Jerry Butler, Jr. was born on December 8, 1939 in
Sunflower, Mississippi.

Growing up poor and living in Chicago’s Cabrini Green
housing complex, Jerry and his friend Curtis Mayfield
would establish the Impressions who performed in
churches and on the street corners of Chicago’s Southside.

It was from this beginning that Jerry Butler in his late teens
and the lead singer for the group, would establish not only
himself as a future star, but the Impressions too when a
song written by Butler, “For Your Precious Love” landed
on both the R&B and Pop Hit Parade in the summer
of 1958 and went gold.

Going out on his own as a solo artist, Butler would land in the
top ten in the fall of 1960 with “He Will Break Your Heart.”
“Moon River” would follow a year later and in the summer of 1962,
“Make It Easy on Yourself” kept his hit streak going.

At the peak of the British invasion sparked by the Beatles in
1964, Jerry Butler was top five with his “Let It Be Me.”
Another one of his 40 plus charted hits came in 1968 with
his million selling, “Hey Western Union Man,” and in
1969 with still another gold record, a top five pop smash
hit “Only the Strong Survive.”

Jerry Butler’s album successes “The Iceman Cometh” in 1968
and “Ice on Ice” in 1970 earned him three Grammy nominations.
In 1991 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Beginning in 1985, Jerry Butler moved into politics where he
served the residents of Chicago as a commissioner in Cook County.