Lou Rawls Dies
From the Associated Press...Singer Lou Rawls Dies at 72 -- Jan 6, 10:58 AM EST
LOS ANGELES -- Grammy Award-winning singer Lou Rawls has died of lung cancer in Los Angeles. He was 72. The velvet-voiced singer started as a church choir boy and went on to sell more than 40 million albums. He won three Grammy Awards in a career that spanned nearly five decades and a range of genres. Rawls died this morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was hospitalized last month.
This breaks my heart, we've lost too many African-American celebrities/icons over the past year -- Richard Pryor, Rosa Parks, Johnny Cochran, Ossie Davis, Luther Vandross ... and now Lou. I grew up listening to my mom's Lou albums (yes, I said albums :-) --- remember those?) Who doesn't know Lou as a small man with a deeper-than-deep, Barry White voice, singing classics like Lady Love, You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine, Blues is a Woman, It Was A Very Good Year???.... The Silk & Soul of Lou Rawls indeed. And don't get me started on all the evenings spent glued to the television, watching The United Negro College Funds' Annual Telethon. That Telethon made me so proud as a young kid. Seeing all those black talented celebrities in one spot; knowing the money was going to support talented black young adults.
Talk about a lasting legacy!!!! Lou has been a fixture in our lives for a while and his presence will surely be missed. RIP -- Mr. Rawls
Trippin' with Michelle @ 10:59 AM::
I read about his passing this morning and I was so sad. I didn't realize he was in his 70's becasue his music plays so often in my cd. I guess I've always thought of him as a timeless lush voice. He will be missed.
~Deb
Hi Michelle, first let me say thanks for voting for me! I love the support. Well your post did what it needed to do, made me very sad. I asked my mother today how come all of these black icons are dying all at once and she said, " Well it's just that these people have lived a long time and have been around for decades and it does seem like they are dying all at once. " She said she didn't know why all the blacks are dying but, that it's just happening. Of course none of us have an answer. Maybe it's just a coincidence. We won't have any icons left if this keeps up. The black celebrities today aren't going to amount to what these people accomplished. All you have now is a bunch of selfish rappers and sports figures who only care about making money. They don't care about real music and the future of black kids like the people from the 50's, 60's and 70's. The famous blacks today just don't seem to care about anything other than money. That is why I appreciate people like Lou Rawls. I knew his songs but he was never one I listened to that much. I was more into Al Green when it came to the soul masters. But I definitely knew " Natural Man ", LOL! Who doesn't know that song right? I was surprised the most about Luther's death because I thought he had gotten better. I knew Lou had cancer but I thought he would be able to get treatment that would help. Well… I wasn't surprised by Richard Pryor because I kept saying how surprised I was he hadn't died because the last time I saw him in the late 90's he looked like he was barely hanging on. I found it a miracle he lasted as long but just because I expected his death doesn't mean it makes it easier to accept. I loved Richard. This was a wonderful tribute Michelle. And don't forget we also lost Nipsey Russell.
One more thing Michelle, this is something to truly think about. And I have been stressed when I sit down and see all these folks dying at one time. I mean we can't afford to lose another black icon. I'm afraid next it will be someone like Bill Cosby. This is frightening and hard to deal with. We need these positive role models to stick around to influence the young folks. The modern-day celebs don't seem to care about that at all.
I agree with Stacy. The people who are dying made so many positive contributions to many folks and our children had someone who made a difference to look up to. I loved Natural Man and all his other songs. My brothers were singers and I used to love to hear them sing his stuff and Al Greens'. That was a great tribute. I will miss him hearing his voice every year asking for donations to education children and teens.
Dr. Deb -- glad you're a fan. You're right, he had a timeless, classic voice.
Rose -- Don't get me started on Al. I saw a tribute he did to Tina when she was awarded a Kennedy Honor -- He sang Let's Stay Together! I LOOOOVE AL!The UNCF Telethon was actually on this weekend, but I missed it.
Stacy -- You're right, I forget Nipsey. I also forgot, politician Shirley Chisholm, publisher John H. Johnson and August Wilson, playwrite. Let's hope the contributions these folks and others made are long remembered by our children; our children's children and so on. While the selfish, 'I'ma get mine' mentality is alive and kicking, I don’t want to say that today's black celebs aren't doing anything in the way of making a positive contribution to our community or our race. JayZ and Ditty do positive stuff, particularly within the communities they came up in. Let's hope even more folks embrace the belief that when you receive much, much should be given...vs Charles Barkley's infamous 'I'm not a role model' mentality.
BTW -- if you want to see black celebs doing something different and positive -- check out former football pro Jerry Rice and rapper Master P ballroom dancing their butts off on Dancing with the Stars. What's good about Master P is that every time he is interviewed, he says he's doing it to bring a smile to the faces of Katrina victims since he's from Louisiana. And he also says he's doing it so that the people that look up to him will realize it's okay to think out of the box and want to try things that they've never done before or do things that people wouldn't expect of them. A very positive and powerful message!
He will be missed. You'll never find another love like mine, was something that turned my head when at the time everyone I spent time with was listening to hard rock. Brings back great memories of learning to respect my individuality.
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