Former Boston Drummer William ‘Curly’ Smith Goes Viral on TikTok

Former Boston drummer William "Curly" Smith is back in the spotlight thanks to a TikTok his son, Zach Montana, posted online.

In the video, Montana, who is also a musician, explains that his dad had left some music in his car. When it came through the speakers, he recognized the singer's voice as his dad's. The song turned out to be unreleased material of Smith's from the '70s.

“I’m listening and I’m thinking, ‘Whoa, this is really good,’” Montana told Today. “Then the vocals come on and I hear a very familiar voice, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s my dad.”

"There's a horn section! Just wait! It's so good!" Montana says in the clip. "And he never released it! I'm so mad at him!"

You can watch the TikTok clip and listen to the song below.

Even though Montana noted that his dad has been "out of the game for a little while," Smith toured and recorded with Boston for seven years (1994-2001) and has produced and participated in session work for artists including Jeff Beck, Joe Walsh, Ron Wood, Brian Wilson, Dickey Betts and Bonnie Raitt. His name has now reached the mainstream again as Montana's TikTok circulates.

Within two months, the video amassed millions of views, and the song, “Surrender to Me,” has accumulated more than a million streams on Spotify. The father and son duo even performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live last month.

"It was very tough in those days to get a record deal, especially with people like the Bee Gees dominating the charts," Smith said on Kimmel, explaining why he never released the song. "I couldn't get it signed. So I put it on a shelf for 43 years, and every now and then I would listen to it and go 'Hey, that was pretty good.' You know, maybe it'll come out sometime."