Gerald Levert

Following in the footsteps of his father Eddie - who led the 1970s R&B group The O'Jays - Gerald Levert was part of a new generation of soul stars in the '90s who pioneered the smooth, funky sounds of new jack swing.

Born in Philadelphia, Gerald toured around the country with his father as a child before starting to perform with his brother Sean and high school friend Marc Gordon in the mid-'80s as the pop trio LeVert and scoring the hit single 'Casanova' and successful albums 'The Big Throwdown' and 'For Real Tho'. His early solo records 'Private Line' and 'Groove On' established him as modern romantic, urban crooner with an especially passionate style, and he teamed up with his dad for 'Father and Son' in 1995 which produced the crossover hit 'I'd Give Anything'. He had a string of albums that made the US top ten in the 2000s, including 'G', 'Gerald's World' and 'Stroke of Genius', and was a big, highly-respected star in the R&B scene thanks to his silky, passionate delivery. Sadly, Gerald died suddenly in 2006 aged 40 after suffering a heart attack. His final solo album 'In My Songs' was posthumously released a year later and went on reach number two in the US charts and won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance.