Jerry Butler is one of Chicago’s iconic soul singers. He was the original lead singer of the Impressions, and then embarking on a solo career, with his rich, warm baritone voice Butler charted some 55 songs on the Billboard Pop and R&B charts (see list below) over a career that spanned some three decades.
Butler was born in Sunflower, Mississippi (12/8/39). He moved to Chicago, Illinois at the age of three and grew up in an area later known as the Cabrini-Green Housing Projects. Butler met Curtis Mayfield, with whom he began his musical career as part of a quintet called Jerry Butler and The Impressions.
As a teenager, Butler sang in a gospel quartet called Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers, along with Mayfield. Mayfield, a guitar player, became the lone instrumentalist for the six-member Roosters group, which later became The Impressions. The group was inspired by Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi and the Pilgrim Travelers.
Butler wrote the song, “For Your Precious Love,” and wanted to record it. Looking for recording studios, The Impressions (the original members of which were Butler, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Gooden, Fred Cash (who left early on, and later returned), and brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks, auditioned for Chess Records and Vee-Jay Records. The group eventually signed with Vee-Jay, where they released “For Your Precious Love” in 1958. It became The Impressions’ first hit and a gold record.
Ironically, after the hit, the group cordially split and 18-year-old Butler went on to pursue a solo career. Spanning five decades, Butler’s musical career has produced over 50 albums, numerous hit songs and three Grammy Award nominations. Butler, a musical icon, is known for his smooth, distinguished voice.
When Butler embarked on a solo career he first record “Lost” on Vee Jay subsidiary Abner label. He switched to Vee Jay in 1960 and began working with Curtis Mayfield. He stayed with Vee Jay until the very end of of the label, even having signed on for extra six months after bankruptcy filing to try to help save then moved to Mercury.
Jerry Butler was accorded the nickname “The Ice Man” by a Philadelphia DJ who once called Butler’s show “the coolest thing I ever saw.” That was in the early ‘60s after Butler had left the Impressions, with whom he’d scored the doo-wop hit “For Your Precious Love.” More than 40 years later, he’s still the Ice Man, but you can call him “Commissioner Ice Man,” as he is Cook County Board Commissioner in his native Chicago.
Butler went on to have other hits, most notably “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Ain’t Understanding Mellow,” the latter a duet with Branda Lee Eager which was certified gold. In the early ‘70s, he opened his own Fountain Productions on Chicago’s erstwhile Record Row (South Michigan Avenue between Roosevelt and Cermak Roads, the stretch where the Chess and Vee-Jay labels had made their homes a decade earlier).
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nfluenced by the Civil Rights movement, Butler entered politics in the mid-1980s as a campaign supporter of Chicago’s first African American Mayor, Harold Washington. Butler himself was first elected to public office in 1985 as the Cook County Commissioner, where he served three four-year terms.
Jerry Butler’s charting singles
1958 “For You Precious Love” – #11 Pop chart, #3 R&B chart (with The Impressions)
1958 “Come Back My Love” – #29 R&B chart (with The Impressions)
1959 “Lost” – #17 R&B chart
1960 “A Lonely Soldier – “#25 R&B chart
1960 “He Will Break Your Heart” – #7 Pop chart, #1 R&B chart
1961 “Find Another Girl” – #27 Pop chart, #10 R&B chart
1961 “I’m a Telling You” – #25 Pop chart, #8 R&B chart
1961 “Moon River” – #11 Pop chart, #14 R&B chart
1961 “Aware of Love” #105 Pop charg
1962 “Make It Easy on Yourself” – #20 Pop chart, #18 R&B chart
1962 “You Can Run (But You Can’t Hide) – #63 Pop chart, #23 R&B chart
1962 “Theme from Taras Bulba (The Wishing Star)” – #100 Pop chart
1963 “Whatever You Want” – #68 Pop chart
1963 “Need to Belong” – #31 Pop chart
1964 “Giving Up on Love” – #56 Pop chart
1964 “I Stand Accused” – #61 Pop chart
1964 “I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore” – #95 Pop chart
1964 “Let It Be Me” – #5 Pop chart (credited with Betty Everett)
1964 “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” – #108 Pop chart (credited with Betty Everett)
1964 “Smile” – #42 Pop chart (credited with Betty Everett)
1965 “Good Times” – #64 Pop chart, #33 R&B chart
1965 “I Can’t Stand to See You Cry” – #122 Pop chart
1965 “Just for You” – #33 R&B chart
1966 “For Your Precious Love” – #25 R&B chart
1966 “Love (Oh, How Sweet It Is)” – #103 Pop chart, #34 R&B chart
1966 “I Dig You Baby” – #60 Pop chart, #8 R&B chart
1967 “Mr. Dream Merchant” – #38 Pop chart, #23 R&B chart
1968 “Never Give You Up” – #20 Pop chart, #7 R&B chart
1968 “Hey, Western Union Man” – #16 Pop chart, #7 R&B chart
1968 “Are You Happy” – #39 Pop chart, #9 R&B chart
1969 “Only the Strong Survive” – #4 Pop chart, #1 R&B chart
1969 “Moody Woman” – #24 Pop chart, #3 R&B chart
1969 “What’s the Use of Breaking Up” – #20 Pop chart, #4 R&B chart
1969 “A Brand New Me” – #109 Pop chart
1969 “Don’t Let Love Hang You Up” – #44 Pop chart, #12 R&B chart
1970 “Got to See If I Can Get Mommy (To Come Back Home)” – #62 Pop chart, #12 R&B chart
1970 “If I Could Write a Book” – #46 Pop chart, #15 R&B chart
1970 “Where are You Going” – #95 Pop chart, #42 R&B chart
1970 “Special Memory” – #109 Pop chart, #36 R&B chart
1971 “You Just Can’t Win (By Making the Same Mistakes)” – #94 Pop chart, #32 R&B chart
1971 “Ten and Two (Take This Woman Off the Corner)” – #126 Pop chart, #44 R&B chart
1971 “If It’s Real What I Feel” – #69 Pop chart, #8 R&B chart (credited with Brenda Lee Eager)
1971 “Ain’t Understanding Mellow” – #31 Pop chart, #4 R&B chart (credited with Brenda Lee Eager)
1971 “How Did We Lose It Baby” – #85 Pop chart, #38 R&B chart
1971 “Walk Easy My Son” – #93 Pop chart, #33 R&B chart
1972 “I Only Have Eyes for You” – #85 Pop chart, #20 R&B chart
1972 “Close to You” – #91 Pop chart, #6 R&B chart
1972 “One Night Affair” – #52 Pop chart, #6 R&B chart
1973 “Can’t Understand It” – #26 R&B chart
1973 “The Love We Had Stays on My Mind” – #64 R&B chart
1973 “Power of Love” – #15 R&B chart
1974 “That’s How Heartaches are Made” – #58 R&B chart
1974 “Take the Time to Tell Her” – #45 R&B chart
1974 “Playing On You” – #33 R&B chart
1976 “The Devil in Mrs. Jones” – #55 R&B chart
1977 “I Wanna Do It To You” – #51 Pop chart, #7 R&B chart
1977 “Chalk It Up” – #28 R&B chart
1977 “It’s a Lifetime Thing” – #55 R&B chart
1978 “(I’m Just Thinking About) Cooling Out” – #14 R&B chart
1979 “Nothing Says I Love You Like I Love You” – #86 R&B chart
1980 “The Best Love I Ever Had” – #49 R&B chart
1982 “No Love Without Changes” – #83 R&B chart
1983 “In My Life” – #92 R&B chart (credited with Patti Austin)