Jonathan Kenneth Butler (born 10 October 1961) is a South African singer-songwriter and guitarist.
His music is often classified as
R&B,
jazz fusion
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and ke ...
or
worship music.
Biography
Born and raised in
Athlone
Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...
,
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, South Africa, during
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
, Butler started singing and playing
acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
as a child.
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Intern ...
and poverty during Apartheid has been the subject of many of his records. His first single was the first by a black artist played by white radio stations in the racially segregated South Africa and earned a Sarie Award, South Africa's equivalent to the
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
s.
He began touring at the age of seven when he joined a travelling stage show, and was later signed up to perform on a string of hit recordings, turning him into a local
teen idol. In 1975, his cover of "
Please Stay" by
the Drifters
The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/ soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed i ...
reached number 2 in South Africa. The same year his cover of "
I Love How You Love Me" by The
Paris Sisters
The Paris Sisters were a 1960s American girl group from San Francisco, California, United States, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector.
Career
The group consisted of lead singer Priscilla Paris (January 4, 1941 – March 5, 20 ...
reached number 4. "I'll Be Home" reached number 16 in 1976.
In 1978, he found the inspiration and encouragement to begin expressing himself as a composer and songwriter when he joined Cape Town's best known jazz/rock outfit,
the Pacific Express The Pacific Express (initially known as The Pacifics) was a jazz-rock band based on the Cape Flats of Cape Town in the 1970s. The band were from the coloured community and were ground breakers in both musical and political fields.
Band members
...
. Two albums were recorded with the Express personnel, and some Pacific Express songs were later released on the 1988 ''7th Avenue'' album. All three releases were issued by
Mountain Records
Mountain Records is a record label started in Cape Town, South Africa in 1980 by Patrick Lee-Thorp.
The record label produces mostly South African music and is known as the home of Cape Jazz recordings, having issued a number of albums by such n ...
.
Butler was signed to CCP Records, a predecessor to
Jive Records
Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, ...
in 1977. He left the label to join Mountain Records after a few years. The manager of Mountain Records, Paddy Lee-Thorp was also Butler's manager and in the early 1980s they signed Jonathan to Jive Records and he moved to the United Kingdom, where he remained for seventeen years. His international breakthrough came in 1987 with his
Grammy-nominated hit single, "
Lies" which reached #27 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and his
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...
of the
Staple Singers song "
If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)
"If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)" is a song by the Staple Singers. Released from their album '' Be What You Are'', the single spent three weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot Soul Singles chart in 1973. It peaked at number ...
", which he performed with
Ruby Turner. His single "Lies", also reached the UK Official Singles Chart, peaking at number 18, spending 12 weeks, in total, in the top 100.
In 2001, Butler was featured in a compilation album that was a jazz tribute to
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements ...
produced by
Lee Ritenour
Lee Mack Ritenour ( ; born January 11, 1952) is an American jazz guitarist who has been active since the late 1960s.
Biography
Ritenour was born on January 11, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, United States. At the age of eight he started play ...
, A Twist of Marley. Butler's contribution to the album was a jazz cover of
No Woman No Cry.
Butler maintained a loyal following in the 1980s and 1990s, in South Africa, the United States and Europe.
In 2006, Butler was a featured vocalist on the album ''Gospel Goes Classical,'' produced by
University of Alabama at Birmingham music professor
Henry Panion. This recording, featuring
arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orche ...
s by Panion,
Tommy Stewart, Michael Loveless, and
Ray Reach, rose to No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Gospel chart, and No. 3 on the Classical Crossover chart. He was also nominated for a Grammy Award for his single "Going Home".
Also in 2008, Butler guest-starred on
George Duke
George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...
's Album Dukey Treats, alongside the late
Teena Marie on the track Sudan, talking about the disasters of
Darfur
Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju ...
.
From 2005 to 2012 Butler lived in
Bell Canyon, California
Bell Canyon is an unincorporated community in eastern Ventura County, California, United States. Bell Canyon is a gated community in the Simi Hills with the main access through the Los Angeles community of West Hills and the western San Fe ...
,
Discography
Studio albums
Live albums
*''Live in South Africa'' (2007)
Compilation albums
*''Best of Jonathan Butler'' (1993)
*''Ultimate Butler'' (2002)
*''Christmas Goes Gospel: Tis the Season (2014)''
*''Divine Voices: Pastors of Praise'' (2015)
Collaborations
*''Dave Grusin Presents West Side Story'' (1997) (Featured soloist - Maria)
Singles
References
External links
Official Website* Radio interview with Jonathan Butler
Part IPart II (Broadcast by
NPR)
Early DaysJonathan Butlerat
Discogs
Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Jonathan
South African rhythm and blues musicians
South African jazz guitarists
South African male singer-songwriters
Smooth jazz guitarists
1961 births
Jive Records artists
Living people
Cape Coloureds
Musicians from Cape Town
Anti-apartheid activists
People from Bell Canyon, California