Cancer Claims Lou Rawls

Lou Rawls, the velvet-voiced singer who sung his first notes in public as a choirboy and went on to sell more than 40 million albums in a career that spanned nearly five decades and a range of genres, died of cancer Friday.

He was 72.

Rawls died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was hospitalized last month for treatment of lung and brain cancer, said his publicist, Paul Shefrin. His wife, Nina, was at his bedside when he died.

Rawls' family and Shefrin said the singer was 72, although other records indicate he was 70.

"I've gone the full spectrum, from gospel to blues to jazz to soul to pop," Rawls once said on his Web site. "And the public has accepted what I've done through it all."

Rawls' grandmother introduced him to gospel in his hometown of Chicago. The singer moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s to join a touring gospel group, the Pilgrim Travelers.

After a two-year stint in the Army, Rawls rejoined the Pilgrim Travelers in Los Angeles, where he sang with Sam Cooke.

Rawls performed with Dick Clark at the Hollywood Bowl in 1959, and he later he opened for The Beatles at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

Rawls was playing small blues and R&B clubs in Los Angeles when his four-octave range caught the ear of a Capitol Records producer, who signed him to the label in 1962.

His debut effort, "Stormy Monday," recorded with the Les McCann Trio, was the first of 28 albums Rawls made with Capitol.

Rawls went on to record the classic tune "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine."

In 1966, his "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing" topped the charts and earned Rawls his first two Grammy nominations. He won three Grammys in his career and released his most recent album, "Seasons 4 U," in 1998 on his own label, Rawls & Brokaw Records.

His voice has been described as "sweet as sugar, soft as velvet, strong as steel, smooth as butter." His other hits include "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing" and "Dead End Street."

He also appeared in 18 movies, including "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Blues Brothers 2000," and 16 television series, including "Fantasy Island" and "The Fall Guy."

A longtime community activist, Rawls visited schools, playgrounds and community centers in the 1960s, encouraging children to continue their studies and have confidence in their abilities.

In the '80s, he helped the United Negro College Fund raise more than $200 million through telethons.

In 1976, Rawls became the corporate spokesman for the Anheuser-Busch Cos. breweries.

Last month, Rawls' wife announced he was suffering cancer and suggested his condition is dire.

The lung cancer was diagnosed a year ago and the brain cancer in May.

"Don't count me out, brother," Rawls said at that time, from his room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. "There's been many people who have been diagnosed with this kind of thing, and they're still jumpin' and pumpin'."

Rawls, in the interview with the Arizona Republic, said he has received alternative and traditional medical treatments for lung cancer. He said he quit his regular smoking habit 35 years ago.

Besides his wife, Rawls is survived by four children: Louanna Rawls, Lou Rawls Jr., Kendra Smith and Aiden Rawls.