# Al Jarreau, RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jarreau-rip/779694 "2017-02-12T21:20:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jarreau-rip/779694/1 "2017-02-12T21:20:10Z")
Now jazz great Al Jarreau has riffed off at 75. 2017 isn’t looking much better than 2016. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jarreau-rip/779694/2 "2017-02-12T21:33:28Z")
Don’t you understand that every year you get older the situation is going to get worse, so this is expected? When you were ten years old the people who died in their 70s and 80s were people whose active careers were mostly in their past–so you had only heard of the most famous of them. When you get to your 70s and 80s the people from that age group dying had performed your entire adult life, so you knew them well. I remember my high school teacher quoting someone who said something to the effect that when you were young the obituary column was all strangers, but when you got old they were filled with old friends. Does this ring a bell? Thorton Wilder??? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jarreau-rip/779694/3 "2017-02-12T21:51:46Z")
What is this “older” you speak of? Do you have a newsletter I might subscribe to? Yeah. I know. Sux. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jarreau-rip/779694/4 "2017-02-12T22:59:40Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Don’t you understand that every year you get older the situation is going to get worse, so this is expected? When you were ten years old the people who died in their 70s and 80s were people whose active careers were mostly in their past–so you had only heard of the most famous of them. When you get to your 70s and 80s the people from that age group dying had performed your entire adult life, so you knew them well. > > I remember my high school teacher quoting someone who said something to the effect that when you were young the obituary column was all strangers, but when you got old they were filled with old friends. Does this ring a bell? Thorton Wilder??? 1. Your username is very fitting for a post about death. 2. I agree that it is kind of silly how people were freaking out over how bad 2016 was. It’s not that there has been any change in the rate of celeb deaths. We’re just starting to lose people of our generation now that we’re getting old. Like the depressing reality that by the time you go to your 20 year high school reunion, there will most likely be people you knew that are dead, and it will only be even worse at the 30, 40, or 50 year reunion. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jarreau-rip/779694/5 "2017-02-12T23:35:03Z")
Aw. It’s true and an aspect of getting older I really didn’t give much thought to. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jarreau-rip/779694/6 "2017-02-13T03:05:54Z")
Since this thread didn’t have any replies that actually discussed the death of Al Jarreau I’m closing it without merging it into the other open thread. If you wish to discuss the topic there’s a thread in Cafe Society.