Singer Freddie Jackson has died -Credit:Getty Images
The Harlem-born singer topped the R&B charts with silky ballads in the 1980s and kept performing for four decades. His family announced his death on Tuesday.
If you’ve ever been to a wedding, a slow dance or a quiet-storm radio night, you have probably heard Freddie Jackson, even if you didn’t know his name.
Jackson, the R&B singer behind “You Are My Lady” and “Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake),” died on Monday night, Oct. 5, just days after his birthday, his family announced on his verified Instagram account. Billboard reports that he had recently turned 69; The Associated Press gives his age as 70. No cause of death has been announced. In 2024, Jackson had spoken publicly about living with kidney disease, though his family has not connected it to his death.
“Freddie was more than a legendary voice,” his family wrote, thanking everyone who ever sang along, danced or felt something when he took the stage.
Jackson grew up in Harlem and learned to sing in church, at White Rock Baptist. He sang with the funk group Mystic Merlin and worked as a backup singer for Melba Moore before going solo with Capitol Records. His 1985 debut album, Rock Me Tonight, made him a star: the title track spent six weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B chart, and “You Are My Lady” followed it to the top. The album earned him two Grammy nominations in 1986, for best new artist and best R&B vocal performance, male.
Over the following years, Jackson became one of the defining voices of romantic R&B, with a run of R&B No. 1 singles and No. 1 albums. In 1986, his duet with Moore, “A Little Bit More,” also topped the R&B chart. He kept recording well into the 2000s and released his most recent album, My First Love, in 2023, while remaining a popular live act.
“My heart is broken over the loss of a great singer and even a greater friend,” Moore said in a statement.
His family said details about arrangements and ways to honor his legacy will be shared later.
Freddie Jackson made music for the moments people remember for the rest of their lives. Those songs aren’t going anywhere.
Sources: Billboard · The Hollywood Reporter · EURweb · Fox 5 DC
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