Freddie Jackson, voice behind Rock Me Tonight, dies at 70

R&B singer Freddie Jackson has died at the age of 70.

His family confirmed the news in a statement posted to his official Instagram account on Tuesday morning. The message said Jackson "went home to rest last night." That points to a death on Monday. No cause of death was listed.

"It is with profound sadness and heavy hearts that we share the passing of our beloved Freddie Jackson," the family wrote in the post Instagram. The announcement was reported widely on Tuesday.

In a further tribute, the family described him as more than his voice. They called him a kind and generous soul. They said he loved his fans, his family, his friends and music, according to Rolling Stone.

Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date. The family did not give further details in the statements released so far.

Jackson was born on 2 October 1957 in Harlem. His breakthrough as a recording artist came in the mid-1980s. He was in his late 20s at the time.

That breakthrough was his debut album, Rock Me Tonight. A debut album is an artist's first full-length record. It was released in 1985.

The album spent 16 weeks in a row at No. 1 on Billboard's R&B chart. That chart ranks the most popular R&B releases in the United States. Sixteen weeks is four months. It is a long unbroken run at the top.

Rock Me Tonight also reached a wider audience. It climbed to No. 10 on the Billboard 200. That is the main US albums chart, covering all genres. It converts sales and plays into streaming equivalent album units, the measure that turns plays into album sales.

The album was certified platinum. That certification is used as a sales measure, rather than a prize. It marks sales on a very large scale.

The success brought Jackson two Grammy nominations. The Grammys are the annual US music awards voted on by recording professionals. The nominations followed soon after his breakthrough.