Jerry Butler & The Impressions...For Your Precious Love


I have done a couple of blogs in the past about the Chattanooga connection of The Impressions and the fact that the group started right here in the 1950's in my Great-Grandparents neighborhood, they were known then as The Roosters or as several old cats have told me 4 Roosters and a Chick...LOL. I found out after my Grandmothers funeral, the Chicks name was Katherine...

They left Chattanooga and the Chick around 1959 and moved to either Chicago or New York and hooked up with Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler. One of their first songs titled For Your Precious Love was a top 5 hit during the summer of 1959, it was written by group members Richard Brooks, Arthur Brooks, and Jerry Butler. In the early 90's, I use to talk to Richard Brooks about those times and was thrilled about all the good things he experienced and was also saddened that he no longer cared anything about Jerry Butler or Curtis Mayfield. That story is another blog in itself...


JERRY BUTLER AND THE IMPRESSIONS...FOR YOUR PRECIOUS LOVE

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Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 18, 2009 at 10:06am
Stephanie, i have never heard him and Thelma together, but i know it has to be awesome
Comment by Edie Antoinette on January 16, 2009 at 12:33pm
Oh yeah!!! I do. It was a great job you did. I'll try and help you find it.
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 16, 2009 at 12:29pm
Mama Edie, you remember that blog i did a couple of years ago where i had to type out the newspaper article concerning the trial between The Brooks Brothers and The Impressions? i sure wish i remember where it was
Comment by Edie Antoinette on January 16, 2009 at 12:23pm
I just saw Jerry Butler on one of those PBS Specials and he did sound good. I need to do some research too--I've always associated The Impressions with Curtis Mayfield.

Great blog Sole!!
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 16, 2009 at 5:57am
Brother Will, at some point i will find that blog i did that contained a newspaper article that came out during a trial to determined if The Brooks Brothers could use the name The Original Impressions...In regards to the Jerry Butler top billing, i know for a fact that Jerry was preparing to go solo and the group hated that top billing...Another interesting twist on this song, i was looking at the movie American Me in the early 90's and this song came on, i had remembered Richard saying him and his brother were still getting paid everytime the song was used, so i mentioned to him about it being in this movie, he got very upset because he had never even heard of the movie, not sure what the out come of that was.
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 16, 2009 at 5:45am
Brother Gene, Jerry has stood the test of time
Comment by KnightD12 on January 15, 2009 at 11:55pm
And after all these years... Jerry`s voice is just as clear, strong and smooth as it always was. Just amazing.

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The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me"). 


As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even 
harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.

 

The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created. 

The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon). 

If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available. 

Enjoy.  "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967) 
 
 "I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year) "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Phila, 1966) "Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
   
 "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)
   
 "If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)
 



Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.

Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a
well-known penning Double Exposure's
"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay." 
 While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).
The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. The Butlers recorded their first single in 1960 titled "Loveable Girl". Left to right John Fitch, T Conway, Frankie Beverly, Sonny Nicholson and Joe Collins. 

Frankie Beverly12/6/46 - 9/10/24

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