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Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – 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." Rawls had released more than 70
albums, been in movies, television shows and voiced-over many cartoons.
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Career
A high school classmate of soul giant Sam Cooke,
Rawls sang with Cooke in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a 50's gospel group.
Rawls enlisted in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division
in 1955. He left the "All-Americans" three years later as a Sergeant and hooked
up with a group with whom he had sung before enlisting, the Pilgrim Travelers.
In 1958, while touring the South with the Travelers and Sam Cooke, Rawls was in
a serious car crash that claimed the life of one person. Rawls was actually
pronounced dead before getting to the hospital where he stayed in a coma for
5-1/2 days. It took him months to regain his memory and a year to fully
recuperate. Rawls considered the event life-changing.
Rawls and Dick Clark performed at the Hollywood
Bowl in 1959. 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". His first Capitol release was "Stormy Monday" (a.k.a. "I'd Rather Drink
Muddy Water"), a jazz album. 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 for "Dead End Street". After leaving Capitol in 1971,
Rawls joined MGM and released the Grammy-winning single "Natural Man". In 1976,
Rawls had his greatest album success with the platinum-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 and also went platinum. Subsequent albums, such as 1977's When You've Heard
Lou, You've Heard It All yielded such Top 25 singles as "Lady Love".
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
controls 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 with his wife at his side.
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 musical performances and stories of
successful African American students who have graduated or benefited from one of
the many historically black colleges and universities who receive support from
the UNCF. The event has raised over US$200 million for the fund thus far (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.
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, The Proud Family, and Captain Planet
and the Planeteers.
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 was famous for the expression, "Yeahhhh,
buddy!"
His performance of "You'll Never Find" at the
Grammy Awards of 1977 was completely frustrated by a coughing fit, demonstrating
that many such performances were not lip synched.
He was featured on the "Anchorman: The Legend of
Ron Burgundy" commentary track. At one point he had a scat singing contest with
Will Ferrell.
Sang the National Anthem in Game 2 of the 2005
World Series at U.S. Cellular Field in his hometown of Chicago.
****
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