Milwaukee has named a park for Grammy Award winner Al Jarreau

The Milwaukee Common Council has unanimously approved renaming a north-side park in honor of singer Al Jarreau.

On Monday the council formally approved renaming the 30th and Cawker Park Area at 2929 N. 30th Street in the 7th Aldermanic district as the Alwin Lopez (Al) Jarreau Park in honor of the Milwaukee native.

Elizabeth Brown and Barbara Smith of Amani United had applied to the city to urge this renaming, with the backing of Ald. Khalif Rainey and other community support.

“Al Jarreau was a brilliant and extremely influential artist in the genres of jazz and R&B, but so many Milwaukee residents are unaware of how important this city was to him, or that he even came from Milwaukee. That’s why I’m glad that this renaming file was adopted and we can honor a man who made great strides with his music and always cherished his home city. I hope that this will promote his legacy and provide an example for our children to aspire to,” Ald. Rainey said in a news release.

Rainey previously pointed out that the project to enhance the park was largely inspired by the MKE Plays community design solutions group affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. This group aims to create new, viable park designs and make positive changes to Milwaukee gathering spaces.

What was Al Jarreau famous for?

Milwaukee native Jarreau (1940-2017) won six Grammy awards during his long musical career. He was also part of the group that performed “We are the World,” a charity single for the group USA for Africa.

What kind of music did Al Jarreau perform? What were his biggest hits?

Jarreau combined jazz, pop and R&B to create hit songs such as “We’re in This Love Together,” which reached No. 15 on the Billboard Top 100 chart; "Mornin'," which made it to No. 21; and the theme song for the TV series “Moonlighting,” which peaked at No. 23 on that chart.

Who influenced Al Jarreau's music?

Singers Jon Hendricks and Dave Lambert were major influences in Jarreau’s music.

What are Al Jarreau's Milwaukee roots? Where he did attend school?

Born in Milwaukee, Jarreau attended Lincoln High School and earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ripon College.

Jarreau was a major proponent of musical and performing arts education. "The arts can save our families and our communities. A young person who has a trumpet or ballet slippers or some paint brushes in his bag is probably not also carrying a weapon," Jarreau wrote in a 2016 opinion piece for the Journal Sentinel.

More: The 50 Wisconsin musicians with the biggest impact over the past 100 years

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee renames north-side park in honor of singer Al Jarreau