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Leroy Hutson (born June 4, 1945) is an American soul music and R&B singer, songwriter, Arrangement, Record producer and instrumentalist, best known as former lead singer of R&B vocal group The Impressions.
His music concerns 1970s soul, as noted in the June 29, 2006 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. He is the father of producer JR Hutson.
In 1968, as part of the duo Sugar & Spice, Lee Hutson and Deborah Rollins recorded for Kapp Records. They recorded several singles with some success. Their single "In Love Forever" ranked the "Best New Record Of The Week" in the local newspaper column "Soul Sauce". Two other singles recorded were "Ah Ha Yeah" and "Dreams".
At Howard University, Hutson joined The Mayfield Singers, a group put together on Howard's campus by musician Curtis Mayfield that performed at New York's famed Apollo Theater and Philadelphia's Uptown Theater. The group released one single for Mayfield in 1967.
There, Hutson collaborated with Donny Hathaway on "The Ghetto", giving the late recording star his first hit record in early 1970.
The first Impressions single to feature Hutson as lead vocalist was entitled "Love Me", released on Curtom Records in North America in June 1971.
On August 27, 2013, Hutson, filed a complaint against Young Jeezy and others alleging that Young Jeezy's song "Time" inappropriately incorporated the instrumental portion of The Impressions "Getting it On," which was registered with the United States Copyright Office in 1973.
Between the period of 1973 until 1992 Hutson recorded eight albums and charted with thirteen singles in the U.S. Because of this he has developed a cult following on the soul scene. After Love Oh Love, Hutson went on to release The Man!, Hutson, Feel the Spirit, Hutson II, Closer to the Source and Unforgettable. Hutson's last 12", the Share Your Love EP, was released via the UK's Expansion Records.
In 2008, Hutson returned to recording under the name Lee Hutson, issuing an album Soothe You Groove You on his own Triumph label and via download. Two years later, in August 2010, Hutson made his comeback to European stages, performing at Suncebeat Festival in Zadar, Croatia, at Vintage at Goodwood Festival and at Indigo2 in London. He was backed by the British group The Third Degree.
As of 2017, Hutson's work is now licensed by British independent record label Acid Jazz Records, who released an Anthology LP featuring his bigger hits such as "I Think I'm Falling In Love", "Lucky Fellow" and "Don't It Make You Feel Good" as well as previously unreleased track "Positive Forces", which featured an instrumental of "All Because of You" on the B side. They then went on to release another unreleased single, "Now That I Found You".
In February 2018 they re-issued both Hutson and Hutson II and are currently in the process of releasing a four-part online documentary entitled Leroy Hutson: The Man!, which features contributions from long-time fans of Hutson's such as actor and radio DJ Craig Charles and Acid Jazz founder and managing director Eddie Piller. Piller is said to have based his own music production style on that of Hutson's, and uses the instrumental track "Cool Out" as the opening track for his current radio show, Eddie Piller's Eclectic Soul Show.
As a writer/producer, he has worked for Roberta Flack ("Tryin' Times", "Gone Away"), The Natural Four ("You Bring Out the Best in Me", "Can This Be Real"), Linda Clifford, Voices of East Harlem ("Giving Love"), Arnold Blair ("Trying to Get Next to You"), and Next Movement ("Let's Work It Out"), while more recently one of his own cult singles "Lucky Fellow" was covered by Snowboy on Acid Jazz records.
| 1973 | "Love Oh Love" | Black Singles | 75 |
| "When You Smile" | Black Singles | 81 | |
| 1974 | "Ella Weez" | Black Singles | 81 |
| 1975 | "All Because of You" | Black Singles | 31 |
| "Can't Stay Away" | Black Singles | 66 | |
| 1976 | "Feel the Spirit" | Disco Singles | 5 |
| Black Singles | 25 | ||
| "Lover's Holiday" | Black Singles | 68 | |
| 1977 | "Blackberry Jam" | Black Singles | 82 |
| "I Do, I Do (Want to Make Love to You)" | Black Singles | 55 | |
| 1978 | "In the Mood" | Black Singles | 56 |
| "Where Did Love Go" | Black Singles | 45 | |
| 1979 | "Right or Wrong" | Black Singles | 47 |
Billboard Music Charts (North America) - album
| 1974 | The Man! | Black Albums | 36 |
| 1975 | Hutson | Black Albums | 46 |
| 1976 | Feel the Spirit | Black Albums | 21 |
| Pop Albums | 170 | ||
| 1977 | Hutson II | Black Albums | 26 |
| 1979 | Unforgettable | Black Albums | 69 |
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