Keith Nunnally, Chicago house vocalist behind ‘Jack Your Body’, dies
Chicago house vocalist Keith Nunnally, one-half of JM Silk, has died.
News of Nunnally’s death was shared by his JM Silk partner Steve “Silk” Hurley in an Instagram post on Sunday, 7th September, via 5 Magazine. “Today, my heart aches as I mourn the passing of my dear friend, lead singer and creative partner in JM Silk”, he wrote. “Together, we formed one of the pioneering house music acts, blazing trails from the clubs to stages across the country and the world.”
While no cause of death has been disclosed, though Hurley said Nunnally had “faced several health challenges” in the past year. Hurley described visiting his musical partner in hospital after their final performance together: “I feel incredibly grateful that Keith was with me last year for our S&S Experience at the Pritzker Pavilion in our hometown of Chicago. Since that performance, he faced several health challenges, but I was able to visit him at the hospital, and play him video of our last performance. I’ll never forget seeing that smile on his face. It was a moment I’ll treasure forever.”
Nunnally and Hurley began working as JM Silk in the mid-1980s and had success with singles like ‘Music Is The Key‘, ‘Shadows Of Your Love‘, ‘I Can’t Turn Around‘ and ‘Let The Music Take Control‘, though the 1987 track ‘Jack Your Body‘ was their biggest and most influential hit by fair, topping the UK Singles Chart that year. The No. 1 song samples the First Choice classic ‘Let No Man Put Asunder’ and later itself was sampled on Lauryn Hill’s critical 1998 LP ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’.
As a solo artist performing under his own name, Nunnally released the ‘Freedom’ and ‘Seasons Of Love’ singles in the early ’90s, as well as ‘So Satisfied‘ as recently as 2018.
“Keith, your voice, spirit, and friendship played a vital role in my journey from Club DJ to Artist, Producer and Songwriter”, Hurley wrote at the end of his tribute. “You’re always with me — in the music, on the stage and in my heart.”
Read Hurley’s statement on Nunnally in full, and listen to ‘Jack Your Body’.
