Lou Rawls Dies At 72

Lou Rawls, the velvet-voiced singer who started as a church choir boy 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.