SAMUEL BLACK (Cultural Historian): He felt that the music he was singing, R&B or gospel, was something which helped people come closer together and be friends.īATES: Rawls eventually left Chicago for Los Angeles, where he continued to produce hits through the '70s. He wanted a wider audience and knew R&B and jazz would provide it. Yes, love is a hurtin' thing.īATES: Samuel Black, a Chicago cultural historian, says that unlike some R&B singers who started out in gospel, Rawls was never conflicted. RAWLS: (Singing) The road is rough, the goin' gets tough. He became a star in his own right 40 years ago when a single, "Love is a Hurtin' Thing," became a hit. Rawls signed with Capitol Records in 1962, where he sang as a background artist with a number of people, among them his old buddy Sam Cooke.
#LOU RAWLS ONE IN A MILLION YOU FULL#
He was in a coma for five days and it took him a full year to recover. His injuries were so serious he was declared dead before he reached the hospital. Teaming up again with Sam Cooke, Rawls was touring the South with a group named the Travelers when he was in a traffic accident that almost killed him. After service as an Army paratrooper, Rawls reentered civilian life and continued working with a number of singing groups, some gospel, some rhythm and blues. They sang together as the Teenaged Kings of Harmony, a gospel group, in the early 1950s. A Chicago native who would celebrate his hometown in song for decades, Rawls was a high school classmate of gospel and soul singer Sam Cooke. Louis Allen Rawls was born on December 1st, 1935. That immediately identifiable velvet baritone could belong to no one else but Lou Rawls. LOU RAWLS (Singer Philanthropist): (Singing) You'll never find the rhythm, the rhyme, all the magic we shared, just a.ĬHADWICK: Lou Rawls with "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine." Here's NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates with an appreciation.
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(Soundbite of "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine") Singer and philanthropist Lou Rawls has died in Los Angeles.
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In a week of hard news, here is one more item.