who wanted a singing career too, acknowledging that the musical career did not ultimately develop as Curry had hoped while still believing they had created some genuinely good music together.

The strange brilliance of I Do the Rock

The centerpiece of Fearless was I Do the Rock, an eccentric, theatrical song written by Curry himself.

Rather than following a conventional rock-song structure, Curry delivered a rapid-fire stream of references to celebrities, politicians, intellectuals and cultural figures. The names included John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Albert Einstein, Friedrich Nietzsche, Liza Minnelli, Farrah Fawcett, John Travolta, Jimmy Carter and Idi Amin.

The unusual performance perfectly reflected Curry’s theatrical personality while being supported by a remarkably accomplished group of musicians.

Wagner handled lead and acoustic guitar, Kamen contributed keyboards, oboe and synthesizer, and the rhythm section included Motown bassist Bob Babbitt and drummer Charles Collins. David Sanborn added alto saxophone, while Bob Kulick also contributed guitar.

A contemporary HiFi/Stereo Review praised the track as a tour de force, highlighting its theatrical spoken-word quality and rock backing.

Curry’s one and only Billboard hit

Despite the unusual nature of the song, I Do the Rock managed to become Curry’s only entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

The single peaked at No. 91 in late 1979, while Fearless performed even better commercially. The album reached No. 53 on the Billboard 200, making it the most successful album of Curry’s recording career.

The record was made at the Hit Factory in New York and Long View Farm Recording Studio in Massachusetts, bringing together an extensive lineup of experienced musicians.

For Curry, however, the project represented more than a chart ambition. He was attempting to establish himself as a musical artist rather than remain permanently defined by Frank-N-Furter.

The artist behind the famous characters

Curry’s music career never reached the level of his acting career, but Fearless offers an intriguing glimpse into another side of the performer.

His voice, theatrical instincts and unconventional sense of humor were already unmistakable, yet the record also demonstrated that he was willing to surround himself with serious musicians and take his musical ambitions seriously.

For generations of fans, Tim Curry will forever be associated with unforgettable characters. But his recordings tell another part of his story: the story of an actor who wanted audiences to hear something beyond the characters he played.

And among those recordings, I Do the Rock stands as his unlikely, wonderfully eccentric place in Billboard history.

Source: Compiled from various sources.