Saw on the news earlier that Lou Rawls who was 72 has died from cancer.

Too young :(.

Lou was cool. And underrated as a singer. He also did a lot of charity work.

I was saddened when I read that in today's paper. He'll be missed.

José

Lou was a wonderful Entertainer and a great human being.

Back in the mid to late 1970's when I lived in Oklahoma City, a couple of my buddies and myself impersonated the Marx Bros. It was an act that we put together during High School and it acheived a certain degree of notoriety for us.
The local NBC affiliate station ( known as WKY at that time ) used to air a local late movie called SLEEPWALKERS' MATINEE starring COUNT GREGORE ( who was in reality, local tv personality John Ferguson ). We were frequent guest hosts on that program - on the nights they aired Marx Bros. movies. We would invade the good Count's Macabre Mansion and wreak havoc.

Well, these tv appearances and other tv spots led to several lucrative jobs for our act. On one occasion, we were entertaining for a group of Ad Execs ( which we did at the behest of John Ferguson ) in a building called the Lincoln Plaza. This just happened to be the same place where Lou Rawls would be performing later that evening.

Well, at one point, we ventured out into the hallway and who should we bump into? LOU RAWLS! We had been so wrapped up in our gig for that day that we forgot that HE was even in town - and all of the sudden, there he was - in person!
Well, he took a shine to us Marx Bros. ( just kids fresh out of high school ) and asked us if we would appear with him on stage during his performance that night! Of course we said 'YES!'

We worked up a quick bit of business with him backstage and at a particular point in the show, he brought us out on stage. It was an incredible experience for us, and audience reaction was tremendous! He was truly a professional and a genuine human being - a lovely, and personable guy!

His opening act, on the other hand, was this jerk comedian you may have heard of: Kip Addatta (sp?). He was considered a real pain in the neck.... but, we had a lower opinion of him. But, I digress....

Lou Rawls WILL be sorely missed. The world could sure use more entertainers of HIS calibre!

- GJS

Man....its sad when the good ones leave.

Robert Palmer was another GOOD and versitile entertainer who left this rock not too long ago, too bad most only heard his 'POP' hits.

That's a very cool story, Gary!

Thanx Scott. Lou Rawls was a Cool Guy. And one class act.

- GJS