Jerry Lawson (musician)
| Jerry Lawson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jerome Lawson |
| Born | 23 January 1944 |
| Origin | Ft Lauderdale, Florida |
| Genres | A cappella, pop, soul, blues-rock, gospel, R&B, jazz, rock standards |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musical arranger, performer, producer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Associated acts | The Persuasions |
| Website | [1] |
Jerome E. "Jerry" Lawson (born 1944) is a lead singer, producer, musical arranger, performer, best known as the original lead singer of The Persuasions.
Born in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, he was raised in Apopka, Florida. He currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife, Julie.
Jerry Lawson is the original lead singer, arranger & producer of the a cappella group The Persuasions. In the 1970s, with Jerry Lawson on lead vocals, the Persuasions had five albums in the Billboard Top 100, four of which were in The Billboard 200:
In 2000, The Persuasions performed in the Blues Clues film Blue's Big Musical Movie.
In 2003 after four decades and 22 albums, Lawson had what he calls a calling and he left the Persuasions. He and his wife moved to Arizona, vowing that his a cappella days were over (though fate would intervene). He got his first day job in 40 years and began working with developmentally disabled adults while his wife worked tirelessly to establish Jerry as a solo artist. He began to work with jazz combos and big bands, and eventually made plans to record with The Moscow Philharmonic. He was finally living out some of his dreams that were on the back burner while working hard to keep the dying art of a cappella alive.
In 2004, Lawson was introduced to 4 of the members of the San Francisco-based a cappella group Talk of the Town (Rayfield Ragler, Stan Lockwood, Paul Carrington and Carl Douglas). As fate would have it Talk of The Town had spent 35 years studying Lawson's recordings and wishing they had a lead singer like Jerry. Upon his wife's urging, he finally decided that it was no accident that he intersected with these well seasoned vocalists. Lawson became lead singer for the group. He was so impressed with their rendition of "Paper Doll" by The Mills Brothers that he and his wife were compelled to join with these vocalists to produce what Lawson considers to be the masterpiece of his a cappella career.
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