Christine Whelan FEO, September 28, 2023, VOL. 5 ISSUE 2
Al Jarreau, who began his journey as a child singing in church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after relocating to Los Angeles in the late ’60s, decided on a career in music, He made it a lifetime goal to touch and affect so many others, believing in the healing powers hidden within each note and melody. Al passed away on February 12, 2017, in Los Angeles, California reaching that goal.
Now, six years after his passing, his biography, Never Givin’ Up: The Life and Music of Al Jarreau, has hit the bookshelves.
The publication was written by author Kurk Dietrich, in collaboration with many others who made up Jarreau’s world. A significant other was Al’s sister, Rose Marie (Jarreau) Freeman.
Rose has been living in Fort Erie since 1955.
Before speaking with Rose, I took some time to read about the brother she clearly, through reading her email reply to me, was very proud of, online.
Alwyn Lopez Jarreau sang with almost acrobatic versatility and inventiveness, ranging from tenor crooning to scatting, according to Britannica.com. His music contained influences of jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel without belonging precisely in any of those genres. He won seven Grammy Awards across three different musical categories.
Then I listened to his music. As soon as I listened to the one I found that I knew, “We’re In This Love Together”, I was flown back to my teen years, in Ridgeway. I believe the song was even a selection in the jukebox that was in the arcade in Ridgeway in the early 1980’s. That arcade, coincidentally, was in the space where Lakeside Books and Art is now, where Al Jarreau’s biography just arrived and is now on display.
I love how life can align at times.
And I was happy to be able to share that experience about her brother’s legacy with Rose.
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Rose Marie Jarreau was number four of six kids in the Jarreau family. Her brother, Al, arriving six years later, was number five. Rose says, of all the siblings, she and Al were the closest and she knew all about his life and his career.
So, how did she end up in Canada and Fort Erie? This was actually my first question to Rose.
Oh yes, of course. It’s the grand ol’ Fort Erie story — the love story.
Rose, along with her siblings, was raised in Milwaukie, Wisconsin. Their father was a minister and the family moved around as their father was transferred to different churches.
Rose shared, “My father had one sister and she lived in Buffalo. When I finished school, she invited me to come for a vacation, a little time off. I ended up staying up here. I never went home.”
She married a Fort Erie man in 1955. “I met my husband, Doug Freeman, while he was in Buffalo. We were both at the Black Musician’s Club. It used to have an Open Mic on Sundays. Four years later we got married and I moved to Canada. And that’s why I’m still here.” They raised two daughters, Jocelyn and Carla, in Fort Erie.
A Little About Al Jarreau
Al and Rose’s parents were both musicians. They met in college in Alabama. “My father was a singer and had a beautiful tenor voice, that’s where Al got his from.” Their father also played the musical saw.
“Our mother was a church organist/pianist for 27 years.”
She compared Al’s story to those who are making it big as they just turned 20 years old in the modern-day music industry and remarked, “His journey was tougher than that.” She paused. “A lot sadder than a lot of them.” His journey is described in the biography.
“He was 35 years old when he got his first contract. It was with Warner Brothers.”
Writing the Book
“When my brother died in 2017, his manager, Joe Gordon, got a phone call from, Kurk Dietrich, who is now the author of the book. Kurk asked Joe if he could direct him to the family member who could approve him writing Al’s biography.” Joe directed Kurk to Rose.
She explained, that throughout Al’s career, for years later, he kept in touch with his college, Ripon College. The school would have Al Jarreau weekends, which he returned for where he would speak to music students. Kurk is also a musician who lives in Wisconsin and met Al after he was a student at college.
After Kurk called Rose for permission to write the biography, they began talking on the phone regularly.
In October of 2019, a family member’s passing brought Rose to Milwaukie for a few days. She connected with Kurk, creating a plan to work in person for several hours while in the area. She needed to see the face of the person she was sharing her brother’s story with.
“By the time it ended earlier last year, we were telephone buddies every Friday for what turned out to be four years.”
She provided the author with information about a list of family and friends who were significant to Al’s life, as well as photos he could not find anywhere else.
Dietrich then conducted dozens of interviews with Al’s friends, fellow musicians, professional associates, and family members to create this biography.
He gives Rose credit in the Prologue. “And on page 17, there is a photo of the entire family.
“My commentary is included on the back of the book.”
Kurt Dietrich has created a masterful book, revealing and depicting a detailed version of my brother, Al Jarreau, through his music and career. In these pages, I see Al’s determination and his admirable goal of ‘Never Givin’ Up’ on his joy of singing. It was my distinct pleasure to work with Dietrich in the process, establishing what has become a bond of family-like friendship that will endure for a lifetime and beyond. ~ Rose Marie (Jarreau) Freeman
For more photos and videos, check out Al Jarreau’s active Facebook Page.
To purchase a copy of the new release, Never Givin’ Up: The Life and Music of Al Jarreau, go to Lakeside Books and Art, 341 Ridge Road, N, downtown Ridgeway.
