Tower of Power have been together for nearly 60 years, so it\u2019s not surprising that more than 60 different musicians have been members. A number have left over the past six decades, and a handful have even come back, but Mike Jerel is the first to return in an entirely different role: After two years as Tower of Power\u2019s lead singer, he suffered a vocal injury and had to leave the band. With his musical future uncertain, he enrolled in a Berklee Online graduate program. Less than a year later, he rejoined Tower of Power, this time as the band\u2019s keyboardist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHonestly, for a minute, I thought my career might have been over,\u201d says Jerel about receiving the diagnosis of phonotrauma, a vocal-fold injury caused by excessive or strenuous voice use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI started applying for jobs,\u201d he says. \u201cAll of the positions that I thought I wanted to teach, I wasn\u2019t qualified for. And so I was just like, \u2018Maybe this is my cue to get something else under my belt, and what better institution to do it than Berklee?\u2019 So this was like a dream come true because I could do it remotely and I didn\u2019t have to move to Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n