KWXY Presents ● Music and a Classic Interview with Lou Rawls

Lou Rawls / Radio Station Publicity Photo Collection date unknown

Lou Rawls was a multitalented singer, composer, producer, actor and humanitarian, with a discography spanning more than sixty albums and worldwide sales of more than forty million records, including seven Billboard Top 50 singles.

He was Born Louis Allen Rawls on December 1, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois. Rawls grew up on the South Side of Chicago and began singing with a local Baptist choir at age seven, later singing with local groups which included Sam Cooke and Curtis Mayfield.

Lou moved to Los Angeles soon after graduating high school and joined the Army in 1955 where he served as a paratrooper.  Rawls nearly died in a 1958 car crash, taking more than a year to recuperate.  Rawls was able to perform again by 1959.  Three successful jazz albums followed his return to performing. Beginning in 1962, with his first number one single in 1967. He was co-host of an NBC summer replacement variety show in 1969, and that same year, the single “Your Good Thing (Is About To End)” peaked at number 18 but would later be certified gold.  Rawls scored gold again in 1976 with the breakout hit “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” which later became his signature song. 

Lou Rawls was also successful as an actor in both film and television and as a commercial spokesman for Anheuser-Busch and Colonial Penn Life Insurance. 

In 1980 and continuing until his death in 2006, Rawls hosted the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars telethon benefitting the United Negro College Fund and sponsored by Anheuser-Busch.  Lou was very active in the African American community and over the years, the telethon event raised more than $250 million dollars.  The United Negro College Fund honored him for his work with the organization in 2004.

Lou Rawls continued performing up to his final television appearance on the 2005-06 Lou Rawls Parade of Stars telethon broadcast. It was shortly after, when Rawls had been diagnosed with lung cancer which later metastasized to his brain.  Lou Rawls passed away in Los Angeles California on January 6, 2006 at age 72.   

Lou Rawls contribution as an artist benefitting the United Negro College Fund, and his place in R&B music, will forever remain a part of American Music History.

Listen to a Classic Interview and the Music of Lou Rawls on The Wink Martindale Show today at 1pm on KWXY Music Radio 92.3FM ● 1340AM ● streaming at kwxy.com and ivoxradio.com