iSound

Born and raised in Macon, Georgia, Butler began singing publicly at the age of nine with the Cotton Street Gospel Choir (an all Afro-American choir in which he was the only Caucasian). Originally starting out as a high tenor without pitch or tone, he was relegated to being the one member of the choir asked to whistle and hum all the songs rather than attempt to sing along with the others. However, he stuck with it and by the age of thirteen he had developed into a middle baritone and was actually allowed to sing with everybody else. Butler wrote his first song in collaboration with his best friend, Larry Crawford, after they spent a night in jail for violating Macon's "under eighteen" ten o'clock curfew law. They were both ten years old at the time and the song is titled "Momma, Wished I'd Listen To You". Butler still sometimes sings the acapella song during his show and always makes a point of performing it before ten o'clock. At the age of sixteen, Butler and h...