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Chicago Tribune
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Jerry ‘Iceman' Butler, former Cook County commissioner and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, dies at 85
Jerry 'The Iceman' Butler went from street-corner singing and belting out gospel songs in church to co-founding the popular vocal R&B group the Impressions, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. Although Butler's time in the Impressions only lasted a few years, he enjoyed many years of success afterward as a songwriter and as a solo singer with a rich, creamy smooth baritone voice, penning and performing numerous tunes that found success including 'He Will Break Your Heart,' 'Hey, Western Union Man' and 'Only the Strong Survive.' While Butler never fully abandoned music, he had a full life outside of it, running a beverage distribution business and serving as a Cook County Board member for 32 years, stepping down in 2018. Butler, 85, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on Feb. 20 at his home in the South Side's Douglas neighborhood, according to his assistant. Born in Sunflower, Mississippi, Butler moved to Chicago as a toddler and grew up in the Near North Side area that would later be the site for the Cabrini-Green Homes. From a young age he sang both in church and in street-corner doo-wop groups. One of his closest companions was Curtis Mayfield, who went on to become an influential soul musician known as the 'Gentle Genius.' 'I met Curtis when he was maybe 8 or 9 years old. I must have been all of 11 or 12,' Butler told the Tribune in 1992. 'We sang gospel music together in his grandmother's church. And when the group that later became the Impressions was formed, when I thought about who we should have in this group, he was the only person that I thought about.' Butler trained to be a chef at Washburne Trade School for a few years, but music wouldn't let him go and in 1957, he got together with Mayfield, Sam Gooden and brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks to create the Impressions. The group auditioned for Calvin Carter at the Black-owned independent label Vee-Jay Records. One of the songs they auditioned was 'For Your Precious Love' — originally written by Butler as a poem for school — and Carter urged Butler to sing it, rather than recite it. Vee-Jay signed the group, and made the song its first single, and it became an immediate hit, selling 150,000 copies within the first two weeks of its release in 1958. Former Tribune critic Greg Kot in 1991 wrote that 'many regard 'For Your Precious Love' as the first true 'soul' record, forging a new style out of the blues, doo-wop and gospel music.' The band was short-lived, in part because its first record identified the act — incorrectly — as 'Jerry Butler and the Impressions.' 'Well, the Impressions were madder than all get-out and wanted to do terrible things to my head,' Butler later said. 'And I said, 'Fellas, I'm innocent. I don't know anything more about this than you do.' So we went and confronted (Vivian Carter, Vee-Jay's co-owner) with the question, and she said, 'We're not going to change it because we've already pressed up 50,000 records, and I'm not going to go back and reprint 50,000 label copies just to keep a bunch of little snot-nosed kids happy.'' Ultimately, Butler figured out that Carter's plan had been to spin off Butler as a solo artist and have two hitmakers: Butler on his own and the Impressions. Amid dissension, Butler left the Impressions in 1960 and embarked on a solo career, though not all feelings were bruised. He worked closely with Mayfield, co-writing songs such as Butler's first No. 1 R&B hit, 'He Will Break Your Heart.' On the Vee-Jay label, Butler recorded other Top 10 hits, such as 'Find Another Girl,' 'I'm a Telling You' and, with Betty Everett, 'Let It Be Me.' He also had a hit with 'Moon River,' before the late crooner Andy Williams made it his theme song. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Butler worked with two young Philadelphia songwriters and producers, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, and the result was a string of his hits including 'Never Give You Up,' 'Hey, Western Union Man,' 'What's the Use of Breaking Up,' 'Ain't Understanding Mellow' and 'Only the Strong Survive.' Butler's vocals stood out — including a moan that lingered and dragged a step or two behind the beat — and rendered him so cool that a Philadelphia disc jockey nicknamed him 'The Iceman.' In 1985, he was featured with Aretha Franklin in a commercial for McDonald's McDLT — she liked it hot, he liked it cool. Butler was a partner in two beer-distribution companies, starting in the 1970s. His interest in politics, which led him to seek a Cook County Board seat in 1985, stemmed in part from the racism that he and his bandmates had encountered. 'Here we were young performers who really thought we had arrived. Our records were being played on Black and white radio stations all over the United States. And still we were being treated as second-class citizens,' he told the Tribune in 1992. 'That was one of the things that really said to me and the others (in the Impressions) that this is terribly wrong, and what can we do with all of this fame and notoriety that's going at us this early in life to try and change some things? 'So we got involved in the political process. We got involved in helping to attract audiences for other political people to speak. We got involved in movements, and we participated even in the sit-ins in the South. We became spokesmen for the people. So I think that kind of gives you an idea of why I'm so political.' In seeking the Democratic nomination for a Cook County Board seat, Butler told supporters that he wanted to see the county award more contracts to minority businesses. 'I know needing and I know wanting, but I also know caring and sharing, and that is what I intend to take to the Cook County Board as a commissioner,' he told supporters in November 1985. Butler, who continued to occasionally perform while on the board, chaired the Law Enforcement and Corrections Committee and later the Health and Hospitals Committee. A longtime ally of then-Cook County Board President John Stroger and later of Stroger's son, Todd, Butler emerged early on as a proponent of changing the way board members were elected, from at-large berths to single-member districts. He also endorsed building a new Cook County Hospital and was an early promoter of the county's eventual decision to buy the troubled Provident Medical Center. Initially, Butler rejected the idea of renovating the old Cook County Hospital building for other uses. 'I came to this board 16 years ago and the building on Harrison Street was an old raggedy piece of junk,' he told the Tribune in 2003. 'In the last few minutes it has been uplifted to the point of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.' The old hospital building now is a mixed-use development, including a Hyatt Hotel. 'Jerry Butler was more than a musical icon — he was a dedicated public servant who gave over three decades of his life to the residents of Cook County,' County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said in a statement. 'As a Cook County Commissioner from 1985 to 2018, he worked tirelessly to expand healthcare access, improve infrastructure and advocate for policies that strengthened our communities.' Butler earned a degree in political science in 1993 from Governors State University. He also was active in the Rhythm and Blues Foundation as it worked to provide assistance to musicians, as well as serving as the lead plaintiff in a battle the foundation waged with the record industry over health and retirement benefits previously denied to long-ago recording artists. Butler stepped down from the Cook County Board in 2018. Butler published autobiography, 'Only the Strong Survive: Memoirs of a Soul Survivor,' in 2000. He made clear he had no regrets about a music career that was successful but never reached the the heights of better-known names. 'That's like saying if I was born rich I'd be so much better off,' he told the Tribune in 1991. 'I never regretted who I am. I've been so greatly blessed that it's hard to say I've been cheated. It's like Frank Sinatra said a few weeks ago at an awards ceremony I attended. He got a standing ovation and then he said, 'That was more than I expected…' then he winked… 'but not as much as I deserve.' That's how I feel about my life: More than I expected, but maybe not as much as I deserve. Because who really gets all that they think they deserve?' Butler's wife of 60 years, Annette, died in 2019. Survivors include twin sons Anthony and Randall. Information on other survivors was not immediately available. A service tentatively is planned for March 8 at Fellowship Chicago Church, 4543 S. Princeton Ave.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jerry Butler, Impressions Singer and Chicago Politician, Dies at 85
Chicago soul giant Jerry Butler, who succeeded early hits as lead singer of the keystone R&B group Impressions and a notable solo career with years as a Windy City politician, has died, according to the Chicago Sun TImes. No cause of death was announced, although he had suffered from Parkinson's disease; he was 85. Alongside singer-guitarist Curtis Mayfield, with whom he had sung in the Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers, 19-year-old Butler broke onto the charts in 1958 with the doo-wop-inflected ballad 'For Your Precious Love,' by the act initially billed as Jerry Butler and the Impressions. Rolling Stone critic Joe McEwen later wrote, 'The song can almost be considered the first soul record.' Following one more top-30 single with the group, Butler broke away on his own. His first solo hit, 'He Will Break Your Heart,' co-written with Mayfield (with whom he continued to work following his split with the group) and Vee-Jay Records exec Calvin Carter, spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the national R&B charts and reached No. 7 on the U.S. pop charts in 1960. Boasting a strong baritone that reached into the upper register to powerful effect, the suave, nattily attired vocalist was dubbed 'the Iceman' in 1961 by WDAS Philadelphia DJ George Woods when he retained his cool and kept singing after the PA system failed at a local concert. Butler notched another five top-10 hits for Vee-Jay through 1966; one of them, a remake of the Everly Brothers smash 'Let It Be Me' with duet partner Betty Everett, also claimed the R&B pinnacle. He also co-wrote a notable 1965 hit with rising Memphis soul star Otis Redding: 'I've Been Loving You Too Long,' which the pair penned after a shared concert date in Buffalo, NY. After Vee-Jay filed for bankruptcy protection in 1966, the singer moved to Mercury Records, then a Chicago-based independent label, where he experienced his golden era. The young Philly-based production team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff were instrumental during this epoch. In the notes to a 2001 reissue of 'The Ice Man Cometh' (a No. 29 pop album in 1968) and 'Ice on Ice' (No. 41 in 1969), the two albums he made with the duo, Butler recalled that at a Philadelphia club, 'Kenny came up and told me he and Leon had cut the Intruders' 'Cowboys to Girls,' and I said, 'Man, I love your sound.'' The singer told Mercury president Irwin Steinberg, 'I think these kids have a hipper sound and I want to work with them.' Beginning with the No. 4 R&B entry 'Never Give You Up,' the Butler-Gamble-Huff consortium logged six consecutive soul top-10 hits, including the sleekly crafted No. 1 singles 'Hey, Western Union Man' (also No. 16 pop) and the vocalist's signature song 'Only the Strong Survive' (No. 4 pop). After Gamble and Huff decamped from Mercury to start up their own hit factory, Philadelphia International Records, Butler's sales fortunes began to wane. Apart from the rare solo top-10 R&B single, his biggest hits of the '70s were duets with Brenda Lee Eager, 'Ain't Understanding Mellow' (No. 3, 1971) and a remake of the Carpenters' '(They Long to Be) Close to You' (No. 6, 1972). His last top-10 hit, 'I Wanna Do It to You' (No. 7, 1977), came during a brief association with Motown; a stint at Philadelphia International failed to recapture the magic of past collaborations. By the early '80s, Butler was running a Chicago beer distributorship, but his interest turned to politics after Harold Washington was elected as the city's first Black mayor in 1983. Chicago alderman (and former Black Panther Party officer) Bobby Rush encouraged him to run for the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Elected in 1986, he held the post until his retirement in 2018. Approached by the Chicago Reader's Ted Cox in 2011 to discuss a profile that would focus on his singing career, Butler replied drily, 'Music, huh? Thought I'd covered that up.' Not entirely: In 1991, Jerry Butler was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Impressions. He was born Dec. 8, 1939, in Sunflower, Miss., and moved to Chicago with his family three years later. He grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing projects on Chicago's Near North Side. Though he envisioned a career as a cook or chef when he was young, he became involved in gospel music, with Mayfield, as a member of the Traveling Souls Spiritualist Church. Following a brief tenure with the vocal act the Quails, he joined another 'bird group,' the Roosters, whose members included Sam Gooden and sibling Arthur and Richard Brooks. He brought Mayfield in as singer-guitarist, and the quintet was given a new handle by their manager Eddie Thomas. In 'Move On Up,' Thomas told author Aaron Cohen, 'I said, 'You guys got a beautiful sound…When I met you, I was very impressed with your sound, so why not change your name to the Impressions?' Everybody was doing doo-wops, but they had something like a musical choir in the background.' Butler told writer Cox that their fittingly impressionistic bow 'For Your Precious Love' was an attempt to break with the musical past. 'We were trying to find a new sound. We didn't want to be doo-wop. We wanted to have a different and lasting impression. There's no hook. There's nothing to sing along with. It's a poem set to music.' Butler's songwriting stood him in good stead through his solo work at Vee-Jay and during his association with Gamble and Huff, but after the songwriter's exit from their association with Mercury, he took on a more entrepreneurial interest in his career, founding the Butler Songwriters Workshop in January 1970, with $55,000 in seed money from Chappell Music. In Robert Pruter's classic history 'Chicago Soul,' he confesses, 'The idea for the workshop came out of self-interest. I had obligations to do 30 sides a year with Mercury…and I didn't know what to do. Tin Pan Alley, where you used to be able to get a couple of songs, has died for all intent and purpose….I knew there were a number of young cats in Chicago with a lot of songwriting talent.' Besides nurturing the writing careers of Terry Callier and the team of Chuck Jackson (brother of Rev. Jesse Jackson) and Marvin Yancy, Jr. (the future husband of Natalie Cole), Butler also formed a label, a production company, and an independent record label at around the same time. However, as his career slowed in the early '80s, the onetime singing star turned his attention to politics. Fellow Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin told the Reader, 'I think [he] got into [politics] for only one reason—he felt that he had a voice because of all the blessings he'd been given, and that he could use it for other people.' He added, 'I know a meeting is going well because he'll hum to himself. The moment he stops humming, it's like, 'Oh my God, something's about to happen.'' Butler never completely abandoned music: He continued to perform occasionally into the new millennium, hosted oldies R&B specials for PBS and chaired the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's board. He published his autobiography, 'Only the Strong Survive: Memoirs of a Soul Survivor,' in 2000. Butler's wife Annette, to whom he was married for 60 years, died at 81 in 2019; she had worked as his backup singer before they were wed. He is survived by his sons Randy and Anthony. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Grammy Predictions, From Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar: Who Will Win? Who Should Win? What's Coming to Netflix in February 2025
