The beginning of the year 2025 has brought great loss for the creative community, specifically in the area of music. Six legendary composers and performers were called from this earthly plane to the realm of the Honored Ancestors. During my career as a club and mobile disc jockey, I have played music from all of these artists and I have reveled in their creativity, their energy and the positive messages and vibes they shared through their music, from classic R&B, contemporary R&B, Hip Hop, Neo-Soul, House, Afro-House, Jazz and Funk, spanning the length, width and depth of Black Music. While I feel inadequate to pen a personal tribute to these great and now departed artists, we will share excerpts of biographical articles from the open-source online encyclopedia Wikipedia (with maybe a few of my comments thrown in) on singer-songwriter and politician Jerry “The Iceman” Butler; singer-songwriter Gwen McCrae; songwriter and musician Chris Jasper; composer and singer Roberta Flack; Hip Hop lyricist, actor and singer-songwriter Angie Stone; and composer, producer, bandleader and vibraphone legend Roy Ayers.

Jerry “The Iceman” Butler (Dec. 8, 1939 – Feb. 20, 2025)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Butler
Jerry Butler Jr. (December 8, 1939 – February 20, 2025) was an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group The Impressions, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. After leaving the group in 1960, Butler achieved over 55 Billboard Pop and R&B Chart hits as a solo artist including “He Will Break Your Heart”, “Let It Be Me”, and “Only the Strong Survive”. He was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2015.

Butler served as a Commissioner for Cook County, Illinois, from 1985 to 2018. As a member of the 17-member county government board, he chaired the Health and Hospitals Committee and served as Vice Chair of the Construction Committee.

Butler was first given the nickname “Iceman” by WDAS Philadelphia disc jockey, Georgie Woods, while performing in a Philadelphia theater. He released the single “He Will Break Your Heart” in 1960, and the song peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard pop chart. Butler co-wrote, with Otis Redding, the latter’s hit song “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” in 1965. Butler’s solo career saw a string of hits, including the Top 10 successes “He Will Break Your Heart”, “Find Another Girl”, “I’m A-Telling You” (all co-written by fellow Impression Curtis Mayfield and featuring Mayfield as harmony vocal), the million selling “Only the Strong Survive”, “Moon River”, “Need To Belong” (recorded with the Impressions after he went solo), “Make It Easy on Yourself”, “Let It Be Me” (with Betty Everett), “Brand New Me”, “Ain’t Understanding Mellow” (with Brenda Lee Eager), “Hey, Western Union Man”, and “Never Give You Up”.

His wife Annette, originally one of his backup singers, died in 2019.

After his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Impressions, some music writers and critics stated that Butler also deserved a second induction as a solo artist, based upon his successful career as a recording artist and songwriter after leaving that group.

Butler died from the effects of Parkinson’s disease at his home in Chicago, on February 20, 2025, at the age of 85.

Gwen McCrae (Dec. 21, 1943 – Feb. 21, 2025)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwen_McCrae
Gwendolyn Patricia McCrae (née Mosley, December 21, 1943 – February 21, 2025) was an American singer, best known for her 1975 hit “Rockin’ Chair”. Known in the music industry as the “Queen of Rare Groove”, McCrae’s gospel, soul, disco and funk vocals have been heavily sampled by industry leaders in dance music including Cassius, Madlib, Lady Gaga, Avicii, Cypress Hill, Mobb Deep amongst others. McCrae had hits in both the U.S.A. and Europe and was particularly successful in Europe. She performed regularly until 2012. …

After TK Records collapsed, McCrae moved to New Jersey and signed with Atlantic Records, recording two albums and saw one of her singles, “Funky Sensation”, reach #22 on the R&B chart in 1981. In 1982, she had a moderate R&B hit with “Keep the Fire Burning”. She continued to record and some of her earlier recordings on the UK’s Northern Soul scene maintained her popularity as a live act in Europe. McCrae moved back to the United States, to Florida, recorded a one-off single for the small Black Jack label in 1984 called “Do You Know What I Mean”, and then temporarily retired from the music industry.

In June 2012, after performing on stage in England, she had a stroke which resulted in paralysis on the left side of her body and the inability to walk.

McCrae died at a care home in Miami on February 21, 2025, at the age of 81.

Chris Jasper (Dec. 30, 1951 – Feb. 23, 2025)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Jasper
Christopher Howard Jasper (December 30, 1951 – February 23, 2025) was an American singer, composer and producer. Jasper was a member of the Isley Brothers from 1973 to 1983, and Isley-Jasper-Isley from 1984 to 1987. He was also a successful solo musician and record producer, recording over 17 of his own solo albums, including four urban contemporary gospel albums, all written, produced and performed, both vocally and instrumentally, by Jasper. He also produced artists for his New York City-based record label, Gold City Records. Jasper’s keyboard and Moog synthesizer work is his signature contribution to the Isley Brothers’ music of the 1970s and 1980s when the Isley Brothers were a self-contained band.

In 2016, Jasper was awarded the National R&B Society Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, Jasper was awarded the Soultracks Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2022, Jasper, as a member of the Isley Brothers, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Jasper died on February 23, 2025, two months after being diagnosed with cancer. He was 73.

Roberta Flack (Feb. 10, 1937 – Feb. 24, 2025)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberta_Flack
Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer and pianist known for her emotive, genre-blending ballads that spanned R&B, jazz, folk, and pop and contributed to the birth of the quiet storm radio format. Her commercial success included the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, “Killing Me Softly with His Song”, and “Feel Like Makin’ Love”. She became the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in consecutive years.

Flack frequently collaborated with Donny Hathaway, with whom she recorded several hit duets, including “Where Is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You”. She was one of the defining voices of 1970s popular music and remained active in the industry, later finding success with duets such as “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” with Peabo Bryson (1983) and “Set the Night to Music” with Maxi Priest (1991). Across her decades-long career, she interpreted works by songwriters such as Leonard Cohen and members of the Beatles. In 2020, Flack received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. …

In 2018, Flack was appearing onstage at the Apollo Theater at a benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America when she became ill, left the stage and was rushed to the Harlem Hospital Center. In a statement, her manager announced that Flack had had a stroke a few years prior and still was not feeling well, but was “doing fine” and was being kept overnight for medical observation.

In late 2022, it was announced that Flack had been diagnosed with ALS and had retired from performing, as the disease was making it “impossible to sing”.

Flack died of cardiac arrest on February 24, 2025, on her way to a hospital in Manhattan. She was 88 years old.

At her March 10 memorial service, Lauryn Hill sang a tribute performance of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and, alongside Wyclef Jean and Stevie Wonder, “Killing Me Softly With His Song”.

Angie Stone (Dec. 18, 1961 – March 1, 2025)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_Stone
Angela Laverne Stone (née Brown; December 18, 1961 – March 1, 2025) was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as a member of the hip hop trio The Sequence. In the early 1990s, she became a member of the R&B trio Vertical Hold. Stone then signed with Arista Records to release her debut solo album Black Diamond (1999), which received a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and spawned the single “No More Rain (In This Cloud)”.

After transitioning to J Records, she released her second album, Mahogany Soul (2001), which spawned the hit single “Wish I Didn’t Miss You”. It was followed by Stone Love (2004) and The Art of Love & War (2007), her first number-one album on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Stone ventured into acting in the 2000s, making her film debut in the 2002 comedy film The Hot Chick, and her stage debut in 2003, in the role of Big Mama Morton in the Broadway musical Chicago. She then went on to appear in supporting roles in films and television series as well as several musical productions, including VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club and TV One’s R&B Divas, and movies such as The Fighting Temptations (2003), Pastor Brown (2009), and School Gyrls (2010).

Stone was nominated for three Grammy Awards and won two Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards. In 2021, she received the Soul Music Icon Award at the Black Music Honors. In 2024, she was a featured vocalist on Damon Little’s “No Stressing”, which peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart.

Stone was killed in a car accident near Montgomery, Alabama, on March 1, 2025, at the age of 63. She and her band members were traveling in a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter to Atlanta following a Mardi Gras concert in Mobile, Alabama, when it overturned on Interstate 65; the vehicle was then hit by a Freightliner Cascadia semi-trailer truck. Stone was the only fatality.

Roy Ayers (Sept. 10, 1940 – March 4, 2025)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Ayers
Roy Edward Ayers Jr. (September 10, 1940 – March 4, 2025) was an American vibraphonist, record producer and composer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped to pioneer jazz-funk. He was a key figure in the acid jazz movement, and has been described as “The Godfather of Neo Soul”. He was best known for his compositions “Everybody Loves the Sunshine”, “Running Away”, and “Freaky Deaky” and others that charted in the 1970s. At one time Ayers was listed among the performers whose music was most often sampled by rappers.

Ayers started recording as a bebop sideman in 1962. In 1963, he released his debut studio album West Coast Vibes featuring a collaboration with the saxophonist Curtis Amy. He rose to prominence when he dropped out of Los Angeles City College and joined jazz flautist Herbie Mann in 1966.

In the early 1970s, Ayers formed his own band, Roy Ayers Ubiquity, a name he chose because ubiquity meant a state of being everywhere at the same time.

Ayers was responsible for the highly regarded soundtrack to Jack Hill’s 1973 blaxploitation film Coffy, which starred Pam Grier. He played Elgin in Idaho Transfer the same year. He later moved from a jazz-funk sound to R&B, as heard on Mystic Voyage (1975), which featured the songs “Evolution” and the underground disco hit “Brother Green (The Disco King)”, as well as the title track from his studio album Everybody Loves the Sunshine (1976).

In 1977, Ayers produced an album by the group RAMP, Come into Knowledge. That fall, he had his biggest hit with “Running Away”.

In late 1979, Ayers scored his only top ten single on Billboard’s Hot Disco/Dance chart with “Don’t Stop the Feeling”, which was also the leadoff single from his studio album No Stranger to Love (1980). The title track was sampled in Jill Scott’s 2000 song “Watching Me” from her debut studio album Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1.

Ayers died at a hospital in Manhattan, New York, on March 4, 2025, at the age of 84, after suffering from a long illness.