YOU'RE GONNA MISS: Lou Rawls' amazing voice. Rawls passed away on Friday, a victim of cancer.
Lou Rawls had 6 songs hit the Billboard Top 40, including the sublime "Love Is A Hurtin' Thing" (#13, 1966), his best known hit "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" (#2, 1976), and the memorable "Lady Love" (#24, 1978).
The latter two hits resulted from his work with Philadelphia International Records, better known as "The Sound of Philadelphia." With the assistance of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, Rawls achieved his greatest success in the tight but heavily orchestrated Philly sound. Prior to his work with Gamble and Huff, Rawls had settled into a niche focusing on mature, adult music (I thought of him then as "one of those guys who is always playing in Vegas"). But "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" had a solid groove that led to the song getting substantial play in discos. Rawls had about 23 other songs hit the R&B charts.
Rawls released more than 70 albums, sold more than 40 million records, toured with The Beatles and appeared as an actor in motion pictures and on television, and voiced-over many cartoons. I find it noteworthy that his greatest success came after age 40, which would appear to be quite an unusual accomplishment in the music industry.
I will miss him.
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