Freddie Jackson, the voice behind “You Are My Lady,” dies at 70

The R&B balladeer who defined a certain register of 1980s romance, and whose songs still fill Caribbean weddings and late-night radio, has died.

Freddie Jackson, the silk-voiced soul singer whose ballads defined a certain register of 1980s romance, has died at the age of 70. His death on October 6, 2026, was confirmed by the Washington Post, TMZ, Deadline and a wide range of United States broadcasters.

Harlem-raised, Jackson rose in the middle of the decade and did not come down for years. His 1985 single “Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake)” was one of the biggest rhythm-and-blues records of the era, and “You Are My Lady” became a standard of the quiet-storm format, the slow, late-night radio sound built for exactly his kind of voice. A string of number ones on the Billboard R&B chart and Grammy recognition followed.

A sound the Caribbean made its own

Across the Caribbean, where soul balladry has always found a home beside lovers rock and reggae, Jackson's records became wedding-reception and late-night staples, the kind of song a DJ reaches for when the room goes quiet and close. He belonged to a generation of American R&B that the region did not just import but adopted, playing it until it felt local.

He leaves a catalog that helped define what the 1980s sounded like after dark, on both sides of the water.