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Lou Rawls

 
Black Biography: Lou Rawls
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Personal Information

Born Louis Allen Rawls, December 1, 1936, in Chicago, IL; died January 6, 2006, in Los Angeles, CA; son of Virgil (a Baptist minister) and Evelyn Rawls; raised mostly by grandmother Eliza Rawls; married to wife Lana Jean 1962-72; children: Louanna, Lou Jr.

Career

Vocalist. Sang gospel music in church from age of seven; joined gospel group Pilgrim Travelers (other members included Sam Cooke), mid-1950s; signed by Capitol Records, 1962; gold album and mainstream success with LP Lou Rawls Live, 1966; recorded single "Natural Man" for MGM, 1971; signed by Philadelphia International label, 1975; widespread success working with producers Gamble and Huff, late-1970s; launched United Negro College Fund "Parade of Stars" television fundraiser, 1979; many recordings and television and film appearances, 1980s1990s.

Life's Work

Asked in 1997 by the American Business Review to account for his show-business durability, Lou Rawls answered this way: "I didn't try to change every time the music changed. I just stayed in that pocket where I was 'cause it was comfortable and the people liked it." Certainly Rawls has become something of an American institution. With a performing career spanning five decades, a long stint as host of the Parade of Stars television fundraiser, and a comfortable crooner's baritone, Rawls has been one of those rare entertainers seemingly accorded a permanent place on the American musical scene. As of the late 1990s, his body of recorded music was sixty albums strong.

Yet in the years when Rawls first made his formidable reputation, he did it in large part by changing his style and changing it dramatically. Rawls has been by turns streetwise and sophisticated. Beginning his career, as did so many other African American singers, in the gospel field, he was groomed as a pop/jazz singer after signing with the Capitol label in the early 1960s. He first found mass success with a series of rootsy, heavily blues-tinged monologue-song combinations recorded later in that decade. In the 1970s his career was reborn in the area of middle-of-the-road black pop that sometimes pointed in the direction of disco. Although he was never identified with the cutting edge of black music, he nevertheless resisted recording-company efforts to push his style in a certain direction, insisting on his own instincts regarding his musical development. In so doing, he created a body of music that reflected the experiences of a wide cross-section of both African Americans and Americans of other backgrounds.

Louis Allen Rawls was born on December 1, 1936, in Chicago. He was raised largely by his grandmother, both his parents having left the household during Rawls' childhood. Rawls grew up on Chicago's south side, at a time when the area was in the process of ascending to its place at the top of the blues world. Rawls's south-side neighborhood was a hotbed of musical talent, eventually producing such successful acts as Curtis Mayfield, the Dells, and Sam Cooke. He saw concerts by such acts as Arthur Prysock and the legendary Louis Armstrong at the south side's Regal Theater, but Rawls' instincts were more rooted in Gospel music, having sung in his grandmother's Baptist church choir at age 7.

After singing with gospel groups as a teenager, Rawls joined with Cooke and two other vocalists to form the Pilgrim Travelers. After completing a stint in the U.S. Army, Rawls toured extensively with the group, but in 1958 the group's car collided with a truck. While Cooke escaped with minor injuries, Rawls was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital, remained in a coma for most of the next week, and suffered memory loss lasting a year. The terrible accident proved to be a life-changing experience for the singer. "I had plenty of time to think," he later told the Arizona Republic. "I didn't want to just go someday; I really wanted to do something good, to make a mark."

Rawls began making appearances wherever he could build his skills-- on the blues-oriented "chitlin' circuit" and in small clubs and coffeehouses around Los Angeles. His finances were straitened, but he did land a small part in the 77 Sunset Strip television series. While performing at a Hollywood club called Pandora's Box, located close to the headquarters of Capitol Records, Rawls was spotted by a Capitol producer and signed to the label in 1962. Another success that year was singing backup vocal to Cooke on Cooke's hit "Bring It on Home to Me." That classic recording harkened back to the days when Cooke and Rawls had sung gospel music together.

The artist's first big sellers came when he began to introduce blues stage devices, such as monologues about poverty, into his music. A 1964 recording of the powerful country classic "Tobacco Road" gained some notice; the song remains a fixture of Rawls' live shows. The 1966 LP Lou Rawls Live effectively showcased the monologue technique and gave Rawls his first gold record. From then until his departure from Capitol in 1971, Rawls' recordings were reliably successful; he recorded a total of 28 albums for the label during this period.

Rawls moved briefly to the MGM label in 1971, and quickly notched one of the biggest hits of his career with "Natural Man," originally the B side of another song released as a single. But the singer clashed with MGM executives over the lightweight musical fare that they were sending his way, and he soon left the label, signing briefly with the independent Bell Records, where he collaborated with the songwriting pair of Darryl Hall and John Oates. In 1975 Rawls found success when he embarked on a collaboration with another hitmaking pair, the Philadelphia producers and songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Signing with the duo's Philadelphia International label, he released such singles as "You'll Never Find (Another Love Like Mine)," which became a million-seller in 1976 and garnered substantial play in the dance clubs that incubated the emerging style known as disco.

With this music Rawls found himself a long way from his chitlin'- circuit roots. The style pioneered by Gamble and Huff was heavily produced, aimed at sharp-dressed urban crowds. Yet Rawls adapted seamlessly and showed staying power in his new incarnation as hitmaker. The 1977 LP Undeniably Lou won a Grammy award for Best R&B Performance, and Rawls continued to record for Philadelphia International well into the 1980s.

Rawls parlayed his celebrity into a lucrative position as advertising spokesman for the giant Anheuser-Busch brewery, makers of Budweiser beer. The brewery backed the singer in what has become the most recognizable and important activity of his later career: his establishment and nurturing of the annual Parade of Stars telethon, conducted for the benefit of the United Negro College Fund. Rawls still serves as host of the television program, which has varied between three and seven hours in length and which has showcased leading performers in a variety of musical styles.

In 1998, the Parade of Stars (that year renamed An Evening of Stars) aired on sixty television stations with a potential viewership of about 90 million viewers. That year, USA Today estimated the telethon's total earnings since its inception at $175 million. The money benefited a group of small, historically black colleges and universities, all of which opened their doors to students of limited economic means. Tens of thousands of African American students quite simply owed their college educations to Lou Rawls.

Rawls kept busy as a performer in the 1990s, with an acclaimed 1993 Christmas release, a series of television appearances as an actor, and a planned 1998 release of new music on a rejuvenated Philadelphia International label. But Rawls was far more than a figurehead on the fundraising telethon, and it continued to consume much of his energy. As he told the Arizona Republic, "It is, by far, my proudest achievement."

Awards

Grammy awards for single "Dead End Street," 1967; LP A Natural Man, 1971; LP Unmistakably Lou, 1977. One platinum and four gold albums.

Works

Selective Discography

  • Tobacco Road, Capitol, 1963.
  • Lou Rawls Live, Capitol, 1966.
  • Best from Lou Rawls, Capitol, 1968.
  • A Natural Man, MGM, 1971.
  • All Things in Time, Philadelphia International, 1976.
  • Unmistakably Lou, Philadelphia International, 1977.
  • When the Night Comes, Epic, 1983.
  • It's Supposed to Be Fun, Blue Note, 1990.
  • Portrait of the Blues, Manhattan, 1993.
  • Christmas Is the Time, Manhattan, 1993.
  • Ballads, Capitol, 1997 (reissue).
  • Love Is a Hurtin' Thing, Capitol, 1997 (reissue).

Further Reading

Books

  • Stambler, Irwin, The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul, rev. ed., St. Martin's, 1989.
  • Larkin, Colin, editor, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness, 1992.
  • Romanowski, Patricia, editor, The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Fireside, 1995.
  • Contemporary Musicians, volume 19, Gale, 1997.
Periodicals
  • American Business Review, July 12, 1997, p. 5 Arizona Republic, April 25, 1997, p. D13.
  • Ebony, October 1978, p. 112.
  • Jet, November 17, 1997, p. 64.
  • St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 3, 1997, p. E4.
  • Stereo Review, July 1993, p. 91.
  • USA Today, October 16, 1997, p. D4; January 18, 1998, p. D3.

— James M. Manheim

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Artist: Lou Rawls
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Lou Rawls

Similar Artists:

Billy Paul, Jerry Butler, Gamble & Huff, Les McCann, Chuck Jackson, The Impressions, Maxine Brown, Pilgrim Travelers, Leon Huff, Roy Hamilton, Herb Jeffries, Cannonball Adderley, Labi Siffre, Etta Jones, Nancy Wilson, People's Choice, Mable John, O.C. Smith, James Ingram, Donny Hathaway, Ray Charles, Percy Mayfield

Influenced By:

Sam Cooke

Followers:

Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens, Barbara Lynn, Terry Ellis, Mario Biondi

Performed Songs By:

Dave Linden, Billy Myles, Stuart Gorrell, Harry Warren, Billy Vera, Ben Raleigh, John D. Loudermilk, Casey James, Mack Gordon, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Thom Bell, Bobby Hebb, Dexter Wansel, Bunny Sigler, David Axelrod, Harold Arlen, Buddy Johnson, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Hoagy Carmichael

Worked With:

Peter Darmi, Steve Turre, Richard Tee, Joe Tarsia, Chris Parker, Jim Horn, Teddy Edwards, Cornell Dupree, Michael Cuscuna, Tinker Barfield, Steve Khan

Formal Connection With:

Kenny Gamble, James Van Buren, MFSB, Vince Montana
See Lou Rawls Lyrics
  • Born: December 01, 1935, Chicago, IL
  • Died: January 06, 2006, Los Angeles, CA
  • Active: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000s
  • Genres: Rhythm & Blues
  • Instrument: Vocals
  • Representative Albums: "Anthology," "The Very Best of Lou Rawls: You'll Never Find Another," "When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All"
  • Representative Songs: "You'll Never Find Another Lov," "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing," "Dead End Street"

Biography

From gospel and early R&B to soul and jazz to blues and straight-up pop, Lou Rawls was a consummate master of African-American vocal music whose versatility helped him adapt to the changing musical times over and over again while always remaining unmistakably himself. Blessed with a four-octave vocal range, Rawls' smooth, classy elegance -- sort of a cross between Sam Cooke and Nat King Cole -- permeated nearly everything he sang, yet the fire of his early gospel days was never too far from the surface. He made his name as a crooner, first by singing jazz standards, then moving on to soul in the mid-'60s, and capped the most commercial phase of his career with a productive stint at Philadelphia International during the latter half of the '70s. Even after his days as a chart presence were over, Rawls remained a highly visible figure on the American cultural landscape, pursuing an acting and voice-over career in addition to his continued concert appearances, and doing extensive charity work on behalf of the United Negro College Fund.

Louis Allen Rawls was born in Chicago on December 1, 1935, and was raised on the city's south side by his grandmother. He sang in the choir at his Baptist church starting at age seven, and became interested in popular music as a teenager by attending shows at the Regal Theatre, with genre-crossing singers like Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock, and Billy Eckstine ranking as his particular favorites. Rawls also tried his hand at harmony-group singing with schoolmate Sam Cooke, together in a gospel outfit called the Teenage Kings of Harmony. Rawls moved on to sing with the Holy Wonders, and in 1951 replaced Cooke in the Highway Q.C.s. In 1953, when Specialty recording artists the Chosen Gospel Singers swung through Chicago on tour, they recruited Rawls as a new member; he made his recording debut on a pair of sessions in early 1954. He later joined the Pilgrim Travelers, but quit in 1956 to enlist in the Army as a paratrooper; upon his discharge in 1958, he returned to the Travelers and embarked on a tour with Cooke. It nearly cost Rawls his life -- during the Southern leg of their tour, the car Rawls and Cooke were riding in crashed into a truck. Cooke escaped with minor injuries, but another passenger was killed, and Rawls was actually pronounced dead on the way to the hospital; as it turned out, he spent five and a half days in a coma, did not regain his full memory for another three months, and took an entire year to recuperate.

When Rawls had recovered sufficiently, he switched to secular music and hit the L.A. circuit with a vengeance, performing in clubs, coffeehouses, and any other small venues that would allow him on-stage. During this period, he also landed his first acting role, a small part on the hit detective series 77 Sunset Strip. In 1962, he was discovered at a coffeeshop near Capitol Records headquarters by producer Nick Venet; at Venet's request, Rawls hastily recorded an audition tape, and wound up with a recording contract. Later that year, Capitol issued Rawls' debut album, Stormy Monday (alternately known as I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water), a collection of jazz tunes with backing from the Les McCann Trio. The same year, he supplied the impassioned background vocals on Sam Cooke's hit "Bring It On Home to Me." Rawls' next few recordings for Capitol combined jazz, blues, R&B, and pop in varying combinations, sometimes casting him in big-band settings akin to those of his hero Joe Williams. While the results were often rewarding, it was plain that Rawls and Capitol were still searching for a definite direction.

In the meantime, Rawls was revamping his live act by adding lengthy spoken monologues to his songs; these "raps" served as a platform for the singer to discuss social issues and personal experience, not to mention as an attention-getting gimmick that overrode the noise and bustle of the clubs he performed in. 1966's Live! captured that distinctive concert presence on a repertoire of mostly jazz and blues (plus a celebrated version of "Tobacco Road"), and proved to be a gold-selling breakthrough hit. However, Rawls found an even more lucrative direction when he made the switch to soul music later that year; his first full-fledged R&B album, Soulin', spawned his first major hit single in "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing," which nearly reached the pop Top Ten and went all the way to number one on the R&B charts before year's end. 1967's "Dead End Street" hit number three R&B and won Rawls his first Grammy, for Best R&B Vocal Performance; it also teamed Rawls with composer/producer/arranger David Axelrod, who would go on to a legendary career of his own. A 1969 cover of Mable John's "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)" was Rawls' next big hit, although by that time his LP sales had begun to slip a bit; nonetheless, he was still a regular presence on variety shows and on the Las Vegas circuit.

In 1971, Rawls parted ways with Capitol and signed with MGM, where he promptly delivered another one of his greatest successes with "Natural Man." With its subtle message of black pride, "Natural Man" reached the Top 20 on both the pop and R&B charts, and won Rawls his second Grammy. However, much of the material MGM pushed Rawls to record was too lightweight for the singer's standards; disenchanted, he left the label in 1972. It wasn't until 1975 that he caught on with another label, the independent Bell Records, where he recorded an early Daryl Hall/John Oates composition, "She's Gone." Unfortunately, Rawls' version was eclipsed by Tavares' far bigger hit recording of the song, and he soon left Bell to sign with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's legendary soul imprint Philadelphia International. With Gamble and Huff's help, Rawls managed to successfully reinvent himself in the lush, orchestrated Philly soul idiom. His label debut, 1976's All Things in Time, proved to be the biggest album of his career, reaching the Top Ten and going platinum; likewise, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" became his biggest hit single ever, topping the R&B charts and zooming to number two on the pop side. Despite Rawls' general taste for mature, adult music, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" was compatible enough with the emerging disco sound to garner substantial dance-club play as well. The follow-up single, "Groovy People," made the R&B Top 20.

Rawls was a hot commodity once again, and he remained one of Philadelphia International's most successful artists through the rest of the '70s. His 1977 LP Unmistakably Lou won him a third Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and contained the R&B Top Ten hit "See You When I Git There"; later that year, he continued his artistic and commercial hot streak with When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All and "Lady Love." The title track of 1979's Let Me Be Good to You was his last big hit with Philly International, reaching number 11 R&B. The following year, Rawls kicked off what would become a consuming passion for years to come: the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon, an annual event which eventually raised millions of dollars for the United Negro College Fund.

From the '80s on, Rawls played the part of a well-established entertainer, rather than focusing his energies on maintaining a chart presence. He served a stint on Epic Records from 1982-1986 that proved a commercial disappointment; by then, he was more interested in running the telethon and conducting extensive tours of American military bases around the world. A 1987 reunion with Gamble & Huff produced his final charting single on the R&B side, "I Wish You Belonged to Me." Toward the end of the '80s, Rawls made some recordings for Blue Note, including the Grammy-nominated At Last in 1989.

During the latter half of the '90s, Rawls returned to his acting career with greater frequency, appearing in the acclaimed Leaving Las Vegas (among many other films and TV shows) and also pursuing voice-over work in cartoons like Hey Arnold and Rugrats (he'd begun this side of his career singing on several Garfield specials). Most of his '90s recordings were holiday collections, but 1998's Seasons 4 U was a jazzy outing released on his own label. Rawls entered the new millennium by returning to his gospel roots on 2001's I'm Blessed (astonishingly, his first solo gospel album) and 2002's Oh Happy Day. In 2003 he paid tribute to Frank Sinatra with the release of Rawls Sings Sinatra on Savoy Jazz. On January 6, 2006, he succumbed to a two-year fight with cancer. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
Discography: Lou Rawls
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Seasons 4 U

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I Can't Make It Alone: The Axelrod Years

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Merry Christmas, Baby

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Lou Rawls Christmas [Bonus Track]

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Rawls Sings Sinatra

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Groovy People: The Best of Lou Rawls

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Natural Man/Classic Lou

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Best of Lou Rawls: Classic Philadelphia Recordings

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Jazz Channel Presents Lou Rawls [Video/DVD]

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Prime Concerts: In Concert with Edmonton Symphony

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Essential Lou Rawls

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Lou Rawls Christmas

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Merry Little Christmas

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Very Best [Blue Note]

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Black and Blue/Tobacco Road

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Nobody But Lou/Lou Rawls and Strings

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Best of Lou Rawls: 20 Tracks

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When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All/Lou Rawls Live

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Best of Lou Rawls: The Capitol Jazz & Blues Sessions

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Greatest Hits [Cema]

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Classic Soul

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All Things in Time/Sit Down & Talk to Me

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All Things in Time/Unmistakably Lou

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Amen

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Very Best of Lou Rawls: You'll Never Find Another

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Anthology

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I'm Blesseseek ''d

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Love Is a Hurtin' Thing: The Silk & Soul of Lou Rawls

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Love Songs [Import]

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Love Songs [The Right Stuff]

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Spotlight on Lou Rawls (Great Gentlemen of Song)

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How Great Thou Art

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Legendary Lou Rawls

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Brotherman!: Lou Rawls Sings the Hits

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Christmas Will Be Christmas

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Swingin' Christmas

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Let Me Be Good to You/Sit Down and Talk to Me

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Soul-Stirring Gospel Sounds of the Pilgrim Travelers [Bonus Tracks]

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Live! [Bonus Tracks]

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Back to Back Hits

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Let Me Be Good to You/Lou Rawls Live

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Oh Happy Day

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Finest Collection

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Shades of Blue/Family Reunion [Edsel]

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Unmistakably Lou/When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All

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Christmas Is the Time

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Portrait of the Blues

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Love Songs [Capitol Special Markets]

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Love Songs [Capitol Special Markets]

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Love Songs [Capitol Special Markets]

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Greatest Hits [Curb]

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It's Supposed to Be Fun

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At Last

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Ballads

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Sit Down and Talk to Me

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Shades of Blue/Family Reunion [WestSide]

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Let Me Be Good to You

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In Concert: Recorded with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra

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Lou Rawls Live

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When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All

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All Things in Time

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Live at the Century Plaza

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Soulin'

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Soulin'

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Soul-Stirring Gospel Sounds of the Pilgrim Travelers

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For You My Love

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Stormy Monday

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Actor: Lou Rawls
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  • Born: Dec 01, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois
  • Died: Jan 06, 2006 in Los Angeles, California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '80s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Music
  • Career Highlights: Wildly Available, The Price of Kissing, Angel, Angel, Down We Go
  • First Major Screen Credit: Angel, Angel, Down We Go (1969)

Biography

Popular singer-musician who occasionally acted, onscreen from the '60s. ~ All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: Lou Rawls
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Lou Rawls

Lou Rawls, 1995
Background information
Birth name Louis Allen Rawls
Born December 1, 1933(1933-12-01)[1]
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died January 6, 2006 (aged 72)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres R&B, Soul, Jazz, Blues
Occupations Singer, Actor, Voice actor
Years active 1950s – 2006

Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls (December 1, 1933[1] – January 6, 2006) was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game".[2] Rawls released more than 70 albums[citation needed], sold more than 40 million records[citation needed], appeared as an actor in motion pictures and on television, and voiced-over many cartoons. He had been called "The Funkiest Man Alive".

Rawls is the subject of an upcoming biopic, tentatively titled "Through The Eyes Of A Son." Rawls' son, Lou Rawls Jr., is the author of the script. Rawls will reportedly be portrayed by the actor Isaiah Washington.[3]

Contents

Career

Lou Rawls, who learned of gospel music through his grandmother in Chicago, became a successful singer, primarily from the 1950s through the 1980s.[4] He 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 graduating 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 as he traveled to Los Angeles. In 1958, while touring the South with the Travelers and Sam Cooke, Rawls was in a serious car crash. Rawls was 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.

Alongside Dick Clark as master of ceremonies, Rawls was recovered enough by 1959 to be able to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. He 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 himself charted with a cover of the song in 1970 (with the title shortened to "Bring It On Home").

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

Though his 1966 album Live! went gold, Rawls would not 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". In 1967 Rawls won his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, for the single "Dead End Street."

In 1969, the singer was co-host of NBC's summer replacement series for the Dean Martin Show along with Martin's daughter, singer Gail Martin.

After leaving Capitol in 1971, Rawls joined MGM, at which juncture he released his Grammy-winning single "Natural Man." He had a brief stint with Bell Records in 1974, where he recorded a cover of Hall & Oates' "She's Gone." In 1976, Rawls signed with Philadelphia International Records, where he 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 and Adult Contemporary charts and went to number two on the pop side, becoming Rawls' only certified million-selling single in the process.

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.

"The Star Spangled Banner"

On the night of September 29, 1977, Rawls performed the national anthem of the United States prior to the Earnie Shavers-Muhammad Ali title fight at Madison Square Garden. He would be requested to sing the anthem many times over the next 28 years, and his final performance of it came on October 23, 2005. The crowd at that performance may not have known that Rawls was extremely ill with cancer, but he reportedly delivered an electrifying performance to kick off Game Two of the 2005 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros.

Honors and charity work

Lou Rawls at Baltimore's Inner Harbor (1980) being interviewed by local news anchor Curt Anderson, promoting the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon"

In 1980, Rawls began the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon" which benefits the United Negro College Fund. The annual event, known since 1998 as "An Evening of Stars: A Celebration of Educational Excellence", consists of stories of successful African-American students who have benefited from and/or graduated 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 hosting and performing as he usually did, Rawls 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 final television performance occurred during the 2005-2006 edition of the telethon, honoring Stevie Wonder in September 2005, just months before entering the hospital and after having been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year. This program, aired in January, 2006, contains his final public television performance, where he performed two classics, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," and a final ode to Frank Sinatra with, "It Was A Very Good Year."

At the time of Rawls' death, news and UNCF figures noted the significance of Rawls' final performance, "It Was a Very Good Year." The song is a retrospective of one's life and its lyrics include, "When I was seventeen, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for small town girls and soft summer nights...And now those days grow short, it is the autumn of years, and now I think about life as vintage wine from fine old kegs, from the brim to the dregs, it pours sweet and clear, it was a very good year."

Acting career

Rawls appeared in a segment of the first season of Sesame Street, to sing the alphabet. He dismissed the concept of using cue cards for the performance, but reversed such decision when he forgot the order of the letters.[5]

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. He also appeared in the western television series, Big Valley, (starring legend Barbara Stanwyck, along with Lee Majors and Linda Evans) where he played a hired hand. Here, he delivered the memorial line: "Ain't a horse that can't be rode; ain't a man that can't be throwed".

Rawls lent his rich baritone voice to many cartoons, including Hey Arnold! as the voice of Harvey The Mailman, Garfield, and The Proud Family. For many of the Film Roman Garfield specials, Rawls would often compose songs for them, which he would then sing usually doing a duet with Desiree Goyette. He also was famously in American sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

For many years, he was a spokesperson for the Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company. He was also a spokesman for Budweiser, helping promote the brand on radio and TV to African-American markets much as Ed McMahon did for the white audience. Budweiser was a key sponsor for the Rawls telethon and UNCF.

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

He appears as "Dr. Rawls" in a dream on an episode My Wife and Kids, where he breaks into a parody version of "You'll Never Find", which a frightened Damon Wayans is afraid of having a colonoscopy the following day. Rawls uses the scope as a microphone in the scene. Rawls appears as a commentator in the second half of the unrated commentary of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

Rawls was also a guest star during the second season of The Muppet Show. He also made a brief appearance on the series finale of Martin. (The show's character Tommy is excited to see Lou Rawls at Nipsey's and mentioned that his favorite song is "Natural Man." Lou replied that he received a letter from a female claiming that she and her boyfriend broke up because of the song. This alludes to the episode where Tommy and Pam decide to move in together, but winded up fighting and ultimately breaking up because Tommy played the song "Natural Man" so much that it drove Pam crazy.)

Billboard Top 50 hit singles

The following is a list of Lou Rawls singles that made the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. His first Hot 100 entry was "Three O'Clock in the Morning" in 1965, and his final was "Wind Beneath My Wings" in 1983. In addition to those two, nine other singles peaked at positions below the top 50 on the Hot 100, and additional singles reached the R&B, Adult Contemporary and Bubbling Under charts.

Personal life

According to an Associated Press article, dated December 19, 2005, Rawls tried to annul his two-year marriage to Nina Malek Inman Rawls, a former flight attendant, in order to "protect hundreds of thousands of dollars" that his wife "absconded" with. Nina Rawls, who acted as his manager for two years, explained that she transferred nearly $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. The singer 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 left behind two adult daughters - Louanna Rawls and Kendra Smith, and an adult son, Lou Rawls, Jr.

Lou Rawls's grave
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References in popular culture

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  • In The Simpsons episode "I am Furious Yellow", there was an internet series called "Lou Rawls, Secret Agent" where there was an animated version of Rawls dressed as a secret agent whilst singing and trying to escape from a trap. He was singing "You'll never find that microfilm of mine".
  • In an episode of The PJs, Lou was just about to sing his trademark song in a concert on top of the Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs building when his manager whispered to him that it was on fire.
  • In King of Queens episode "Raygin' Bulls", it is mentioned that Carrie's dad spent her college money on buying the rights to the Lou Rawls story.
  • In an episode of The Jamie Foxx Show, Jamie puts his money into a doughnut shop as a business venture and the owner of the shop has a business boat that serves doughnuts and plays Lou Rawls music.

Trivia

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  • Rawls' favorite 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 and 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.
  • He was referenced by rap group 3rd Bass on the song "Green Eggs and Swine" from their 1991 LP Derelicts of Dialect. "I would not eat them with Prince Paul/I would not eat them with Lou Rawls/I do not like Green Eggs and Swine/I do not like those 3rd Bass rhymes."
  • He was referenced in the song "Ya Mama" by Pharcyde. "I'm thinkin about your mother to a funky beat/ I went to your house, and she licked me on the cheek/ I said excuse me lady, but I remember seeing you at the Palladium way back in September/ Cause you was beatboxin for Lou Rawls/In some bright red boxer drawers/You said ya moms was pretty and young/But she's old as dirt and got hair on her tongue."
  • He was referenced in the song "Sweet Soul Music" by Arthur Conley. "Spotlight on Lou Rawls y'all/Ah don't he look boss y'all/Singing love's a hurtin' thing now/oh yeah, oh yeah"
  • He was referenced in the song "11-11" by Team Sleep on their 2005 self-titled LP. "If everyone was like Lou Rawls/Then no more guys would sing with drawls"
  • Rawls, at one time affiliated with the Church of Scientology, later dissociated himself from the group. At one point, his agent said, "Lou is no longer involved in Scientology, it's not an interest at this point and never will be again. He doesn't want to be associated with those people."[6]
  • Sang the lyrics to WGN-TV's 1983 "Chicago's Very Own" ad campaign, a slogan that the station still uses to this day.
  • Rap group Naughty By Nature in their 1993 hit song "Hip Hop Hooray" rapped the lyrics: Sometimes creepin' up/ I eat em up/ Your style is older than Lou Rawls".
  • Rawls recording of You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine is used in the trailer for Ice Age 3 where Scrat meets a female of his species.

Releases

Discography As A Leader [7]

  • 1962 Stormy Monday (Blue Note)
  • 1962 Black and Blue (Capitol)
  • 1963 Tobacco Road (Capitol)
  • 1964 For You My Love (Capitol)
  • 1965 Lou Rawls and Strings (Capitol)
  • 1965 Nobody But Lou (Capitol)
  • 1966 Live! (Capitol)
  • 1966 The Soul-Stirring Gospel Sounds of the Pilgrim Travelers (Capitol)
  • 1966 Soulin' (Capitol)
  • 1966 Carryin' On (Capitol)
  • 1967 Too Much! (Capitol)
  • 1967 That's Lou (Capitol)
  • 1967 Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! (Capitol)
  • 1968 Feelin' Good (Capitol)
  • 1968 You're Good for Me (Capitol)
  • 1969 The Way It Was: The Way It Is (Capitol)
  • 1969 Your Good Thing (Capitol)
  • 1970 You've Made Me So Very Happy (Capitol)
  • 1970 Bring It on Home (Capitol)
  • 1971 Down Here on the Ground/I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water (Capitol)
  • 1971 Natural Man (MGM)
  • 1972 Silk & Soul ( MGM)
  • 1972 A Man of Value (MGM)
  • 1973 Live at the Century Plaza (Rebound)
  • 1975 She's Gone (Bell)
  • 1976 All Things in Time (Philadelphia International)
  • 1976 Naturally (Polydor)
  • 1977 Unmistakably Lou (Philadelphia International)
  • 1977 When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All (Philadelphia International)
  • 1978 Lou Rawls Live (Philadelphia International)
  • 1979 Let Me Be Good to You (Philadelphia International)
  • 1979 In Concert: Recorded with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra [live] (Dep Entertainment)
  • 1980 Sit Down and Talk to Me (Philadelphia International)
  • 1981 Shades of Blue (Philadelphia International)
  • 1982 Now Is the Time (Epic)
  • 1983 When the Night Comes ( Epic)
  • 1984 Close Company (Epic)
  • 1986 Love All Your Blues Away (Epic)
  • 1988 Family Reunion (Gamble-Huff)
  • 1989 At Last (Blue Note)
  • 1990 It's Supposed to Be Fun (Blue Note)
  • 1992 Portrait of the Blues (Capitol)
  • 1993 Christmas Is the Time (Manhattan)
  • 1995 Holiday Cheer (Cema Special Markets)
  • 1995 Merry Little Christmas (EMI Special Products)
  • 1998 Unforgettable (Going For)
  • 1998 Seasons 4 U (Rawls & Brokaw)
  • 1999 A Legendary Night Before Christmas (Platinum Disc)
  • 2000 Swingin' Christmas (EMI-Capitol Special Markets)
  • 2001 I'm Blesseseek (Malaco)
  • 2001 Christmas Will Be Christmas (Capitol)
  • 2002 Oh Happy Day (601)
  • 2003 Rawls Sings Sinatra (Savoy Jazz)
  • 2003 Trying as Hard as I Can (Allegiance)

Filmography

  • 2000 Jazz Channel Presents Lou Rawls (Image)
  • 2003 In Concert (BMG/Image)
  • 2005 Prime Concerts: In Concert with Edmonton Symphony (Amalgamated)
  • 2006 The Lou Rawls Show: With Duke Ellington & Freda Payne
  • 2007 Live in Concert: North Sea Jazz. 1992-1995 (E-M-S)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b [At the time of death, some sources gave Lou Rawls' year of birth as 1935. Dozens of Web site biographies echo this error.]
  2. ^ Kennedy Center: Find a Performance
  3. ^ Lou Rawls biopic in the works
  4. ^ Rawls succumbs to cancer, Chatham Daily News (ON). News, Saturday, January 7, 2006, p. 7. accessed on October 6, 2006.
  5. ^ Sesame Street Old School: Volume 1 DVD booklet.
  6. ^ Scientology Recruits Hollywood
  7. ^ [1] AMG
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External links


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