Rawls Well

Friday, April 23, 2004 | 4:47 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

April 24 - 25, 2004

Who: Lou Rawls.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through May 2.

Where: The Orleans Showroom.

Tickets: $39.95.

Information: (702) 365-7075.

At an age when most men are slowing down, 68-year-old Lou Rawls is starting a new family.

In January the vocalist with the instantly recognizable baritone pipes married Nina Malek Inman, a 33-year-old flight attendant, at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tenn.

And his career continues to flourish, as he performs an estimated 200 concerts a year. Rawls will perform at The Orleans Thursday through May 2.

Rawls has won three Grammy Awards for best rhythm and blues vocal performance, including one for "Dead End Street" (1968), one for "A Natural Man" (1972) and the third for "Unmistakably Lou" (1978).

In September he released his latest album, "Rawls Sings Sinatra."

Two years ago Rawls produced and starred in the musical "Me & Mrs. Jones" in Philadelphia, a production inspired by the 1999 Broadway hit "Smokey Joe's Cafe."

After the show's three-month run ended, he said he hoped to take it on the road, perhaps even finding a permanent home for it in Las Vegas.

During a recent telephone interview from his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., Rawls spoke about the new direction his life has taken, about his career and about today's ever-changing world of entertainment.

Las Vegas Sun: What's new and exciting in your life?

Lou Rawls: I'm getting ready to cut back a little on my touring. I just recently got married and we're going to start a family, so I will have to cut back some.

Sun: That was kind of sudden, wasn't it?

LR: Yeah. We had been dating for about two years. We just looked at each other decided to do it. We were in Memphis. I was there for the Liberty Bowl.

Sun: You lost your liberty at the Liberty Bowl?

LR: You might say that. Our security guard knew the mayor, so the mayor married us at one minute past midnight on New Year's Day in a small room at the Peabody Hotel.

Sun: So you are going to cut back on your concert dates because you want spend more time with your new family?

LR: That, and running through airports isn't fun anymore, especially when they got the security thing going. It makes it rough. It's good that they have it, they've been doing it all over the United States, but it's still a hassle.

Once in Vegas, a year or so ago, somebody went out the emergency door of a plane and they shut the entire airport down. Everything stopped.

Sun: You once said you hoped to tour with your production, "Me & Mrs. Jones," and maybe bring it to Vegas. Is that still a possibility?

LR: It's off the table for the time being, but everything is still in place if something promising happens. We did 75 dates in Philadelphia. When the run ended, everything got kind of confused. That happens when you get too many cooks in the kitchen.

It would be an ideal production for Las Vegas. I'm sure it would hold up. All of the music is from the '60s, '70s and '80s. Familiar music, like the music of "Mamma Mia!" The people that are getting older now, when they hear these songs it refreshes the memories of their youth. They don't relate to the stuff that's being put out today. When they hear the songs from their past they go into a fantasy, "Yeah, I remember when I got my first car." Things like that. It brings back fond memories.

Sun: Your songs over the past 40 years bring back lots of memories. How did you get started in the business?

LR: Prior to R&B, back in the late '50s, I was in the gospel field, traveling on the road with a quartet that included myself and Sam Cooke. We had a bad auto accident. Sam wasn't hurt. But I was in a coma for five days.

After the accident, the group disbanded. As I was recuperating I was going around singing in little coffee houses around Los Angeles. One night a producer from Capitol Records heard me and gave me his card. He told me to come up and talk to him. I did an audition and they signed me.

Sun: Things have changed a lot in the recording industry since then. Are the changes good or bad?

LR: When I came along, they would take time to groom you and point you in the direction. They gave you a sense of presence, explained to you how it was done. Now they throw you out on the road -- young entertainers today don't even know how to walk onstage. They're lucky if they do one tour and they're gone.

Sun: What do you think of the state of music today?

LR: I think good music is starting to come back around. Some of the newer artists are pretty talented.

Sun: You've been associated with Las Vegas since the earliest days of your career. When did you first perform here?

LR: The first time I played Vegas was back in the early '60s at the old Thunderbird. I was with Pearl Bailey and Louie Belzer.

I knew Sammy Davis Jr., and through him I met Frank (Sinatra) and Dean (Martin) and guys like that. I got to know a lot of comedians. We would meet up at the old Flamingo coffee house or at the Sahara after a show and just hang out. The comedians were stealing material from each other. It was a fun time.

Sun: A lot of legends in the music business are bothered by the direction music is taking today. What is your opinion?

LR: That's my feeling, too. When I did the album "Rawls Sings Sinatra" it was because I want to try and revive the era when good music was being made. Frank was one of the leaders.

I'm all for reviving the music and introducing it to today's young people.