Al Jarreau - Jazz, R&B soul singer, musician, vocals, vocal percussion; Jarreau was born on March 12, 1940 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Al Jarreau grew up just south of Riverwest on Reservoir Street, west of Holton Street in Milwaukee. Jarreau's father was a Seventh-day Adventist Church minister and singer, and his mother was a church pianist.
Jarreau and his family sang together in church concerts and in benefits, and he and his mother performed at PTA meetings.
Jarreau was student council president and the 1957 Badger Boys State delegate for Lincoln High School (A public high school in Milwaukee that was also briefly attended by Oprah Winfrey).
At Badger Boys State (an eight day program that teaches young men about the civic processes of Wisconsin's government) Jarreau was elected governor. Another Wisconsinite, Daniel Travanti,
Emmy award-winning actor best known for his role on televison show, Hill Street Blues, also attended Badger Boys State in 1957.
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 in psychology.
Jarreau was a six-time Grammy award winner spanning four decades. 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. In 1984, his single "After All" reached
69 on the US Hot 100 chart and number 26 on the R&B chart. Jarreau's 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"), and vocal percussion.
Awards and nominations include:
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