The deep timbre of Al Jarreau's voice magically affects the listener, makes you forget about everything. And although the musician has not been with us for several years, his devoted “fans” do not forget him.
The Early Years of Al Jarreau
The future famous performer Alvin Lopez Jerro was born on March 12, 1940 in Milwaukee (USA). The family was large, his father served as a priest, and his mother was a pianist. The future performer connected his life with music as a child. From the age of 4, Al and his brothers and sisters sang in the church choir where their parents worked. This occupation was so captivating that Jerro continued to sing in the choir in his youth. Moreover, the whole family they performed at various charity events.
However, Al did not immediately connect his life with music. After graduating from high school, Jerro entered Ripon College in the psychology department. During his studies, Al led an active life. He was the president of the student council, an athlete. In addition, he continued his favorite thing - music lessons. Jarreau performed with various local bands, but ended up staying with The Indigos, a quartet that played jazz.
After graduating from college and receiving a bachelor's degree, the singer decided to continue his studies in his specialty and entered the University of Iowa. He graduated in 1964 and began working as a rehabilitation consultant in San Francisco.
Nevertheless, the music "did not let go" of the young musician. In San Francisco, Jarreau met George Duke. Since then, he has become part of his jazz trio. The collaboration lasted for several years.
In 1967 he formed a duet with guitarist Julio Martinez. The musicians performed at Gatsby's and later moved to Los Angeles. They became real local stars, and Jerro made a fateful decision - to connect his life with music. And then there were concerts, tours, filming and a significant number of awards.
The beginning of the creative path of Al Jarreau
Jerro and Martinez performed in many clubs. Sometimes even "opening up" for other musicians, such as John Belushi. Over time, journalists began to pay attention to musicians, which contributed to an increase in popularity. At the same time, Jerro became interested in religion and began to write his own songs. It is not surprising that the singer's religious views were in them.
In the mid-1970s, Jerro collaborated with pianist Tom Canning. The musician was noticed by the producers of Warner Records, with whom he soon recorded his debut album We Got By. Although critics were cautious in their assessment, the audience accepted the album. Moreover, in Germany, he received the Grammy Award for Best New Foreign Solo Artist. Thus, the singer interested the European audience.
Al Jarreau wasted no time and followed the first album with a second compilation, Glow (1976). And, of course, the album won a Grammy too. The release of the second album was followed by a world tour. It was then that Jerro revealed himself as a master of improvisation. The tour was filmed and made a separate album Look to the Rainbow. And two years later, he was also awarded the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance.
The musician actively conducted his musical activities. In 1981, the third album, Breakin' Away, was released. This time no one was surprised that the album was received warmly by critics and listeners. And as a result, there were two Grammy awards. The third album is considered one of the most successful. The songs from the album were very popular. The track After All took 26th position in the rating of R&B songs.
The 1980s were marked by a storm of activity for Jerro. He began to actively collaborate with other musicians, and also recorded soundtracks for films and television shows. His music sounded in the works "Night Shift", "Do the Right Thing!" and Detective Agency Moonlight. The biggest collaborative project in the 1980s was We are the World. More than 70 musicians took part in its creation.
Anniversary album and hiatus
In 1992, Al Jarreau released the tenth anniversary album Heaven and Earth. After that, he slightly changed the scope of his activities, postponing studio work. This concerned only the recording of tracks in the studio. He began to tour a lot, gave a significant number of concerts, performed at festivals and in a musical. This musical was the Broadway production of Grease in 1996.
In 1999, Gerro had a new stage - work with symphony orchestras. The musician worked on his own symphony program, and also arranged music from Broadway.
Return
In 2000, Jerro returned to recording albums. The result is the record Tomorrow Today. Now it was safe to say that the musician won a new audience. This was facilitated by work with symphony orchestras, and R&B songs attracted a younger generation of fans.
Al Jarreau continued to perform in clubs, gave concerts at festivals and recorded new hits. In 2004, the next album Accentuate the Positive was released. Active activity continued until 2010.
Al Jarreau's personal life
The musician did not have the most stormy personal life. However, he was married twice. The first marriage lasted only four years. Then the actress Phyllis Hall became the chosen one of the performer. For nine years he did not officially connect his life with anyone, until in 1977 he married model Susan Player. In marriage, they had a son.
Last years of life: illness and death
A few years before his death, Jerro began to have health problems. It was hard to come to terms with this, because Al was always energetic, fit and joked a lot. In 2010, during a concert in France, Jerro collapsed. The musician was diagnosed with respiratory problems, and later - arrhythmia. Everything ended well - he was told to do special exercises and recommended to undergo regular medical examinations. Al soon returned to performing.
Two years later, Jerro developed pneumonia, which forced the cancellation of several scheduled concerts in France. However, this time Al fully recovered and continued to perform.
In the end, either illness, or age, or all together took their toll. On February 12, 2017, Al Jarreau died of respiratory failure. He did not live a month before his 77th birthday. The last hours of the musician's life were spent with his family.
The musician was buried in Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills, not far from George Duke.
Musical styles of the artist
Music critics still cannot decide what genre Jerro's work belongs to. The musician had a unique voice and was a talented sound imitator. It was said that Al could imitate any instruments and orchestra at the same time. He was the only one to win a Grammy in the three categories Jazz, Pop and R&B. The singer was not alien to other directions, such as funk, pop rock and soft rock. And in all genres, Jerro demonstrated phenomenal vocal abilities.
Interesting facts about the musician
- In 2001, Al Jarreau was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- In total, the musician was nominated for the Grammy Award 19 times. He received seven statuettes.
- Gerro is unique in that of all the Grammy awards, three are from different categories, which is very rare.
- Al Jarreau never listened to music in the car. He believed that too much music around would make him less "sensitive" to its beauty.
