Lou

I adored Lou Rawls. "Velvety" is a term that's overused to describe voices, but I think it fits his. Nobody's singing could put me in the mood like his. Back in the '70s, my dad moonlighted as a jazz DJ, and sometimes when they were in town the musicians would personally stop by to drop off their latest albums to him to butter him up for extra play. Once, Lou stopped by. He ended up hanging out for the whole show and my dad could never say enough about him. He was smart, with-it, and a pleasure to hang out with. Not only talented, he was one cool cat.