Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter. His 1981 album Breakin' Away spent two years on the
Billboard 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and R&B sound. The album won Jarreau the
1982 Grammy for
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. In all, he won seven
Grammy Awards and was nominated for over a dozen more during his career.
Jarreau was born in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 12, 1940,[1] the fifth of six children. His father Emile Alphonse Jarreau was a
Seventh-day Adventist Church minister and singer, and his mother Pearl (Walker) Jarreau was a church pianist. Jarreau and his family sang together in church concerts and in benefits, and Jarreau and his mother performed at
PTA meetings.[2]
Jarreau was
student council president and
Badger Boys State delegate for
Lincoln High School. At Boys State, he was elected governor.[3] Jarreau went on to attend
Ripon College, where he also sang with a group called the Indigos. He graduated in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology.[1] Two years later, in 1964, he earned a master's degree in
vocational rehabilitation from the
University of Iowa. Jarreau also worked as a
rehabilitation counselor in San Francisco, and moonlighted with a jazz trio headed by
George Duke. In 1967, he joined forces with acoustic guitarist Julio Martinez.[4] The duo became the star attraction at a small
Sausalito night club called Gatsby's. This success contributed to Jarreau's decision to make professional singing his life and full-time career.[5]
In 1975, Jarreau was working with pianist Tom Canning when he was spotted by
Warner Bros. Records. Soon he released his critically acclaimed debut album, We Got By, which catapulted him to international fame and won an
Echo Award (the German equivalent of the
Grammys in the United States). On Valentine's Day 1976, he sang on the 13th episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live, that week hosted by
Peter Boyle.[7] A second Echo Award would follow with the release of his second album, Glow.[8] In 1978, he won his first
Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for his album, Look to the Rainbow.[9]
One of Jarreau's most commercially successful albums is Breakin' Away (1981), which includes the hit song "
We're in This Love Together". He won the 1982 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for Breakin' Away.[10] In 1983 he released Jarreau. It was his third consecutive #1 album on the Billboard Jazz charts, while also placing at #4 on the R&B album charts and #13 on the Billboard 200. The album contained three hit singles: "
Mornin'" (U.S. Pop #21, AC #2 for three weeks), "Boogie Down" (U.S. Pop #77) and "Trouble in Paradise" (U.S. Pop #63, AC #10). In
1984 the album received four
Grammy Award nominations, including for
Jay Graydon as
Producer of the Year (Non-Classical).
In 1984, his single "After All" reached 69 on the
US Hot 100 chart and number 26 on the
R&B chart. His last big hit was the Grammy-nominated theme to the 1980s American television show Moonlighting, for which he wrote the lyrics. Among other things, he was well known for his extensive use of
scat singing (for which he was called "Acrobat of Scat"[11]), and
vocal percussion. He was also a featured vocalist on USA for Africa's "
We Are the World" in which he sang the line, "...and so we all must lend a helping hand." Another charitable media event, HBO's
Comic Relief, featured him in a duet with
Natalie Cole singing the song "Mr. President", written by Joe Sterling, Mike Loveless, and
Ray Reach.[12]
Jarreau took an extended break from recording in the 1990s. As he explained in an interview with Jazz Review: "I was still touring, in fact, I toured more than I ever had in the past, so I kept in touch with my audience. I got my symphony program under way, which included my music and that of other people too, and I performed on the Broadway production of Grease. I was busier than ever! For the most part, I was doing what I have always done... perform live. I was shopping for a record deal and was letting people know that there is a new album coming. I was just waiting for the right label (Verve), but I toured more than ever."[13] In 2003, Jarreau and conductor Larry Baird collaborated on symphony shows around the United States, with Baird arranging additional orchestral material for Jarreau's shows.[14][15][16]
Jarreau was married twice. Jarreau and Phyllis Hall were married from 1964 until their divorce in 1968.[5][11] Jarreau married his second wife
Susan Elaine Player [
it] in 1977. Jarreau and Player had a son, Ryan Jarreau.[20] Ryan and Susan Jarreau appear as background vocalists on Tomorrow Today. Susan provided photography for several of Jarreau's albums, including Glow, All Fly Home, This Time, and Breakin' Away. She is the subject of "Susan's Song", track no. 3 on We Got By.
Illness and death
It was reported on July 23, 2010, that Jarreau was critically ill at a hospital in France, after performing in
Barcelonnette, and was being treated for respiratory problems and cardiac
arrhythmias.[21][22] He was conscious, in a stable condition and in the cardiology unit of La Timone hospital in
Marseille, the Marseille Hospital Authority said, and he remained there for about a week for tests.[23]
In June 2012, Jarreau was diagnosed with
pneumonia, which caused him to cancel several concerts in France.[24] Jarreau made a full recovery and continued to tour extensively for the next five years until February 2017.[25][26]
On February 8, 2017, after being hospitalized for exhaustion in Los Angeles, Jarreau canceled his remaining 2017 tour dates.[27] On that date, the Montreux Jazz Academy, part of the
Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, announced that Jarreau would not return as a mentor to ten young artists, as he had done in 2015.[28][29]
Jarreau died of
respiratory failure, at the age of 76 on February 12, just two days after announcing his retirement, and one month before his 77th birthday.[11][30][31]
^Yancy, Robert; Cole, Timolin; Cole, Casey (January 12, 2016).
"Unforgettable Natalie Cole". Focus VI. Archived from
the original on February 14, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
^Jarreau, Al.
"All I Got". Jazz Review (Interview). Interviewed by Ron Miller. Archived from the original on January 6, 2006. Retrieved February 13, 2017.{{
cite interview}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link)