I always liked his voice and style...RIP.

January 6, 2006

Lou Rawls, Suave Singer and Actor, Is Dead at 72

By BEN RATLIFF
Lou Rawls, the smooth-voiced singer and actor who traced a line from gospel to jazz and pop, died early this morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 72 and died of cancer, according to his longtime manager and publicist, David Brokaw.

Modeling himself partly on his friend Sam Cooke - as well as Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra - Mr. Rawls was a suave entertainer who appealed to black and white adult audiences nearly equally. He had a wide vocal range, and became best known for an unmistakable, mentholated baritone, especially as heard on the hit song "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine."

Born in Chicago and raised by his father's mother, Mr. Rawls began singing at age 7 in the choir of his grandmother's Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church. He became known around town, and had one important connection: he was close friends with Sam Cooke, with whom he sang in a group called the Teenage Kings of Harmony.

Later, Mr. Rawls joined another local gospel group, the Holy Wonders. In 1951, he took Cooke's place in the Highway QC's, staying for two years; in 1953, when the Chosen Gospel Singers came through Chicago, he was hired by that group, who gave him his first exposure on record, in 1954.

In 1956, Mr. Rawls enlisted as a paratrooper in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, and upon his return to civilian life, joined the Pilgrim Travelers as a lead singer. In 1958, while the Pilgrim Travelers were touring with Sam Cooke - who by that time had crossed over to the pop charts with "You Send Me" - both Mr. Rawls and Cooke were injured in a car accident that killed Eddie Cunningham, Cooke's driver. The accident put Mr. Rawls into a coma for several days.

Like Cooke, Mr. Rawls was aiming himself more and more toward secular music. (He sang on a number of Cooke's records, and can be heard prominently singing low harmonies in the Cooke hit "Bring It on Home to Me.") In 1959, having recorded some singles of his own for the Candix label, he was performing at the Pandora's Box in West Hollywood. There the producer Nick Venet heard him, and soon signed him to Capitol Records, starting a decade-long stretch of recording for that label. Mr. Rawls's Capitol debut, in 1962, was "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water," teaming with the pianist Les McCann for a set of blues and jazz standards.

In his performances during the 1960's - a good representation was the 1966 hit record "Lou Rawls Live!" - he became famous for his a "monologue" style, sequences when he would just talk over a chugging vamp, leading into and away from a song's refrain. In 1966 he had his first No. 1 R&B single, "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing," and in 1967, he won his first of three Grammy Awards, for the song "Dead End Street."

"I was born in a city that they call the Windy City," began his drawled spoken sequence on that hit song. "They call it the Windy City because of the Hawk, the almighty Hawk. Mr. Wind. Takes care of plenty business, round wintertime." Over a chugging riff, he talked about growing up fighting, bootstrapping, and shivering through cold Chicago weather for almost half the song's length; then he broke into an impassioned, rugged, baleful cry, rough around the edges and imperturbably cool at the center.

Having won the admiration of Sinatra, who endorsed him publicly, Mr. Rawls rolled with the tide by signing with Philadelphia International, the pop label run by the producers and songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. In 1976, the team made Mr. Rawls's biggest hit, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine," a lavish ballad with disco rhythm. The single sold a million copies and reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts. The same year, he became a spokesman for Anheuser-Busch.

After his biggest success, Mr. Rawls divided his career between charity work, film and television acting, and touring. In 1980, he started the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon, a yearly television event which raised nearly $350 million for the United Negro College Fund. He appeared in 18 films, including the 1995 film "Leaving Las Vegas," and 16 television series; he recorded voice-overs on children's television shows including "Garfield," "Hey Arnold," and "Rugrats," and played the voice of the grandfather on Bill Cosby's animated series "Fatherhood."

From 1989 to 1992, he made three albums with Blue Note, and in 2003, he recorded "Rawls Sings Sinatra" for the Savoy Jazz label.

In 2003 Mr. Rawls moved to Scottsdale, Ariz.; in March 2004 his lung cancer was diagnosed. On Jan. 1, 2004, in Memphis, Mr. Rawls married his third wife, Nina, a former flight attendant, who managed his career for a time thereafter. Together they had one son, Aiden Rawls. He is also survived by another son, Lou Rawls Jr., of Los Angeles; two daughters, Louanna Rawls of Los Angeles and Kendra Smith of Los Angeles; and four grandchildren.

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