Looking for recording studios, the Impressions (the original members of which were Butler, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Gooden, Fred Cash - who left early on, and later returned - and brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks), auditioned for Chess Records and Vee-Jay Records.

327 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) and wanted to record a disc. Early recordings īutler co-wrote the song ' For Your Precious Love' (which is ranked No. īutler'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. 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. Mayfield, a guitar player, became the lone instrumentalist for the six-member Roosters group, which later became The Impressions. As a teenager, Butler sang in a gospel quartet called Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers, along with Mayfield. He performed in a church choir with Curtis Mayfield.

Music and the church provided solace from the poverty of the slums he lived in, and the difficulties of a predominantly segregated society. The mid-1950s had a profound effect on Butler's life. When Butler was three years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, and he grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing projects. Butler was born in Sunflower, Mississippi, United States, in 1939.

Do you wanna roll in my 64 original