Jonathan Butler Biography
Jonathan Butler’s jazz-flavored R&B has won the South African-born singer/guitarist/songwriter/producer a loyal international fan base and made him a staple of the smooth jazz and adult contemporary markets.
Growing up in Capetown, South Africa, Butler developed an early affinity for such American R&B singer/instrumentalists as Stevie Wonder and George Benson, with whom he would often be compared in later years. Butler began performing professionally as a child, and became a recording star in his homeland during his teens. While still a teenager, he made his first efforts at songwriting after joining the popular Capetown jazz-rock band Pacific Express.
After signing with the Jive label, Butler made his international debut with 1986’s largely instrumental Introducing Jonathan Butler, which featured instrumental support from veteran jazz bassist Bob Cranshaw, best known for his work with Sonny Rollins. The album achieved considerable success in South Africa, where Butler won a Sarie award, that country’s equivalent of a Grammy. Butler soon fled his homeland’s apartheid system and relocated to England, where he would remain for most of the ’80s and ’90s. During those years, he achieved consistent commercial success in the U.K., Europe and America. One of Butler’s biggest commercial successes was his hit cover of the Staple Singers’ “If You’re Ready (Come With Me),” from his 1987 album Jonathan Butler. It was that album that established Butler with U.S. audiences, and its stateside success was matched by that of the subsequent Breaking Away and More Than Friends.
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