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Rawls died of cancer this morning at Cedars, the LAT says. He had left Fremont Place for Scottsdale, Ariz in 2003. From the early Times obit: "After moving to Los Angeles in the 1950s, he joined the Chosen Gospel Singers, with whom he made his first recording. He next joined the Pilgrim Travelers, a gospel group that included a young friend from Chicago, Sam Cooke....After the Pilgrim Travelers broke up in 1959, Rawls launched his solo career, performing on the blues-oriented 'chitlin' circuit' and in small clubs and coffee houses in Los Angeles. He was performing at Pandora's Box, a small Sunset Boulevard club, when Capitol Records producer Nick Venet heard him sing." Seventy albums and three Grammy's later...
* Rawls fans know their stuff: Enough emails have come in questioning some of the Times details that it will be interesting to see what the final-edited obits agree on. Seems to be lots of feeling that Rawls was not a Pilgrim Traveler, but might have been in the Soul Stirrers. 5:35 pm
** Agreed: Both the LAT and NYT give details on Rawls' time with the Pilgrim Travelers, and there's an album to back them up. Saturday 1:45 pm
