Singer, Songwriter, Musician. He recorded the 1966 hit "Sunny", which peaked at number two on the Billboard pop charts, and currently ranks at number 25 in the Broadcast Music Incorporated's (BMI) Top 100 songs of the century. He wrote the hit single days after the knife slaying of his brother Harold in a Nashville nightclub assault, and the assassination of President of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. He began his career in the 1950s as a musician and dancer with the Roy Acuff band, and also appeared as a backup musician with the Smoky Mountain Boys. He became one of the first black entertainers to appear and perform on the Grand Ole Opry Show in Nashville. During the 1960s he toured with the Beatles and later wrote and recorded with Marvin Gaye. In 1971 he co-wrote "A Natural Man" with Sandy Barron, earning Lou Rawls a Grammy Award. He also went on to record the hits "A Satisfied Man" (1966), and "Love Me" in 1967. He died at the Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee from lung cancer.
Singer, Songwriter, Musician. He recorded the 1966 hit "Sunny", which peaked at number two on the Billboard pop charts, and currently ranks at number 25 in the Broadcast Music Incorporated's (BMI) Top 100 songs of the century. He wrote the hit single days after the knife slaying of his brother Harold in a Nashville nightclub assault, and the assassination of President of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. He began his career in the 1950s as a musician and dancer with the Roy Acuff band, and also appeared as a backup musician with the Smoky Mountain Boys. He became one of the first black entertainers to appear and perform on the Grand Ole Opry Show in Nashville. During the 1960s he toured with the Beatles and later wrote and recorded with Marvin Gaye. In 1971 he co-wrote "A Natural Man" with Sandy Barron, earning Lou Rawls a Grammy Award. He also went on to record the hits "A Satisfied Man" (1966), and "Love Me" in 1967. He died at the Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee from lung cancer.
Bio by: Nils M. Solsvik Jr.
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