Rawls Battling Cancer

Multi-Grammy winner Lou Rawls has been diagnosed with lung and brain cancer and doesn’t have long to live, his estranged wife and former manager, Nina Rawls, testified during a December 15th marriage annulment hearing in an Arizona courtroom.

Rawls, who’s under treatment at Los Angeles’ Cedar-Sinai hospital and not able to attend the hearing, disagreed with that assessment.

“Don’t count me out, brother,” Rawls, said in an interview. “There’s been many who have been diagnosed with this kind of thing, and they’re still jumpin’ and pumpin'”

Rawls added that he quit smoking 35 years ago and that he’s received traditional and alternative treatment for the disease.

The performer’s concert schedule for next year has been canceled as a result.

The 70-year-old crooner, who has sold more than 40 million albums in his four-decade career, is trying to get his two-year marriage annulled allegedly so he can protect hundreds of thousands of dollars he claims his estranged wife “absconded with,” according to court papers.

Nina Rawls denies the claim, saying she transferred nearly $350,000 into an account she has sole control over in order to prevent one of Rawls’ two daughters from seizing the cash.

A representative for Rawls was not available at press time.