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Grammy-winning
jazz
singer
Al
Jarreau
dies at
76
By
LINDSEY
BAHR
ap.org
LOS
ANGELES
-
Grammy-winning
jazz
singer
Al
Jarreau,
who
transcended
genres
over a
50-year
career,
died at
a Los
Angeles
hospital
Sunday,
just
days
after
announcing
his
retirement
from
touring
due to
exhaustion.
His
official
Twitter
account
and
website
say he
died
surrounded
by his
wife,
son and
a few
other
family
members
and
friends.
He was
76.
Jarreau
was
hospitalized
earlier
in the
week and
was said
to have
been
improving
slowly.
The
cause of
his
death
was not
revealed.
The
Milwaukee
native
won
seven
Grammys
over the
course
of his
half-century
in
music.
His
biggest
single
was
1981's
"We're
in This
Love
Together"
from the
album "Breakin'
Away."
Jarreau
was also
a
vocalist
on the
all-star
1985
track,
"We Are
the
World,"
and sang
the
theme to
TV's
"Moonlighting."
He is
one of
the few
artists
to have
won
Grammys
in three
separate
categories
- jazz,
pop and
R&B.
Time
Magazine
once
called
him the
"greatest
jazz
singer
alive."
In a
2014
interview
with The
Arizona
Republic,
Jarreau
relished
in his
crossover
tendencies.
"I grew
up in
Milwaukee,
and I
took it
all in.
I want
it all.
Don't
cut me
off at
the pass
and say
I can't
listen
to Muddy
Waters
because
I'm a
jazzer.
Or I
can't
listen
to Garth
Brooks
because
I'm a
jazzer.
Get out
of
here,"
he said.
Music
wasn't
always
Jarreau's
focus,
however.
He was
an
athlete
who
earned a
master's
in vocal
rehabilitation
and
started
his
career
as a
counselor
in San
Francisco,
playing
jazz on
the
side.
Jarreau
didn't
record
his
first
album
until he
was 35.
"His
second
priority
in life
was
music.
There
was no
third,"
read the
statement
on
Jarreau's
website.
"His
first
priority,
far
ahead of
the
other,
was
healing
or
comforting
anyone
in
need."
Jarreau
is
survived
by his
wife,
Susan,
and a
son,
Ryan. In
lieu of
flowers
or
gifts, a
donation
page has
been set
up for
the
Wisconsin
Foundation
for
School
Music.
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