Jazz Singer Al Jarreau Dies at 76

The great Al Jarreau died unfortunately yesterday at 76, and i have a true personnal story about him:
Back in 1985 i owned a 1959 Mercedes 190 SL convertible ( similar to the one below ) which was still affordable at that time ( i think i paid it around $7000 and now it worth ten times this price ) and one day, while driving in Paris, i run out of battery while i was on a slope. So. I went down the car and tried to push it up the slope but the 190 SL was really heavy...

Then, i saw a car crossing me on the left with two men inside the back of the car, and one of them did a sign to the driver, asking him to stop. The two men went out of the car and one of them was Al Jarreau who was singing at Paris famous Olympia that week. I was a big fan of him at that time - and this was the time he was a big star at the top of his career! Al Jarreau asked me "can we help you?" To what i of course answered "with pleasure".

But as we know when a car run out of battery, one must be at the steering wheel to make sure to accelerate when the car will start again, if not it stops and you're back to square one. So, i said this to Al Jarreau and the other men who, of course, understood. And here i am inside the car with Al Jarreau and his friend pushing this heavy Mercedes 190SL and me, saying: "okay, Go!". Al Jarreau and the other men started pushing the car and after 50 meters the engine started again!
But here was the dilemma: i wanted of course to thank him but couldn't do it without stopping the car which i couldn't do because the engine will stop, etc... Al knew that, so i turned my head back to them and shouted "THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!" They wave their hands to me in "Goddbye", and i went ahead back to my home...

That was quite an encounter, wasn't it? :-)

Here is a great video to pay tribute to Al Jarreau and in this one Al is singing one of his most famous hits "Mornin' ". And the video also includes animation!