The theme song to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" is familiar to generations of TV watchers. The name of the man who wrote and sang it, less so.

Who can turn the world on with her smile?

Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?

Well, it's you, girl, and you should know it

With each glance and every little movement you show it

Love is all around, no need to waste it

You can have the town, why don't you take it

You're gonna make it after all

But by the time Sonny Curtis recorded "Love Is All Around" in 1970, he'd "made it" several times over himself, as a songwriter, as a recording artist, and as an early bandmate of the legendary Buddy Holly.

Born in 1937 in rural West Texas, Curtis grew up picking cotton on his father's farm. "Oh, it was a miserable job,"

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