Famous church is destroyed by blaze

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Jan 7, 2006

Fire has destroyed a landmark 1890 church on Chicago's South Side that played a major role in the development of gospel music in the 1930s.

A portion of the eastern wall of the Pilgrim Baptist Church collapsed as firefighters battled the blaze at the church yesterday.

The church, a designated landmark since 1981, was designed by the famous architectural firm of Adler & Sullivan and built between 1890 and 1891.

Meanwhile, Lou Rawls, the velvet-voiced singer who started as a church choir boy and went on to record such classic tunes as You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine, has died of cancer. He was 72.

Rawls had been in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, Los Angeles, for a month for lung and brain cancer treatment.

Rawls was raised on the South Side of Chicago by his grandmother, who shared her love of gospel music with him.

He was also influenced by doo-wop and harmonised with his high school classmate Sam Cooke. The two friends joined groups such as the Teenage Kings of Harmony.

Rawls' trademark was his smooth, four-octave voice ( the "silkiest chops in the singing game", Frank Sinatra once said.

Rawls is survived by his wife and four children.