Lou Rawls

Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933Template:Fn – January 6, 2006) was a Chicago-born American soul music, jazz, and blues singer. Known for his smooth vocal style, Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game."[1] Rawls released more than 70 albums, sold more than 40 million records, appeared as an actor in motion pictures and on television, and voiced-over many cartoons. He has been called "The Funkiest Man Alive".

Career

Rawls was a hugely successful singer, primarily from the 1950's through the 1980's.

Rawls was a high school classmate of music giant Sam Cooke, and they sang together in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a 50s gospel group.

After Rawls graduated from Chicago's Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, Rawls enlisted in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He left the "All-Americans" three years later as a Sergeant, and hooked up with The Pilgrim Travelers. In 1958, while touring the South with the Travelers and Sam Cooke, Rawls was in a serious car crash. Rawls was actually pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital, where he stayed in a coma for five and a half days. It took him months to regain his memory, and a year to fully recuperate. Rawls considered the event to be life-changing.

In 1959, Rawls, along with Dick Clark as master of ceremonies, performed at the Hollywood Bowl. Rawls was signed to Capitol Records in 1962, the same year he sang the soulful background vocals on the Sam Cooke recording of "Bring it on Home to Me."

Rawls' first Capitol solo release was Stormy Monday (a.k.a. I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water), a jazz album. On August 21, 1966, Rawls opened for The Beatles at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

Though his 1966 album Live! went gold, Rawls wouldn't have a star-making hit until he made a proper soul album, appropriately named Soulin', later that same year. The album contained his first R&B #1 single, "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing". 1967 saw Rawls win his first Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance. It was entitled "Dead End Street".

After leaving Capitol in 1971, Rawls joined MGM, at which juncture he released his Grammy-winning single "Natural Man." In 1976, Rawls had his greatest album success with the million-selling All Things in Time. The album produced his most successful single, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", which topped the R&B charts and went to number two on the pop side. Subsequent albums, such as 1977's When You've Heard Lou, You've Heard It All yielded such hit singles as "Lady Love". Other releases in the 1970s included the classic album Sit Down And Talk To Me. In 1982, Rawls received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

According to an Associated Press article, dated December 19, 2005, Rawls tried to annul his two-year marriage to Nina Malek Inman Rawls in order to "protect hundreds of thousands of dollars" that his wife "absconded" with. Mrs. Rawls, who acted as his manager for two years, explained that she transferred nearly US$350,000 of his into an account she solely controlled in order to prevent one of Rawls' daughters from seizing it. The couple had a son together, Aiden Allen Rawls.

In December 2005, it was announced that Rawls was being treated for lung and brain cancer. Rawls died on January 6, 2006 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from complications of the cancers, with his wife at his side. Besides his wife and youngest son, he leaves behind two adult daughters - Louanna Rawls and Kendra Smith, and an adult son, Lou Rawls, Jr.

Honors and charity work

In 1980, Rawls began the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon" which benefits the United Negro College Fund. The annual event, now known as "An Evening of Stars", consists of stories of successful African-American students who have graduated or benefitted from one of the many historically black colleges and universities who receive support from the UNCF, along with musical performances from various recording artists in support of the UNCF's and Rawls' efforts. The event has raised over US$200 million in 27 shows for the fund through 2006.

In January 2004, Rawls was honored by the United Negro College Fund for his more than 25 years of charity work with the organization. Instead of Rawls' hosting and performing, he was given the seat of honor and celebrated by his performing colleagues, including Stevie Wonder, The O'Jays, Gerald Levert, Ashanti, and many others. His last performance was during a taped performance for the telethon honoring Stevie Wonder in September 2005, just months before he went to the hospital, and after having been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year.

Acting career

Throughout Rawls' singing career, he had the opportunity to appear in many films, television shows, and commercials. He can be seen in such films as Leaving Las Vegas, Blues Brothers 2000, and Angel, Angel, Down We Go. He had a supporting role in the Baywatch spin-off, Baywatch Nights.

Rawls lent his rich baritone voice to many cartoons, including Hey Arnold, Garfield, and The Proud Family

For many years, he was a spokesperson for Colonial Penn.

Rawls was also a regular guest host on "Jazz Central", a program aired on the BET Jazz cable channel.

Trivia

• Rawls' famous expression was "Yeahhhh, buddy!"

• There was no attempt to avoid the similarity between the title of the album When You've Heard Lou, You've Heard It All with his corporate sponsor's slogan "When You Say Budweiser, You've Said It All". A track on the album features Rawls singing the commercial slogan. Anheuser-Busch, the brewers of Budweiser, also suggested his telethon work to him.

• Rawls' 1977 Grammy Awards performance of "You'll Never Find" was disrupted by a coughing fit.

• Rawls appears on the "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" DVD commentary track where he participates in a scatting contest with Will Ferrell.

• Rawls sang the National Anthem in Game 2 of the 2005 World Series at U.S. Cellular Field in his hometown of Chicago.

• Television commercials featuring Rawls continued to air after his death.

See also

• List of notable brain tumor patients

Notes

Template:Fnb At the time of death, some sources gave Lou Rawls' year of birth as 1935. Dozens of Web site biographies echo this error.

External links

• Official Lou Rawls Website
• Singer Lou Rawls Dies at 72 AP article 6 January 2006.
• Template:Nndb name
• Lou Rawls and Nina Inman Marriage Profile