Jonathan Butler (born 10 October 1961 in Athlone, Cape Town, South Africa) is a singer-songwriter and guitarist.
His music is often classified as R&B;, jazz fusion or smooth jazz.
Born and raised in Cape Town during Apartheid, Butler started singing and playing acoustic guitar as a child. Racial segregation and poverty during Apartheid has been the subject of many of his records. His first single, the first by a black artist played by white radio...
more
Jonathan Butler (born 10 October 1961 in Athlone, Cape Town, South Africa) is a singer-songwriter and guitarist.
His music is often classified as R&B;, jazz fusion or smooth jazz.
Born and raised in Cape Town during Apartheid, Butler started singing and playing acoustic guitar as a child. Racial segregation and poverty during Apartheid has been the subject of many of his records. His first single, the first by a black artist played by white radio stations in the racially segregated South Africa, earned a Sarie Award, South Africa's equivalent to the Grammys.
He began touring at the age of seven when he joined a traveling stage show, and was later signed up to perform on a string of hit recordings, turning him into a local teenage idol. 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, Pacific Express. Two albums were recorded with the Express personnel, and some Pacific...
less
