Jerry Butler, the original lead singer of the R&B and soul group The Impressions, has died. He was 85.
The Mississippi-born musician started singing as a teenager in a Chicago church choir alongside his future bandmate Curtis Mayfield.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted The Impressions in 1991, described their music as “the sound of the Civil Rights Movement.”
In later life, Butler went on to become a local politician and served as a commissioner for Cook County, Illinois, from 1985 to 2018.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, he died at home late on Thursday evening. His niece Yolanda Goff told the publication: “He was very important to both music and to the community, and he will be missed.”
Butler was born in Sunflower, Mississippi, on December 8, 1939. When he was three, his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he grew up in the Cabrini–Green housing project.
In 1957, at the age of 17, Butler and Mayfield joined a doo-wop group called the Roosters. By the following year, at the suggestion of their manager, they had been renamed Jerry Butler & the Impressions.
The group had their first chart hit in 1958 with “For Your Precious Love”, which Butler co-wrote with brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks. His most lucrative songwriting credit came when he co-wrote Otis Redding’s 1965 hit “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” with the singer.
While performing in Philadelphia, a local DJ nicknamed Butler “The Ice Man” for his cool, smooth delivery. The name stuck, and inspired the names of his solo albums The Ice Man Cometh (1968) and Ice on Ice (1969).
Butler continued to perform after launching his political career in 1985. He was a commissioner for Cook County as a member of a 17-member county board, chairing the Health and Hospitals Committee.
In a statement Dr Erik Mikaitis, Cook County Health CEO, described Butler as a “distinguished public servant” and a “steadfast advocate for health justice.”
He added: “Commissioner Butler’s leadership and commitment to public service have left an indelible mark on our health system and the entire county. His unwavering dedication to our community and his invaluable contributions to our County and health system will be profoundly missed.”
He was married to his wife Annette, who had originally been one of his backup singers, from 1959 until her death in 2019.
No cause of death has yet been confirmed, although it has been reported that Butler was suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
