A long way from Capetown, where he was born and raised before becoming an international superstar and spending nearly 20 years in England, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter-guitarist-producer Jonathan Butler is back and stronger than ever with his latest release on Mack Avenue Records, 'So Strong.'

From his days growing up under the abhorrent system of apartheid and rising to fame in what could be described as a fairytale, Butler has been through it all, and he is still standing tall with a message of love and hope. Butler's self-titled debut put him on the map internationally and garnered two Grammy nominations for 'Lies' and 'Going Home.'

'So Strong,' his latest work and 15th solo record, is 14 tracks of pure bliss, with such standout songs as 'So Strong,' 'You Gotta Believe in Something' and 'Be Here With You,' featuring Angie Stone.

The album recently debuted at # 2 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts.

Blackvoices.com caught up to the music veteran during Black Music Month 2010.

What was it like growing up in South Africa as the youngest of 12 siblings?

I was born in Capetown, South Africa, and raised everywhere. I left my home when I was 7 years old. I used to do a lot of contests and shows. What I know about my family is that we're all musicians. My mum and dad put us in a lot of variety shows. Being the youngest of 12 siblings, growing up was pretty complex in the sense that it was chaotic. This was because of a lack of such things as food and finances. We grew up in a shack; one of the many shacks in the community. No electricity, no running water. When it rained, it poured. The most incredible thing about my upbringing is that music had so much to do with our sense of peace and sense of order. Music had that power in our home. The minute that someone played a guitar, it brought us together.

It seems natural then that music would be part of your calling.

The family discovered that I could sing, but I was very shy to sing around them. I would sing with my friends while outside playing football, but I was shy. We used to buy firewood and make fire. And we used to have this big steel drum, and my father would use an ax and chop holes in it for ventilation, and then put the wood inside. And the fire was the conversational piece every night when it was cold. And we would sing.

Your family discovered you, but how did the world come to know your talents?

When my family discovered that I could sing we were on welfare. The only way that I could actually go on stage and travel was by telling the welfare people that I had a tutor. I had won several competitions around the age of 7 or 8. When I turned around 8, this 6-foot-6 white guy came to our house.

This man came into our home and he wanted to hear me sing. And this was the first day I saw a white person in my life, because our communities were pretty much black communities, colored communities, white communities and Indian communities. That's how South Africa still is today. And I ran away because I was freaked out. I was brought back and I sang for this gentleman. Then, I left my mother's house, and I joined a South African play that traveled eight months out of the year. And that's where my showbiz journey began.

How was life on the road at such a young age?

I grew up speaking Afrikaans. I had to learn to speak English. I couldn't read and I couldn't write. I couldn't sign my name if I wanted to write my mother a letter. I had a brother on the road. I grew up on the road. I was raised by a lot of different people. I went to every part of South Africa, to Zambia, Namibia, villages and townships. We traveled in caravans. It was like 150 people. We slept in the bathrooms of the theaters that we played in. It was a very intense time for South Africans. We played in cities where we were not allowed to play. The response was great because we were their entertainment and that's as far as it went. There was no interaction. We never had radio to advertise where we would be playing. We were our own advertisement. Imagine being 9 or 10 and singing in whites-only nightclubs, which was illegal. It was a strange period of my life as a youngster growing up and a very strange world in South Africa.

You became somewhat of a teen idol in South Africa.

I signed to Jive Records in South Africa when I was 12 or 13. This guy came to one of my cabaret shows and asked to speak with my parents and then asked me if I would like to make records. Monday night he was at my mother's house with the contract. My mother signed the contract. Everyone knew about me, and then I made my first record, and that record became the biggest hit in the country. I was the first black artist to be played on a white station in South Africa. It seemed like overnight I had become a Michael Jackson of sorts. I couldn't walk anywhere without being mobbed. The crazy thing is I was still living in the shack. I had gone triple gold. I won a Sarie Award (equivalent of a Grammy award in South Africa). There was never a time like that again. It has never happened again. It was an amazing time. I felt like I grew up in front of my nation.



Your new album 'So Strong' is upbeat from start to finish. You've been through some trials and tribulations recently. What made you choose to go this route and produce an album so upbeat?

I made this record during a very difficult time. I had a lot of things happen throughout the last year. The loss of my mom and my friend Wayman Tisdale. My wife was diagnosed with cancer. And now she's completely healed. So I made this record, and it turned out to be fun. People expected me to make a really somber and reflective CD. I was in a place where I needed to let some stuff come out, and whatever it was I had to let it come out.

Typically, you incorporate the acoustic guitar in your music, but on 'Avia/For My Baby,' you opted for an electric guitar. What was the inspiration behind that?

Everybody has a muse. I think Avia, my 3-year-old granddaughter, was mine. She was in my studio from the time she was born. During the making of my record, if she wasn't hanging on my arm, she was sleeping in the studio. She would not leave the place.

As far as my guitar choice, I've been listening a lot to my guitar heroes: George Benson, Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall and Johnny Smith. I'm really happy with the electric sound. I have an old soul when I play the electric. You hear that in 'Avia,' 'Good Times' and 'Make Room for Me.' Sometimes in this industry people play it the safest. They're too scared to jump outside of their formula.

What is the overarching message of 'So Strong'?

You've gotta believe in something. That's theme of the record. And so strong is the message. We can spend our lives watching CNN and get depressed. There's a lot of divide and a lot of tension right now in the world. God called me to do one thing and that's to sing. And music is my weapon. Nelson Mandela had his weapon. Everybody that believes in a cause has a weapon. And mine is music.