R&B Legend, Former Politician Dead at 85

R&B legend and former politician Jerry Butler has died, the Chicago Sun Times reported. He was 85.

Butler got his start in the music biz singing with “Superfly” vocalist Curtis Mayfield with the Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers. In 1958, at just 19 years old, he broke out with his own band, Jerry Butler and the Impressions. The band’s doo-wop ballad “For Your Precious Love” became a radio mainstay, with Rolling Stone declaring that “the song could almost be considered the first soul record.”

He began a successful solo career in 1960, penning “He Will Break Your Heart” with Mayfield. The song went on to spend seven weeks in the number one spot on the national R&B chart and topped out at number seven on U.S. pop charts. He went on to have hits with “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” (1965), which he co-wrote with Otis Redding; and “Let It Be Me” (1966), which he sang with Betty Everett.

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Butler released several other well-received records into the late 1970s before segueing into a different career path, becoming a beer distributor in the early ‘80s. After Harold Washington was elected Chicago’s first Black mayor in 1983, Butler’s passions turned to politics. In 1986, Butler ran for the Cook County Board of Commissioners. He was elected and held the position until retiring in 2018.

“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,” Butler’s fellow Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin told The Reader (via Variety). “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’s cause of death was not specified, but he was known to have been suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. His wife of 60 years, Annette, passed away in 2019. Butlet is survived by the couple’s two sons, Randy and Anthony.

source https://www.mensjournal.com/news/jerry-butler-dead-85