Louis Allen Rawls, born December 1, 1933, and died January 6, 2006. He was an American singer of soul, jazz, blues, and jazz. Rawls was well-known for his smooth vocals. Frank Sinatra once stated that Rawls sang the “classiest and most beautiful” songs. He also sold over 40 million records. Rawls appeared on motion pictures and television and voiced many cartoons. Rawls was known as “The Funkiest man alive”. Lou Rawls was a gospel singer who discovered it through his grandmother in Chicago. He became a popular singer primarily between the 1950s and the 1980s. Sam Cooke was his high school classmate and he sang with him in the Teenage Kings of Harmony (a 1950s gospel group). Rawls graduated from Chicago’s Dunbar Vocational Career Academy and enlisted as a parachutist in the 82nd Airborne Division. Three years later, he was promoted to sergeant in the All-Americans and teamed up with The Pilgrim Travelers while he traveled to Los Angeles. Rawls was involved in a serious car accident while on a tour of the South with Sam Cooke and the Travelers in 1958. Rawls was declared dead at the hospital before he arrived, and remained in a coma for five days. He took months to regain his memories and nearly a year to fully recover. Rawls described the experience as life-changing. Rawls, along with Dick Clark, was able to perform at Hollywood Bowl in 1959. In 1962, he was signed to Capitol Records. That same year, he also sang the background vocals on the Sam Cooke recording “Bring it on Home to Me”. Rawls charted the song with a cover in 1970, which was shortened to “Bring It On home” Stormy Monday, Rawls’s first Capitol solo album was a.k.a. I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water, a jazz album. He opened for The Beatles in Cincinnati at Crosley Field on August 21, 1966. Although his 1966 album, Live! Although his 1966 album Live! was a huge success, Rawls wouldn’t have been a superstar until he released a soul album later that year, appropriately titled Soulin’. Rawls’ first R.
