Lou Rawls

Louis Allen Rawls was born on December 1, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois, and was raised by his grandmother in the Ida B. Wells housing projects on the city's South Side. He began singing in the choir of Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church at age seven and later performed with local gospel groups, through which he formed connections with Sam Cooke and Curtis Mayfield. After completing his education at Dunbar Vocational High School, he sang briefly with Cooke in the Teenage Kings of Harmony before joining the Holy Wonders. In 1951, he stepped into Cooke's place in the Highway QC's after Cooke left for Los Angeles to join The Soul Stirrers. Rawls subsequently joined the Chosen Gospel Singers and relocated to Los Angeles, where he became a member of the Pilgrim Travelers.

In 1955, Rawls enlisted in the United States Army, serving as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division's B Co 2/505th Parachute Infantry, completing 26 jumps. He was discharged three years later at the rank of Sergeant and rejoined the Pilgrim Travelers, by then performing under the name the Travelers. In 1958, while touring the South alongside the Travelers and Sam Cooke, Rawls was involved in a severe automobile accident. He was pronounced dead before reaching the hospital and remained in a coma for five and a half days, spending a full year in recovery before his memory fully returned. He regarded the crash as a defining turning point in his life.

His recording career began with two singles, "Love, Love, Love" and "Walkin' (For Miles)," released on Shar-Dee Records, a label owned by Herb Alpert. Candix Records followed with "In My Little Black Book" and "80 Ways." In 1959, he performed at the Hollywood Bowl with Dick Clark serving as master of ceremonies. He signed with Capitol Records in 1962, contributing backing vocals to Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home to Me" and "That's Where It's At." That same year, Capitol released Stormy Monday, a jazz album recorded with Les McCann. His next two Capitol albums, Black and Blue and Tobacco Road, both charted on Billboard and featured Onzy Matthews as musical director leading a 17-piece big band.

His 1966 album Live! was certified gold, and later that year the soul album Soulin' produced "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing," his first R&B number-one single. In 1967, he won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance for "Dead End Street" and performed at the inaugural evening of the Monterey International Pop Music Festival. Capitol Records dropped Rawls in 1970, but he revived his career through "Natural Man," a song brought to him by comedian Sandy Baron and singer Bobby Hebb, which MGM released to commercial success. He recorded a cover of Hall and Oates' "She's Gone" for Bell Records in 1974. Two years later, after signing with Philadelphia International Records under manager Martin Pichinson, he released All Things in Time, which sold one million copies. The album's single "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" topped both the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts and reached number two on the pop chart, becoming his best-selling single. The 1977 album When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All produced the follow-up hit "Lady Love." Over the course of his career, Rawls released 61 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and earned three Grammy Awards for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Rawls brought his talents to Broadway, appearing in productions between 1977 and 1995. He starred in the play Cafe and also appeared in Lou Rawls on Broadway. His stage work complemented a broader performance career that extended across film, television, and voice acting. On television, his first acting credit came on the Western series The Big Valley, and he later appeared in episodes of Mannix and Fantasy Island. He had a supporting role in Baywatch Nights and served as a guest host on BET's Jazz Central. His film credits include Leaving Las Vegas, Blues Brothers 2000, Angel Angel Down We Go, and the independent film Lookin' Italian, in which he both acted and sang. He appeared during the first season of Sesame Street to perform the alphabet and was a guest during the second season of The Muppet Show. As a voice actor, he contributed to animated series including Hey Arnold!, Garfield, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, and The Proud Family, and for numerous Film Roman Garfield specials he composed and performed songs, frequently duetting with Desiree Goyette while also voicing the singing of the title character.

In 1980, Rawls launched the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon in support of the United Negro College Fund. The annual event, renamed in 1998 as An Evening of Stars: A Celebration of Educational Excellence, raised more than 250 million dollars for the UNCF by the time of his death. On September 29, 1977, he performed the national anthem before the Earnie Shavers and Muhammad Ali title fight at Madison Square Garden. For many years he served as a spokesperson for Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company and appeared in Budweiser advertising campaigns; Anheuser-Busch was also a sponsor of his UNCF telethon.

In December 2005, it was announced that Rawls was being treated for lung cancer that had metastasized to his brain. His final television performance took place during the 2005–2006 edition of his telethon in September 2005, where he performed "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and "It Was a Very Good Year" as a tribute to Frank Sinatra. Lou Rawls died on January 6, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills. He was survived by his third wife, Nina, a former flight attendant who managed his career during his final two years; a son, Aiden Rawls; another son, Lou Rawls Jr.; two daughters, Louanna Rawls and Kendra Smith; and four grandchildren.