NEW YORK -- Lou Rawls will dun anybody for contributions to the United Negro College Fund -- including President Reagan.
What's more, he collected.
Rawls ordinarily raises money for UNCF by hosting its annual telethon -- he will be doing it for the sixth time on Dec. 28.
'The president called me to the White House a year ago to commend me on the work of helping to keep these historic colleges in this great country alive and well,' Rawls said in an interview.
'I told him he should give us some money and he donated some.
'Well, Nancy did,' Rawls added with a laugh. 'She pulls the purse strings in that family.'
Some 21 million Americans are expected to watch the syndicated 'Lou Rawls Parade of Stars,' from 6 p.m. to midnight -- and Rawls is proud to boast that it is the only telethon to benefit a black cause and the only one to benefit education.
Rawls' co-hosts this year will be Ed McMahon and Marilyn McCoo, and the guest list, long and impressive, includes Diahann Carroll, Dick Clark, Robert Culp, Barbara Eden, Marla Gibbs, Ann Jillian, B.B. King, Patti LaBelle, Donna Mills, Stephanie Mills, New Edition, Della Reese, Ben Vereen, Deniece Williams and Nancy Wilson.
Rawls said the telethon was the result of a conversation years ago with August Busch III of Anheuser-Busch about community projects they could do together. The UNCF idea appealed to Rawls because it is a broad spectrum cause, not one limited to a single group of people.
'I was not fortunate enough to get a college education myself,' Rawls said, 'but in my travels as an entertainer I have been able to see the advantages of education.
'The 43 black colleges in UNCF are first rate schools. Thirty-five of the black mayors in America come from UNCF schools. So do the overwhelming percentage of pharmacists and politicians, even a few state governors.'
Rawls himself went to high school in Chicago and was studying to be a commercial artist when he found himself increasingly interested in singing and in music.
Rawls, who also hosts the Black Gold Award, has a single record out - 'Let's Learn to Love Again,' sung in duet with Tata Vega. The song will be on his new album, 'Let Me Love Your Blues Away,' out toward the end of January.
'Popular music is changing,' Rawls said. 'It's about time. It is reverting to what, to my way of thinking, is music that is listenable and acceptable. There's more music now you can listen to and not be irritated.
'In the '60s and '70s and into the '80s it's all been this sort of heavy metal, heavy rock thing. All the public doesn't relate to that.
'As the generation of kids of the late '60s and '70s come into adulthood, they don't want to hear that stuff any more. They want the big band sound of Count Basie and Duke Ellington and Buddy Rich. That's music.'
Rawls doesn't knock all the rock groups.
'Some recording groups,' he said, 'like Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears try for the big band flavor, instead of that heavy back beat that gives you a headache.'
