GERALD LEVERT
Sunrise: July 13, 1966
Sunset: November 10, 2006 Age 40
“All of us at Atlantic are shocked and deeply saddened by his untimely death. He was one of the greatest voices of our time, who sang with unmatched soulfulness and power, as well as a tremendously gifted composer and an accomplished producer. Above all, he was an exceptional human being whose warmth and grace inspired us all.
Gerald has been a member of our family for two decades, both with the group LeVert and as a solo artist, and he will be greatly missed by everyone who had the pleasure and privilege of working with him through the years. This is a tremendous loss for the music community and for his millions of fans.”
Atlantic Records official statement after Gerald Levert’s’ death, 2006
going to get a lot of words out of Aaliyah in a first meeting. It takes a lot of time for her to warm up to people overall because she had this shyness. I remember her being shocked at things I would say out loud, whether it was in interviews or when we were hanging out. She would always be gasping for air at some of the things that I would say out loud.
Whenever I was around, if I saw something, whatever it was, she would just be in shock like, ‘I can’t believe you just said that out loud.’I think it’s good for people to know the side of her outside of the music and know that her music was a great reflection of her.
Sometimes people are totally different than the image they represent, but what I love about her is that everything that you saw was really her. When the lights and the cameras were off, that same pleasant, mild mannered, sweet personality, that’s just how she was.”
Singer Monica, Billboard.com August 24, 2011
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Black Music Month: Artists We Miss was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
