He wasn't exactly a household name, but chances are pretty good you know his music. Sonny Curtis was a member of the original Buddy Holly And The Crickets and wrote countless songs in his career, including "Walk Right Back" by the Everly Bros. and "I Fought The Law," made most famous by the Bobby Fuller Four. 

But to me the best tune he ever wrote was for a TV show. It was Curtis who composed both versions of "Love Is All Around" and sang it as the theme to the classic Mary Tyler Moore Show on CBS. The first season version remains my all time favourite TV theme song. 

And the story of how it came about is equally amazing. He learned from a friend that the producers were looking for a theme and after becoming familiar with the general plot, he turned out the tune. He took it to the show's creator. 

"James L. Brooks came into this huge empty room, no furniture apart from a phone lying on the floor, and at first, I thought he was rather cold and sort of distant, and he said 'We're not at the stage of picking a song yet, but I'll listen anyway,'" Curtis recalled. "So I played the song, just me and my guitar, and next thing, he started phoning people, and the room filled up, and then he sent out for a tape recorder."

"Curtis would eventually write two versions: the first used in Season 1, the second and better known for the remaining six seasons. The original words were more tentative, opening with "How will you make it on your own?" and ending with "You might just make it after all." By Season 2, the show was a hit and the lyrics were reworked."

And here's a piece of great trivia you probably never knew: 

"The producers had wanted Andy Williams to sing the theme song, but he turned it down and Curtis' easygoing baritone was heard instead."

Curtis was 88.

Sonny Curtis, member of the Crickets who wrote the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" theme song, dies at 88

Songs Written By Sonny Curtis