Men Like UsGerald Levert

Gerald Levert

Gerald Levert (July 13, 1966 – November 10, 2006) was a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and actor. He is the son of The O'Jays lead singer Eddie LeVert. Gerald started the group Levert in 1983 with his younger brother Sean and their childhood friend Marc Gordon. They released seven albums between 1985 and 1997—four of them achieving Gold status—and they had five #1 R&B singles—“(Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop) Goes My Mind,” “Casanova,” “Addicted to You,” “Just Coolin'” with Heavy D, and “Baby I’m Ready.” “Casanova” was their biggest single as it also hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1991, Gerald released his first solo album Private Line, which hit #1 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart and went Platinum. He went on to release a few Gold and Platinum solo albums that peaked at either #2 or #1 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart.

In 1995, he and his father released the joint album Father and Son, and in 1997, he joined Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill to create the R&B supergroup LSG, which produced two albums—1997’s Levert Sweat Gill featuring the #1 R&B hit “My Body” and 2003’s LSG2. Gerald also got into acting, getting guest spots on The Jamie Foxx Show and The Parkers. He died suddenly in 2006 from an accidental acute intoxication, a fatal mixture of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. His final solo album, In My Songs, was released in 2007 and resulted in him winning a posthumous Grammy Award in the Best Traditional R&B Performance category.