The pop musician is best known for his hits 'Breaking away', and theme song to 1980's TV show "Moonlighting" among others.
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Legendary Jazz 7-time Grammy award singer Al Jarreau died on Sunday according to posts on his verified social media accounts at age 76.
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Jarreau died about 9 a.m. ET in Los Angeles surrounded by his wife, son and a few friends, according to posts on his Facebook page and Twitter account.
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Born to a musical family, his mum being a piano teacher and church organist, and his father, being a minister and singer, Jarreau said in a 2012 invterview with All About Jazz, and talked about wanting to be like his brothers who he watched singing quartet music at a very young age.
Al Jarreau decided to quit his day job and pursue music full time with the George Duke Trio.
After gaining traction in Bay Area and Los Angeles, he headed to New York, performing and playing alongside guitarist Julio Martinez, he began to reach a
wider audience, which earned him more gigs.
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His debut album, released in 1976, made an immediate splash in jazz circles. Mainstream pop success followed in 1981 with the album "Breaking Away," which hit the Top 10 on the Billboard charts and spawned his biggest hit, the breezy "We're in This Love Together."
In1985 Jarreau was part of an all-star lineup of musicians who sang on "We Are the World," the hit song that raised money for famine relief in Africa. His line: "...and so we all must lend a helping hand."
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Although Jarreau never did quite reproduce his pop success of the early 1980s, many of his successive albums topped the contemporary jazz charts and he remained a concert favourite around the world.
Jarreau is survived by his wife, Susan, and son Ryan.
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