Louis Allen Rawls was an American singer, songwriter, actor, voice actor, and record producer. Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably his song "You'll Never Find Another Love like Mine". He worked as a film, television, and voice actor. He was also a three-time Grammy-winner, all for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

After graduating from Dunbar Vocational High School, he sang briefly with Cooke in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a gospel group, and then with the Holy Wonders. In 1951, he replaced Cooke in the Highway QC's after Cooke departed to join The Soul Stirrers in Los Angeles. Rawls was hired by the Chosen Gospel Singers and moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the Pilgrim Travelers. 

In 1955, Rawls enlisted in the United States Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He left the All-Americans three years later as a sergeant and rejoined the Pilgrim Travelers (then known as the Travelers). In 1958, while touring the South with the Travelers and Sam Cooke, Rawls was in a car crash. He was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital, where he stayed in a coma for five and a half days. He spent a year recuperating and several months before his memory returned. He considered the crash a life-changing event.

With Dick Clark as master of ceremonies, Rawls was able to perform at the Hollywood Bowl in 1959. His first two singles were "Love, Love, Love" and "Walkin' (For Miles)" for Shar-Dee Records, a label owned by Herb Alpert. "In My Little Black Book" and "80 Ways" were released a year later by Candix Records. In 1962 he signed a contract with Capitol Records and sang backing vocals on "Bring It On Home to Me" and "That's Where It's At", both written by Cooke.  Rawls charted with a cover of "Bring It On Home to Me" in 1970 (with the title shortened to "Bring It On Home"). 

Stormy Monday, a jazz album with Les McCann, was released in 1962. The next two Capitol albums (Black and Blue, Tobacco Road) sold well and employed Onzy Matthews as musical director and a 17-piece big band. Both albums reached the Billboard magazine charts and propelled his career.

Although his 1966 album Live! was certified gold, Rawls would not have a star-making hit until he made a soul album, named Soulin' , later that same year. The album contained "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing". his first R&B No.1 single. In 1967 he won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance for the single "Dead End Street". In 1967, he performed at the first evening of the Monterey International Pop Music Festival.
 

In 1969, Rawls was co-host of NBC's summer replacement series for the Dean Martin Show with Martin's daughter, singer Gail Martin. After leaving Capitol in 1971, he signed with MGM and released the single "Natural Man" written for him by comedian Sandy Baron and singer Bobby Hebb. For Bell Records in 1974 he recorded a cover version of "She's Gone" by Hall & Oates. Two years later with his new manager Martin Pichinson, he signed with Philadelphia International and recorded All Things in Time, which sold a million copies. "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" became his biggest selling single, selling a million copies, topping the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts, and reaching No. 2 on the pop chart. The hit single "Lady Love" followed, from the 1977 album When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All.

In 1980, Rawls began the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon which benefits the United Negro College Fund. The annual event, known since 1998 as "An Evening of Stars: A Celebration of Educational Excellence", consists of stories of successful black students who have benefited from and/or graduated from one of the many historically black colleges and universities who receive support from the UNCF, along with musical performances from various recording artists in support of the UNCF's and Rawls' efforts. The event raised over US$250 million for the fund at the time of Rawls' death in 2006.

Rawls appeared in a segment aired during the first season of Sesame Street to sing the alphabet. He dismissed the concept of using cue cards for the performance but reversed that decision when he forgot the order of the letters. He was a guest during the second season of The Muppet Show.

His first acting credit was in the western television series The Big Valley (starring Barbara Stanwyck, along with Lee Majors and Linda Evans). He appeared in the films Leaving Las Vegas, Blues Brothers 2000, and Angel, Angel, Down We Go. He had a role and sang in Lookin' Italian (1994), an independent film about the mafia. He had a supporting role in Baywatch Nights. He was a guest host on Jazz Central, a television program that was broadcast on the BET channel. He was also in an episode of Mannix (with Mike Connors) - Episode 21 - 'Lifeline' in Season 5.

For many years, he was a spokesperson for the Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company. First appearing in television and radio commercials in the mid-to-late 1960s for Spur Malt Liquor, a Rainier Brewing Company product in Seattle. He appeared in a number of Budweiser advertisements. Budweiser was a sponsor for the Rawls telethon and UNCF. There was no attempt to avoid the similarity between the title of the 1977 album When You've Heard Lou, You've Heard It All and his corporate sponsor's slogan "When You Say Bud, You've Said It All". A track on the 1978 album Lou Rawls Live features him singing the commercial slogan. Anheuser-Busch, the brewers of Budweiser, suggested his telethon work to him.

Rawls lent his rich baritone to cartoons, including Hey Arnold!, Garfield, Captain Planet and the Planeteers and The Proud Family. For many of the Film Roman Garfield specials, Rawls would often compose songs, which he would then sing usually doing a duet with Desiree Goyette, as well as the singing voice of the title character himself.

In December 2005, it was announced that Rawls was being treated for lung cancer that spread to his brain. He died from this illness on January 6, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

Lou Rawls' final television performance occurred during the 2005–2006 edition of the telethon, honoring Stevie Wonder in September 2005 months before entering the hospital and after having been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year. He performed "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and "It Was A Very Good Year" as a tribute to Frank Sinatra.

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