Just days the after seven-time Grammy Award-winning beloved jazz vocalist announced his retirement from touring due to failing health, Al Jarreau died Sunday in Los Angeles at the age of 76.
On Thursday, the singer’s representatives announced via Twitter that he would not return to the stage.
“He is thankful for his 50 years of traveling the world in ministry through music, and for everyone to share this with him – his faithful audience, the dedicated musicians, and so many others who supported his efforts,” the announcement said.
His manager Joe Gordon confirmed Jarreau’s passing Sunday morning.
“He was in the hospital, kept comfortable by Ryan, Susan, and a few of his family and friends,” Gordon’s statement read.
Nicknamed the “Acrobat of Scat” for his innovative vocal stylings, Jarreau released more than 20 albums over the course of his career and achieved success that rippled from jazz into the genres of Pop and R&B music.
He was born Alwyn Lopez Jarreau on March 12, 1940 in Milwaukee with music in his blood.
“My mother was a piano teacher and church organist. My dad was a minister, and a singer,” Jarreau said in a 2012 interview with All About Jazz. “My brothers were singing quartet music in the living room when I was 4 and 5 years old. They were singing … [scatting]…stuff like that, that’s what I wanted to be like. I wanted to be like my brothers, singing this jazzy music.”
Not long after earning a master’s degree in vocational rehabilitation from the University of Iowa, Jarreau moved to San Francisco – where he began moonlighting as a musician in the late 1960s.
While there he met a young unknown pianist named George Duke. Jarreau decided to quit his day job and join the George Duke trio.
Duke, who became a jazz legend in his own right, would be the inspiration for Jarreau’s final studio album – 2014’s “My Old Friend: Celebrating George Duke.”
Jarreau’s ascent into jazz royalty as a solo artist began with the release of his Grammy Award-winning debut album, 1976’s “We Got By.” Jarreau’s biggest commercial success would come by way of his sophomore release “Breakin’ Away,” which included the hit single “We’re In This Love Together.” The 1981 album transcended genres and enjoy success on the Pop, R&B and jazz charts.
The sound of “Breakin’ Away,” particularly “We’re In This Love Together,” managed to resonate with a myriad of music lovers – from the MTV generation to disciples of “quiet storm” soul music – and yet the recording still managed to appease his core audience of jazz lovers.
Although Jarreau never replicated the mainstream success he enjoyed in the early 1980s, many of his subsequent albums topped the contemporary jazz charts and he remained a concert draw and beloved musical figure around the world.
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2001.
And despite a series of health setbacks, Jarreau remained a relentless and committed touring artist right up until the very end.
Jarreau is survived by his wife, Susan, and son Ryan.
Better than anything and take 5 were my favorite songs. I enjoyed meeting him and his wife Sussan Jarreau. A fantastic couple.