Jazz singer Rawls weds girlfriend

Jazz and blues singer Lou Rawls married his girlfriend of two years on New Year's Day, it has been announced.

The 70-year-old singer, best-known for his 1976 hit You'll Never Find (Another Love Like Mine), wed flight attendant Nina Malek Inman, 33, in Memphis.

The wedding took place in front of a handful of people after Rawls had played concerts at Memphis' Liberty Bowl and Peabody Hotel.

The couple were engaged but had not planned to get married in Memphis.

Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton oversaw the ceremony in a room at the at the Peabody Hotel.

"We just looked at each other and said, 'Let's do it.' So we went to the city hall in Memphis and got the licence and our security guard knew the mayor real well so he called the mayor," Rawls said.

Rawls has won three Grammys during a singing career spanning 50 years.

He released the album Rawls Sings Sinatra in September and is currently planning a US tour.