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Jerry Lawson, who for four decades has been the lead singer of the Persuasions, a group that has revived the art of a cappella singing and attracted a loyal clientele around the world, died Wednesday in Phoenix. He was 75 years old.
His death was confirmed by his wife, Julie. She stated that Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, had compromised the immune system of Mr. Lawson.
Under the direction of Mr. Lawson's gentle and warm baritone, the Persuasions sang R & B, rock, blues, gospel and pop without instrumental accompaniment, long after the doo-wop era evoked by their sound and well before the recent films "Pitch Perfect" attention to singing a cappella.
"Thirty-eight years and we still do not have a band, man!" Said Mr. Lawson in an interview with The Associated Press in 2000. "This is the story that unfolds here."
The Persuasions have recorded about twenty albums, including tributes to Zappa, Beatles and Grateful Dead.
Jerome Eugene Lawson was born on January 23, 1944 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Estella Braxton Lawson and George Johnson. He grew up in Apopka, Florida, northwest of Orlando, where he began singing as a child at the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church.
The Persuasions began as a laid-back, nameless set on the basketball courts and front hangers of Brooklyn in 1962. "It was just five guys standing around the corner or going down to the station every night. subway to do it, "Jimmy Hayes, another original member, told AP in 2000.
The other original members were Joseph Russell, Herbert Rhoad and Jayotis Washington. Mr. Washington is the only one still alive.
The eclecticism that has been the key to the appeal of the Persuasions is probably also what has prevented them from reaching the stage of pop. the music industry found them difficult to classify.
"They never had their due," said Rip Rense, author of some of their records, at The P.P. "In a country like Japan, they would be declared as a living treasure."
Mr. Lawson left the group in 2002. A few years later, he joined a much younger group of San Francisco-based singers who had relied on Persuasions. As Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town, the band released an album in 2007 and appeared in the NBC musical show "The Sing-Off" in 2011.
He released his first solo album, "Just a Mortal Man", in 2015.
In addition to his wife Julie (Hurwitz) Lawson, 44, he is survived by his father; two girls, Yvette and Wanda Lawson; and a grandson.
A documentary about Mr. Lawson, titled "The Story of Jerry Lawson – Just a Mortal Man", is expected to be released this year.
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