Butler, raised in Detroit, appeared as a singer in 1994 television film Madonna: Innocence Lost, and released his debut single "Ready Fa Luv" in 1996, nominated for Best R&B/Soul video at the Canadian Much Music Video Awards.[3][4] Butler was subsequently discovered by producer Rodney Jerkins, who would mentor him for several years.[5] Originally a member of Jerkins' "camp" of lyric and melody writers, he soon began to branch out into vocal arrangements and production.[6]
2000s: Vocal production and Michael Jackson's Invincible
One of Butler's first opportunities as a composer was to participate in the writing process of the third Spice Girls album Forever. His mentor Jerkins was commissioned to executive-produce the album, and Butler would contribute to three songs, including one that was initially chosen to be the second single, "Tell Me Why".[7] Butler's next opportunity within the Jerkins camp was to co-write and provide background vocals on "Heartbreaker", a song that made it onto Michael Jackson's tenth and final studio album Invincible.[8] Butler would also contribute to seven songs on En Vogue vocalist Rhona Bennett's eponymous debut solo album, including lead single and dance chart hit "Satisfied", and co-write "Gots ta Be", the top-20 charting second single from boyband B2K's eponymous debut album.[9][10] His next opportunities included placements on the Barbershop soundtrack, as well as co-writing "Who Will I Run To?", the second single from artist Kiley Dean's shelved album Simple Girl, and "I Like That", the #11-peaking debut single from R&B artist Houston.[11][12][13] Butler would also co-write "Anything", the UK top 25-peaking third single from 2006 Jojo album The High Road, and R&B hit "In My Bedroom" for boyband B5's second album Don't Talk, Just Listen.[14][15]
In 2015, Butler was spotted in the studio with Britney Spears, who was working on what would become Glory, her ninth studio album.[21][22][23] Butler was the principal vocal producer on the project eventually released in 2016, working on fourteen out of seventeen tracks of the deluxe edition.[24]
Selected songwriting, production, background vocal and arrangement credits