Jerry Butler

• Genre: Soul
• Hometown: Sunflower
• Jerry Butler Website

About

People who believe that soul singers should only sound like demonic preachers on fire should not be allowed to your party. Soul can be as uptown and sophisticated as Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye reciting lines from Shakespeare and soul legend Jerry Butler belongs in their distinguished company. It ain't for nothing that they call Butler "the Ice Man" - - he is one of the coolest classic Soul balladeers of all time. Butler started out fronting Curtis Mayfield's Impressions before breaking with such mega hits as "He Will Break Your Heart" and "Find Another Girl." Butler keeps perfect control over his voice and heightens dramatic impact by letting little shifts betray oceans of emotion (a trait closer to Sinatra or Nat Cole than to James Brown). While Butler scores on ballads and classic pop tunes, uptempo rave ups on such albums as Ice On Ice (1970) prove that he can get your feet moving just as well as get your blood pumping. Butler remains a marvelous singer but now dedicates much of his energies to political life in his home town of Chicago.

- Nick Dedina