LESTER BUTLER

                                                                                                                              

Lester Butler (November 12, 1959 – May 9, 1998) was an American blues harmonica player and singer. He achieved fame as the singer and harmonica player for the Los Angeles, California, based blues roots band, The Red Devils

Butler was born in Virginia, United States.

The Red Devils (originally known as The Blue Shadows) released one album, 1992's King King. It was produced by Rick Rubin on his Def American record label. The group featured drummer Bill Bateman (of The Blasters), Johnny Ray Bartel on bass, Dave Lee Bartel on rhythm guitar, Paul Size on lead guitar, and pianist Gene Taylor. The Red Devils recorded 22 tracks with Mick Jagger in June 1992, again produced by Rubin, though the tracks were not issued at the time (they have since cropped up on various bootlegs, and one track was officially released on a Jagger compilation on Rhino Records in 2007). The band also backed the actor and sometime musician Bruce Willis, when the action star performed at his Planet Hollywood clubs. The Devils also backed Johnny Cash on music that was not released until after the country singer's death, on the boxed set Unearthed. Butler also played on Rancid's 1998 album Life Won't Wait.

After the breakup of The Red Devils, Butler also fronted the band, '13', releasing one self-titled record on Hightone Records in 1997. The original members of '13' included Kid Ramos on guitar, James Intveld on bass, and Johnny Morgan on drums. The recorded release of '13' on Hightone Records was produced by Warren Croyle and features Stephen Hodges and Johnny Morgan on drums, Tom Leavey and James Moore on bass, Andy Kaulkin on keyboards, with Alex Schultz, Smokey Hormel, Paul Bryant, and Doug Hamlin on guitar. Butler achieved his greatest fame in Europe, especially the Netherlands, where the 'Lester Butler Tribute Band' still performs.

Butler died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine on May 9, 1998, in Los Angeles at the age of 38. Two of his friends, who were involved in his overdose, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Work with other artists

Butler played harmonica on "Shake Your Hips" track which appears on the Billy Boy Arnold album, Back Where I Belong, released on Alligator in 1993.Along with Zach Zunis and Jimmy Rip, Butler played on the King Ernest album, King of Hearts which was released in 1997.

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When Rick Rubin left New York and headed west in 1988, he severed ties with Def Jam, the record label he’d co-founded and through which he’d launched the Beastie Boys, Slayer and Run DMC. A music freak with an instinctive knack for picking out maverick spirits, Rubin set up base in a gothic-looking mansion house in Hollywood and from there rolled out his second record company, Def American. 

Cast in his own renegade image, it became a home for such disparate bands as the Black Crowes, Danzig and the Red Devils. 

The Red Devils were Def American’s shooting comet. Signed to the label in 1991, they were the archetypal Rubin band – five greasers who roughed up the blues, they blazed a brief but brilliant trajectory. They made just one album, and backed both Mick Jagger and Johnny Cash, before crashing and burning. 

Their end was sordid and senseless, a wretched mess compounded by the tawdry death of their frontman, Lester Butler, at the age of 38. Butler was mourned by fellow musicians as a great lost bluesman. Yet even in death he continued to stir ill will. The Devils’ former bassist, Jonny Ray Bartel, was initially reluctant to contribute to this article for fear that it would canonise Butler. 

“My personal history with Lester ended up being really bad,” he said. “He became the worst friend and the most horrible guy you could imagine. I’ve had to work hard on forgiveness towards him.”ast in his own renegade image, it became a home for such disparate bands as the Black Crowes, Danzig and the Red Devils.