Jerry Butler, Jr. (born December 8, 1939) is an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and retired politician. He is also noted as being the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, as well as a 1991 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Since leaving The Impressions, Jerry has had over 55 Billboard Pop & R&B Chart Hits as a solo artist, including some 15 Top 40 Pop Hits in the Hot 100, and 15 R&B Top 10\'s. He served as a Commissioner for Cook County, Illinois, from 1985 to 2018. As a member of this 17-member county board, he chaired the Health and Hospitals Committee, and served as Vice Chair of the Construction Committee.\n', '

Butler was born in Sunflower, Mississippi in 1939. When Butler was three years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, and he grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing projects. The mid-1950s had a profound effect on Butler\'s life. He grew up poor, having lived in Chicago\'s Cabrini–Green housing complex. Music and the church provided solace from the poverty of the slums he lived in, and difficulties of a predominantly segregated society.[citation needed] He performed in a church choir with Curtis Mayfield. As a teenager, Butler sang in a gospel quartet called Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers, along with Mayfield. Mayfield, a guitar player, became the lone instrumentalist for the six-member Roosters group, which later became The Impressions. Inspired by Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, and the Pilgrim Travelers, getting into the music industry seemed inevitable.\n', '

Butler\'s younger brother, Billy Butler, also had a career in the music industry, including playing guitar with Jerry\'s band, until his death in 2015.\n', '

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