Jerry Butler, the graceful singer and songwriter who served as the first leader of the Impressions before launching a long, hit-heavy solo career, died on Thursday at his home in Chicago. He was 85. His death was confirmed by his assistant, who said that Mr. Butler had Parkinson’s disease. Mr. Butler’s resounding baritone voice, though gritty in timbre, was animated by gentility and charm; he approached a lyric with an almost courtly level of sensitivity. His poise explained, in part, how he came to be known as the Iceman.
His early success came with “For Your Precious Love,” which reached No. 11 on Billboard’s pop chart. He scored his second hit with “He Will Break Your Heart,” which he wrote with his bandmate Curtis Mayfield and Calvin Carter, and proved durable: a reworked version by Tony Orlando and Dawn, “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You),” would become a No. 1 hit more than a decade later.
Mr. Butler’s version of “Moon River,” the Henry Mancini-Johnny Mercer song from the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” climbed to No. 11 on the pop chart in 1961. The next year, his interpretation of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Make It Easy on Yourself” reached No. 20.
In 1968, he reached his highest pop chart position with “Only the Strong Survive,” which reached No. 4 on the pop chart and No. 1 on the R&B list.
Mr. Butler was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2015 and into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. He was also awarded an N.A.A.C.P. Image Award and a Rhythm and Blues Pioneer Award.
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