Silky-smooth jazz and soul crooner Lou Rawls, famed for his 1976 hit You’ll Never Find (Another Love Like Mine), died of lung and brain cancer on Friday at the age of 72.
The Grammy Award-winning singer died at Los Angeles’s Cedars-Sinai hospital early on Friday, his publicist, Paul Shefrin, said.
His wife, Nina, and family members were by his side, Shefrin said.
Born in Chicago, Rawls started out as a gospel singer and later performed as a warm-up act for The Beatles in the 1960s. He went on to act in Hollywood and on Broadway, but he was best known for his jazz, soul and blues hits.
His sugar-sweet tones made him instantly recognisable, and Frank Sinatra reputedly said he had the ”silkiest chops in the singing game”.
Famed for his catchphrase ”Yeah, buddy”, Rawls was also known for charitable works, starting with his ”Parade of Stars” benefit concerts, and he raised more than $200-million to put African-American students through college.
His 40-year career spanned 60 albums, brought him three Grammy Awards and 13 nominations, a platinum album, five gold albums and a gold single.
”I’ve gone the full spectrum — from gospel to blues to jazz to soul to pop — and the public has accepted what I’ve done through it all,” Rawls once said. ”I think it means I’ve been doing something right at the right time.”
Rawls released his last album, Seasons 4 U, in 1998 and continued to tour at clubs and jazz festivals around the world.
As he battled illness, Rawls posted a message for fans on his official website.
”Don’t count me out,” he said. ”There’s been many people who have been diagnosed with this kind of thing, and they’re still jumpin’ and pumpin’. I’m thinking good thoughts.” — AFP
