Lou Rawls Vinyl Records
From gospel and early R&B to soul and jazz to blues and straight-up pop, Lou Rawls was a consummate master of vocal music whose versatility helped him adapt to the changing musical times over and over again while always remaining unmistakably himself. Blessed with a four-octave vocal range, Rawls' smooth, classy elegance -- sort of a cross between Sam Cooke and Nat King Cole -- permeated nearly everything he sang, yet the fire of his early gospel days was never too far from the surface. He made his name as a crooner, first by singing jazz standards, then by moving on to soul in the mid-'60s, capped off by the most commercial phase of his career: a productive stint at Philadelphia International during the latter half of the '70s.