Jerry Butler's recording career spans seven decades and has seen him release more than 50 albums, and his voice is one of the most distinguished in all of music. Soulful yet smooth as ice, his nickname "The Ice Man" epitomized his demeanor -- and his sound.
Butler moved from Sunflower, Mississippi, to Chicago, Illinois at the age of three and grew up in the Cabrini-Green Housing Projects. He had initial music lessons as a young boy while a member of the church choir in Chicago. Curtis Mayfield, who was three years younger, was a member of the same choir. The two befriended e...