Ray Charles

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The American jazz musician Ray Charles (born 1932) was widely admired as a singer, pianist, and composer. He combined elements of jazz, gospel and rhythm-and-blues to create a new kind of African-American music, known as soul.

Ray Charles Robinson was born in Albany, Georgia, on September 23, 1932. His father, Bailey Robinson, worked as a mechanic and handyman; his mother, Reather Robinson, worked in a sawmill. In order to avoid being confused with boxing champion Ray Robinson, he dropped his last name and was known as Ray Charles.

Suffered Blindness and Loss

The family moved from Albany, Georgia, to Greenville, Florida, when Charles was still a child. In Greenville, at the age of five, he began to go blind. At the age of seven, his right eye was removed, soon after which he became totally blind. At the Saint Augustine School for the Blind, in Florida, he learned to read Braille and began his musicianship as a pianist and clarinetist/saxophonist. His blindness required that he exercise his formidable memory for music aided by his gift of perfect pitch.

At 15 years of age, Charles lost his mother; two years later his father passed away. Suffering, somehow, always produces the greater artist. Charles, early orphaned and blind, suffered and grew in the capacity for emotion which infused his music.

Began Career With Country/Western Bands

Upon graduation from the Saint Augustine School, Charles traveled with country/western road bands - an experience he was to capitalize on later when he added country/western songs to his repertoire. Shortly afterwards, he began touring with rhythm-and-blues bands, working as a pianist, clarinetist, saxophonist, arranger, and composer.

As a singer, Charles was early influenced by blues singers Guitar Slim and Percy Mayfield. At the piano he was influenced by the jazz arrangements of Lloyd Glenn. Forever present in his style was the idiom of gospel music, sometimes subsumed by the other styles he sang; sometimes emerging in his pronunciation; sometimes predominating, as soul music. Charles' romantic ballad singing continued fundamentally in the suave Nat Cole school, but was embellished by deep-throated gospel growls and phenomenal falsetto which was frequently mistaken for a female soprano voice. The texture of his voice, his mixing of styles, his consummate musicianship, his versatile falsetto range, and his emotional appeal produced a unique vocal artistry which crossed even language barriers, but for an English-speaking audience his story-telling power added the dimension of meaning that provided a totally emotional experience not often equaled in any quarter of musical art.

Invented Soul

In 1954 an historic recording session with Atlantic records fused gospel with rhythm-and-blues and established Charles' "sweet new style" in American music. One number recorded at that session was destined to become his first great success. Secularizing the gospel hymn "My Jesus Is All the World to Me," Charles employed the 8-and 16-measure forms of gospel music, in conjunction with the 12-measure form of standard blues. Charles contended that his invention of soul music resulted from the heightening of the intensity of the emotion expressed by jazz through the charging of feeling in the unbridled way of gospel. When "It Don't Mean a Thing, If It Ain't Got That Swing" combines with "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," the result is a beat hard to beat, and Charles never sang a note that was not perfectly on pitch or did not swing in his exceptional rhythmical contexts.

In 1959, on the ABC-Paramount label, Charles recorded his legendary "Georgia on my Mind." In 1961 he won the first of five consecutive polls conducted among international jazz critics by Downbeat magazine. Charles won several Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. His virtuosity was internationally recognized. In 1976, he recorded songs from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess with Cleo Laine.

A Pepsi endorsement in the 1990s ensured that Charles would be known to a new generation of music lovers. He kept the albums coming, including My World, The Best of Ray Charles: The Atlantic Years, and Love Affair, and he even had a cameo in the 1996 movie Spy Hard.

Views on Elvis

In 1994, Charles appeared on the NBC news show "Now," admitting that "I'm probably going to lose at least a third of my fans," but telling interviewer Bob Costas that Elvis imitated what African-American artists were already doing. "To say that Elvis was … 'the king,' I don't think of Elvis like that because I know too many artists that were far greater than Elvis." While this statement caused a stir, it was known that rock-and-roll, especially in the early years, was heavily rooted in blues, and many rock artists performed and popularized music that originally belonged to African-American blues singers.

Although described by Nat Hentoff as living within "concentric circles of isolation," Charles was married to the former Della Altwine, herself a gospel singer, with whom he had three children. He was also known to enjoy good friendship with Stevie Wonder and other musicians. Yet there was a loneliness in his music, a kind of self-intimacy which was, perhaps, best reflected in his 1961 recordings with Betty Carter and his recordings from Porgy and Bess.

Of course, loneliness is inherent in the blues, but so much in the art depends upon the feelings of the interpreter that it is clear that there was a kind of loneliness inherent in Charles, himself; a loneliness that we are reminded that we share whenever we hear him sing. There is no more existential art than the art of music, which exists as creative experience only in the time of its performance. As Charles best put it himself, in a 1989 Downbeat interview with Jeff Levinson:

And then you have another kind of person like myself, for whom music is like the bloodstream. It is their total existence. When their music dies, they die. That's me. That's the difference.

How can you get tired of breathing? Music is my breathing. That's my apparatus. I've been doing it for 40 years. And I'm going to do it until God himself says, "Brother Ray, you've been a nice horse, but now I'm going to put you out to pasture."

Further Reading

There is no full-length biography of Ray Charles at this time. Information can be found in Downbeat (January 1989); Ebony (April 1963); New York Post (January 4, 1962); New York Times (October 8, 1961); Newsweek (November 13, 1961); Saturday Evening Post (August 24, 1963); Show Business Illustrated (March 1962); TIME (May 10, 1963); Leonard Feather, Encyclopedia of Jazz (1960); American Heritage (August-September, 1986); Esquire (May, 1986); Rolling Stone (February 13, 1986); and Jet (July 25, 1994).

musician; singer; composer; music arranger

Personal Information

Born Ray Charles Robinson on September 23, 1930, in Albany, GA; died June 10, 2004, in Beverly Hills, CA; son of Bailey and Aretha Robinson; married twice, to Eileen and Della; children: twelve children.

Career

Recording artist, 1956-2004. Began touring with dance bands at age 15; recording artist, for Atlantic Records, 1952-59, ABC-Paramount, 1959-65, and his own labels, Tangerine Records 1965-73, and Crossover Records Co., 1973-2004.

Life's Work

Above all his many talents, singing great Ray Charles had the ability to interpret and sing songs in such a way as to fill the words from the depths of his own heart, carrying this emotion to the listener. "I sing the songs for what they mean to me," Charles was quoted in Joe Goldberg's Jazz Masters of the Fifties. However, his highly regarded singing long tended to obscure his other considerable accomplishments as a blues pianist, band leader, composer, and arranger. "Jazz musicians speak of a quality called 'the cry,' a quality that echoes the blues no matter what is being played. The cry of blues permeates every Charles performance," wrote Goldberg.

Despite being born into extreme poverty, Ray Charles created a prolific body of work spanning five decades. Proficient in numerous styles, Ray's recordings are rich in blues, jazz, and country, and he was often spoken of as the nation's best rock n' roll singer, best jazz singer, and best pop singer, his preeminence challenged only by Frank Sinatra. Frequently imitated, and honored with countless awards during his career, Charles is best known as the "Father of Soul Music." Charles himself never cared to be pigeonholed into any one category. When told that he had successfully avoided all attempts to be categorized, he replied in Goldberg's book: "I consider that a compliment. I don't want to be branded. I don't want the rhythm-and-blues brand, or the pop brand, or any other. That's why I try all these different things.... I know not everybody likes everything I do. Some like one thing, and some another. But I try to please everybody, while doing what I want. I'm an entertainer."

Lost His Sight at an Early Age

Ray Charles Robinson was born in Albany, Georgia, on September 23, 1930. Charles's absent father, Bailey Robinson, was a migrant railroad worker who never knew his son. Charles and his beloved mother Aretha moved to Greenville, Florida, when Charles was six months old. Times were tough for the young family. In his autobiography, Brother Ray, Charles recalled that "Even compared to the other blacks in Greenville, we were at the bottom of the ladder." Tragically, at the age of five, young Ray helplessly watched as his four-year-old brother George drowned in a washtub. Thereafter, Charles's eyesight worsened considerably from glaucoma, leaving him completely blind by the age of seven. Charles then attended a state school in St. Augustine for the deaf and blind.

While in St. Augustine, Charles learned to read, compose, and write music in braille, as well as to play the clarinet, trumpet, saxophone, and keyboards. Though Charles became familiar with classical music there, it was at the upright piano of Wylie Pittman, a local grocer, where Charles first experienced playing the piano. Robert Palmer writes that Charles fondly recalls visiting Wylie's after school, where "... he'd let me sit on the piano stool or in the chair next to him and bang on the piano with him." Charles credits four pianists as influencing him the most as a child: Art Tatum, Bud Powell, King Cole, and Oscar Peterson. Ray's excellence as a blues pianist is evident on his instrumental albums, including The Great Ray Charles. Arranger Quincy Jones credits Chalres's piano abilities as a major factor in the success of his recordings. Young Charles possessed a natural talent for music and, by age twelve, was reportedly able to arrange and score all parts of big band or orchestral music. As a child, Charles listened to a wide variety of blues and swing along with the weekly Grand Ole Opry and gospel music of his Baptist church.

While in St. Augustine at age 15, Charles learned of his mother's death. Ray's father had also died several years earlier. With no immediate family left, Charles moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in search of work. Charles recalled those days as being rough times, however, he felt that his youth provided him with a certain resilience. Soon, Charles was playing in numerous small bands across the state of Florida. By 1948, now 18 years old, Charles was a seasoned road musician. By this time, however, Charles had become acquainted with heroin, which he continued using for many years to come. However, the ambitious Charles was determined to make his way in music and he purchased an early wire recorder, recording some demo tapes in Tampa, Florida.

Seasoned on the Road

Once he had saved around $600 from performances, Charles traveled to the West Coast, settling for a time in Seattle. Out west, Charles met Quincy Jones and Bumps Blackwell, producer of the original Little Richard hits. Charles also successfully assembled a trio of guitar, bass, and piano, dropping his last name Robinson so as not to be confused with then popular boxer, Sugar Ray Robinson. Charles's trio came to the attention of Jack Lauderdale of Downbeat and later Swingtime records. By 1950, Charles had moved to Los Angeles and was cutting records for Swingtime. One of Charles's daughters was also born during this year by a woman named Louise. (He would ultimately father twelve children.)

In 1951, Charles recorded a hit popular with the black community known as "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand," which reached the Top 10 on the rhythm-and-blues charts. This, along with other Swingtime singles, were in the style of Nat King Cole and Charles Brown, as young Charles had not yet mastered his own style. Charles tried to sound like them in order to get work, especially club work.

During this same period, Charles toured with blues singer Lowell Fulsom and became the pianist for Fulsom's band. Near the end of 1951, Swingtime records opted to drop Charles, and Atlantic Records partners Ahmet Ertegun, Herb Abramson, and Jerry Wexler snatched Charles up without ever having seen him, paying around $2,500 for his contract. For his beginning sessions with Atlantic, Charles was teamed with an extraordinarily talented group of New York studio players under the direction of Jesse Stone, including guitarist Mickey Baker, drummer Connie Kay, and bassist Lloyd Trotman. For Atlantic, Charles was never considered as just another artist. To them, Charles was a musical genius with a lot more to offer than writing and singing songs.

Charles worked out of New Orleans for much of 1953, the final period of his formative years. However, the Louisiana rhythm had less effect on his overall work than some have speculated. By this time, Charles was well on his way to a comfortable, innovative style. Actually, his mid-fifties band arrangements more closely resembled the style of James Brown than New Orleans rhythm-and-blues. Charles's original style also emerged as a result of his work with "Guitar Slim," whose crude gospel blues greatly influenced him. Charles even arranged Slim's million-selling single, "Things That I Used to Do." Early recordings are based on blues and gospel forms, including the soulful, "A Fool For You," "What Would I Do Without You?," "It's Allright," and "Drown In My Own Tears." During this time, Charles divorced his wife of approximately 16 months, a beautician named Eileen, and subsequently remarried a woman by the name of Della.

Developed Unique Sound

By 1954, Charles began to create songs which differed radically from his expert imitations of Nat King Cole, Charles Brown, and Louis Jordan. Charles united gospel and blues music to help form a sound known as soul music. Once Charles's new music caught on, he became known as "The Genius" and "The Bishop." From New Orleans, Charles moved on to Dallas, where he put together his first true band, with bandleader Renald Richard. The band began performing with Ruth Brown from El Paso throughout Florida. During this time, saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman joined the band, and Charles and Richard developed the song, "I Got a Woman," which marked the turning point in Charles's music from rhythm-and-blues to soul, exuding the fervor of the Baptist Church. In November of 1954 Charles extended an invitation to Atlantic executives Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler to come hear his new music at the Peacock Club in Atlanta. It was there that Wexler first realized the overall change in Charles's music. However, Nesuhi Ertegun, Ahmet's brother, acknowledged that Charles's style was not necessarily unique, as noted by author Robert Palmer, "Ray was not the first to do this, combine gospel and blues. He is the best of a long tradition, but there were people singing this way twenty years ago. But Ray was able to bring so much of his own to it."

Early Atlantic recordings were made with Charles while he performed in Atlanta, Florida, and New York. Nesuhi Ertegun viewed this as an advantage for recording purposes, as it gave Charles a chance to work out his arrangements on the road. Upon Charles's return to Atlanta, Wexler and Ertegun managed to produce his first number one hit album, Ray Charles, a confirmation of the greatness of Ray Charles. The single "I Got a Woman" also soared to number one on the rhythm-and-blues charts. The extraordinary success of his new style, both commercially and artistically, spurred similar hit songs to follow, including, "This Little Girl of Mine" (1955), "Talkin' 'Bout You" (1957), and "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying" (1959), whose call-and-response style was fully realized with Charles's mega-hit, "What'd I Say?" in 1959. This song remains a favorite closing number among performing soul singers worldwide.

It was during this period that America's white youth discovered recordings by black artists. Elvis Presley had helped to erode racial barriers and, in fact, was somewhat of a Ray Charles fan. However, despite the fact that Atlantic executives wished to pursue sales in the white pop marketplace, Charles refused to compromise his musical style with the simpler beat, adolescent lyrics, and smoother singing. Charles continued with his soulful music, and his recordings continued to sell, albeit largely among the black community. Atlantic continued to support Charles in his endeavors, hence, his soul music was undiluted and some of his landmark songs from this time were even more soulful than his earlier recordings, including "Come Back Baby," "Drown In My Own Tears," and "Hallelujah I Love Her So."

Became "Father of Soul"

Despite his early success in soul music, Charles never fully accepted the accolade of "father of soul." Said Charles to Robert Palmer: "When people ask me what I think about soul music.... I think all these terms are names that the media give the music in order to try to describe what they mean. I don't know the difference between rhythm-and-blues, soul music, and the black version of disco; the rhythm patterns are the same." Charles also shied away from taking credit for the creation of rock 'n' roll, feeling that his music was more adult and filled with despair, considering rhythm-and-blues as genuine down-to-earth Negro music. Of all Charles's tunes from the mid-fifties, only "Swanee River Rock" remotely resembles rock 'n' roll, and it became Charles's first significant pop hit, reaching number 34 on the Billboard chart. In Jazz Masters of the Fifties, Charles spoke of his work in this way: "The things I write and sing about concern the general Joe and his general problems. There are four basic things: love, somebody runnin' his mouth too much, having fun, and jobs are hard to get.... When I put myself in the place of the...general Joe I'm singing about,... I sing with all the feeling I can put into it, so that I can feel it myself."

Luckily for Charles his band was both flexible and talented enough to accommodate his sense of musical perfection. Until 1959, Charles's band had two saxophonists, with Charles playing a third, alto sax. He realized a stroke of luck when, around this time, baritone saxophonist Leroy "Hog" Cooper joined the band. The band now consisted of Hank Crawford on alto, Newman on tenor, and Cooper on baritone sax. There were also two trumpeters, Joe Bridgewater and Marcus Belgrave, with William Peoples as the primary drummer and Roosevelt Sheffield as bassist. Between 1957 and 1959, with the expansion of his band, Charles delved into greater musical forays, including an extended interest in country and western music. From here, Charles recruited three female singers to contrast against his voice, reminiscent of traditional call-and-response gospel singing. The female singers included Mary Ann Fisher, Darlene McRae, and Margie Hendrix. Thereafter, the chorus became known as the "Raeletts." The hit single, "What Kind of Man Are You" is a splendid example of the intense, spiritual feel added by the Raeletts. "What'd I Say?" his first million-seller song, was one of the finest renderings of the call-and-response pattern between Ray Charles and his new girls. The suggestion of sex in this particular song, however, resulted in its first being played only by black radio stations until it was played by Elvis Presley, at which time the white radio stations also picked it up.

Despite past inconsistencies in terms of concert arrival times, drug abuse, and temperamental ways, Charles was always a superb musician and gracious performer who captivated his audience. Fortunately, Atlantic records took advantage of Charles's live audience appeal, recording two in-person appearances, Ray Charles at Newport and Ray Charles in Person, where the live vocals take on a quality not easily captured in the studio. It was the Atlantic executives who first recognized Charles as a genius, not hesitating to call him such, as they considered Charles's whole approach to music as very different from anybody else's. During his final days with Atlantic, Charles experimented with a passion, leaving Atlantic with his final recording, The Genius of Ray Charles, which freed him from the stereotype of rock 'n' roll singer and sealing him firmly as "Mr. Soul." Charles had a large hand in the arrangement of this album, resulting in three triumphant singles, "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'," "Am I Blue," and "Come Rain or Come Shine." When Charles's Atlantic contract expired in late 1959, ABC-Paramount made him a rare and generous offer and he moved on.

Experienced Highs and Lows

In 1961 Ray Charles and Betty Carter collaborated on an album that produced the hit, "Baby It's Cold Outside." While Atlantic felt a terrible loss when Charles left, ABC was well satisfied as Charles churned out one mega-hit after another, including, "Georgia on My Mind" in 1960 and "Hit the Road Jack" in 1961, thereby establishing himself as an international artist. In 1962, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was released to massive sales. A single from this album, "I Can't Stop Loving You," sold three million copies. Though Charles's crossover into country music caused significant controversy, the popularity of his recording spawned a second volume under the same name with several more hits. Charles did not become mainstream, like most black country artists, but rather, retained his gospel-blues sound. Charles changed stylistically somewhat, though, in 1961, as he moved from a blues shouter to a crooner of soul, achieving a phenomenal sweep of four Grammy awards in 1961 for Best Vocal Performer (male), Best Single ("Georgia on My Mind"), Best Album (The Genius of Ray Charles), and Best Song ("Let the Good Times Roll").

While Charles was an unquestioned musical success, he was also a long-term drug user. On November 14, 1961, Charles was arrested on a narcotics charge in an Indiana hotel room, where he waited to perform. The detectives seized heroin, marijuana, and other items. Charles, then 31 years old, stated that he had been a drug addict since the age of 16. While the case was dismissed because of the manner in which the evidence was obtained, Charles's situation did not improve until a few years later. Individuals who cared for Charles, such as Quincy Jones and Reverend Henry Griffin, felt that those around Charles were responsible for his drug use, as he was unable to obtain or administer drugs to himself, given his blindness. By 1964 Charles's drug addiction caught up with him and he was arrested for possession of marijuana and heroin. Following a self-imposed stay at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, California, where he kicked his drug habit in 96 hours, Charles received five years probation. Charles responded to the saga of his drug abuse and reform with the songs "I Don't Need No Doctor," "Let's Go Get Stoned," and the release of his first album since kicking his heroin habit in 1966, the impassioned Crying Time.

From the late 1960s onward, Charles was no longer at the forefront of musical innovation, but that did not mean that he wasn't producing excellent music. His musical releases had shifted from strong gospel and R&B to softer pop, jazz, and country songs, and he recorded many popular songs. In 1973, Charles left ABC to form Crossover Records with Atlantic, his original company. He continued to influence other musicians such as Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Steve Winwood, and Joe Cocker, earning numerous awards and countless hits along the way. By the late 1970s, however, Charles's 20-year marriage to Della Robinson had ended. His lengthy absences and womanizing were contributing factors to the breakdown of the marriage.

A Lifetime of Achievement

From the 1970s onward, Ray Charles was a major celebrity, recording numerous albums, accumulating awards, and making several film and television appearances. He composed songs for films and television shows, including the theme song for the sitcom Three's Company and "Beers to You" for the Clint Eastwood film Any Which Way You Can. He appeared in the film The Blues Brothers as well as television's Moonlighting. In 1979, his rendition of "Georgia on My Mind" was officially named Georgia's state song. Charles was one of the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and in 1988 he was awarded the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1991 Charles's selection by Pepsi- Cola to act as their spokesman with a catchy "Uh-Huh" theme introduced his music to a new generation of listeners. In 1994, Charles was honored with a twelfth Grammy Award for his rendition of "Song for You." A 1997 collection of his hits, Genius and Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection, had critics and fans taking a trip down memory lane.

Charles continued to tour and to make music until the very end of his life. His last tour, in 2003, was cut short by illness, yet despite his illness he worked that year to produce an album of duets, Genius Loves Company, which featured Charles performing with such greats as Norah Jones, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, and B.B. King. When Charles died in his Beverly Hills, California, home on June 10, 2004, the music world mourned the passing of a legend. Performers and executives from across the industry celebrated his great career, and Newsweek commented that "Generations of singers have wanted to sound like him. No one comes close." A movie celebrating Charles's life, Ray, was already in the works, and its release in October of 2004 was greeted with critical accolades, especially the performance of Jamie Foxx in the lead role.

Awards

Selected: 16th International Jazz Critics Poll, named #1 male singer, 1968; NAACP, Image Award, 1983; Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductee, 1986; Kennedy Center Honors recipient, 1986; 12 Grammy awards, including Lifetime Achievement Award, 1987; National Medal of Arts, 1993; Ebony magazine, Lifetime Achievement Award, 1994.

Works

Selected discography

• Ray Charles, Atlantic, 1957; re-released as Hallelujah, I Love Her So, WEA International, 2003.
• What'd I Say, Atlantic, 1958.
• Ray Charles at Newport, Atlantic, 1958.
• What'd I Say, Atlantic, 1959.
• The Genius of Ray Charles, Atlantic, 1959.
• The Genius Sings the Blues, Atlantic, 1960.
• Ray Charles in Person, Atlantic, 1960.
• The Genius Hits the Road, ABC, 1960.
• Genius + Soul = Jazz, ABC, 1961.
• Modern Sounds in Country and Western, ABC, 1961.
• Modern Sounds in Country and Western Volume 2, ABC, 1962.
• Crying Time, ABC, 1966.
• Ray's Moods, ABC/Paramount, 1966.
• Doing His Thing, ABC/Tangerine, 1969.
• Volcanic Action of My Soul, ABC/Tangerine, 1971.
• Brother Ray Is at It Again, Atlantic, 1980.
• The Spirit of Christmas, Rhino, 1985.
• My World, Warner Brothers, 1993.
• Genius and Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection, Rhino, 1997.
• Thanks for Bringing Love Around Again, Crossover, 2002.
• Genius Loves Company, Concord/Hear Music, 2004.

Further Reading

Books

• Charles, Ray, with David Ritz, Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story, Dial Press, 1978, revised, 1992.
• Goldberg, Joe, Jazz Masters of the Fifties, Macmillan, 1965.
• Lydon, Michael, Ray Charles: Man and Music, Routledge, 2004.
• Palmer, Robert, The Birth of Soul (discography booklet insert), Atlantic Records, 1991.
• White, Timothy, Rock Lives, Henry Holt, 1990.
• Winski, Norman, Ray Charles, Melrose Square, 1994.

Periodicals

• Newsweek, June 21, 2004.
• Time, June 21, 2004.

On-line

• Ray Charles, www.raycharles.com (November 4, 2004).

— Marilyn Williams and Tom Pendergast

Ray Charles is being honored with an exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland less than a year after his death. The exhibit, which will remain open through September, includes some of Charles' awards, selections from his Braille library, his eyeglasses, original instruments, and more.

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From our Archives: Today's Highlights, January 5, 2005

Charles, Ray (Ray Charles Robinson), 1930-2004, African-American musician and composer, b. Albany, Ga. Blinded at age seven, he was raised in Florida and at 16 began singing in a local hillbilly group. Two years later he moved to Seattle, where he formed his own trio. Charles rose to fame in the 1950s singing rhythm-and-blues tunes in an exuberant yet sophisticated style to the accompaniment of his piano and band. He had his first national recorded hit, "I've Got a Woman," in 1955. Combining sacred styles with the secular and rooted in gospel music and the blues, his work infused soul into a variety of genres, and it influenced, and was influenced by, jazz and rock music. Among Charles's greatest hits were "Whad'd I Say" (1959), "Georgia on My Mind" (1960), and his soulful rendition of "America the Beautiful" (1984). An outstanding live performer, he also recorded more than 60 albums and won 12 Grammy awards. He was inducted into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

Bibliography

See his autobiography (1978); biographies by D. Ritz (1978) and M. Lydon (1999).

Quotes:

"I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great."

"I'm not into the money thing. You can only sleep in one bed at a time. You can only eat one meal at a time, or be in one car at a time. So I don't have to have millions of dollars to be happy. All I need are clothes on my back, a decent meal, and a little loving when I feel like it. That's the bottom line."

"There's nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, If you believe in Me, you ain't going to have no troubles."

Biography

One of the father's of contemporary soul, Ray Charles has become an American musical institution. Born Ray Charles Robinson in a small Georgia town, Charles contacted glaucoma at the age of six and lost his sight, but this has not stopped him from launching an active and productive career that has continued through the 1990s and on. He has often appeared in music documentaries and has performed in feature films, where he usually appears as himself. He has also been on television, either hosting his own specials, or acting as a guest artist on those of others. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Ray Charles Celebrates a Gospel Christmas With the Voices of Jubilation Buy this Movie	Blue's Clues: Blue's Big Musical Movie Buy this Movie	Spy Hard Buy this Movie	Love Affair Buy this Movie
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For The Record...

Born Ray Charles Robinson on September 23, 1930, in Albany, GA; died on June 10, 2004, in Beverly Hills, CA; son of Bailey and Aretha Robinson; divorced, 1977; children: nine. Education: Attended St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind. Permanently blinded at age seven by glaucoma, 1937; attended school for deaf and blind, where he learned to read music in Braille and play piano and clarinet, 1937-45; moved to Seattle to play with local bands, 1947; composed and recorded first single with McSon Trio, "Confession Blues," 1949; signed with Atlantic, 1952; recorded several singles with Atlantic, including "I Got A Woman," 1954; released debut album, Ray Charles, 1957; recorded first million-seller, "What'd I Say," 1959; signed with ABC-Paramount, 1959-65; recorded for his own production company, Tangerine Records, 1965-73; started production company Crossover Records, 1973; appeared in several films and television programs; recorded frequently in 1980s and 1990s; released Genius Loves Company, 2004. Awards: Down Beat Critics Poll, New Star Award, 1958, 1961-64; NAACP Image Award, 1968; Down Beat Critics Poll, Best Soul and R&B Artist, 1984; Songwriters Hall of Fame honorary lifetime chairman; Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame; charter inductee of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1986; NAFEO Leadership Award, 1991; Grammy Awards, Best Rhythm & Blues Performance, Best Performance by a Pop Single Artist, Best Vocal Performance Album (Male), Best Vocal Performance Single Record Or Track (Male), 1960; Best Rhythm & Blues Recording, 1961-63; Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance, Best Rhythm & Blues Recording 1966; Best R&B Vocal Performance (Male), 1975; Lifetime Achievement Award, 1987; (with Chaka Khan) Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, 1990; Best R&B Vocal Performance (Male), 1993; (With Norah Jones) Record of the Year, Album of the Year, (With Norah Jones) Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, Best Pop Vocal Album, (With Gladys Knight) Best Gospel Performance, 2004. Addresses: Production company—Ray Charles Entertainment, 2107 Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90018.

Pianist, singer, songwriter

Singer and pianist Ray Charles's popularity, undiminished by his death in 2004, has spanned several generations. Toddlers may have seen Charles singing the alphabet with Elmo on Sesame Street. Teenagers may remember a catchy Pepsi commercial with Charles singing in his gravely voice, "You Got the Right One, Baby, Uh-huh!" Many adults, however, grew up listening to his blend of gospel, blues, and rock and roll songs that cemented Charles's name in the history books. He was one of the first soul stars, and became a major influence for the musicians who would follow him. He recorded all styles of music, from gospel to jazz to country western. A compilation of his work was released in 1997 titled Genius and Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection. He has won countless awards, including 12 Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As he stated in his 1978 autobiography, Brother Ray, "Music is nothing separate from me. It is me."

Born in Albany, Georgia, in 1930, he was raised in Greenville, Florida, in extreme poverty. Ray Charles Robinson did not have an easy childhood. At five, he witnessed the death of his younger brother, George, who fell into a washtub in the backyard and drowned. Soon after, Charles contracted the degenerative eye disease glaucoma, which went untreated. He could look directly at the sun when he was four, and by age seven he was permanently blind. His father died when he was ten, and his mother died when he was 15, leaving Charles to fend for himself. Charles later told Jet that his mother had given him valuable advice before she died. "My mom would say, 'You might not be able to do things like a person who can see. But there are always two ways to do everything. You've just got to find the other way.'"

An inkling of the musical talent that Charles embodied revealed itself when he was three, when he sang with the Shiloh Baptist Church choir. At four, he sang in the Red Wing Cafe, where the owner let him play the piano. In 1937 Charles entered the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind as a charity student. He studied classical piano and clarinet, and learned to read and write music in Braille, and that gave him a greater understanding of music. He told Alan Paul of People, "Because in Braille music, you can only read so many bars at a time. You can't play it and see it at the same time, so your memory and understanding expand." When the death of Charles's mother left him an orphan at 15, he left school and joined a few dance bands in Jacksonville, Florida. He made enough money to help him relocate to Seattle, Washington, where he entered a talent contest the first night he was there. He was offered a job playing at the local Elks' Club, where he crooned Nat "King" Cole-style. He formed the McSon Trio, and planned his next move.

Genius Took Shape
After playing several clubs in Washington, Charles and his trio moved to Los Angeles and recorded their first single, "Confession Blues," which was written by Charles. In 1949 Charles worried that his original last name, Robinson, would cause the public to confuse him with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, so he dropped it and went by Ray Charles. The McSon Trio released several singles, including "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand," which hit the American R&B chart in 1951. In 1952 Atlantic Records signed Charles to a major contract, and he began recording and touring regularly. His first commercial success came when he went to New Orleans in 1953 to work with Guitar Slim. Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do" sold over a million copies and featured Charles on piano. This success gave Charles the confidence to form a larger band that included saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman.

Charles achieved commercial success with his new band and Atlantic in 1954 with "It Should Have Been Me." Charles admitted to Marc Silver of U.S. News and World Report that he wasn't exactly an overnight success. "When I was coming up, the record people looked at the talent. I made about four records at Atlantic before I got a hit. Ain't no way I could be with a big company today and make four records that was not hits and they'd still keep me." Luckily, Atlantic kept him. Over the next several years, Charles's popularity skyrocketed as he hit the R&B charts regularly with songs like "I Got a Woman," "Don't You Know," "This Little Girl of Mine," "Drown In My Own Tears," and "Hallelujah I Love Her So." In 1957 Atlantic released Charles's debut album, simply titled Ray Charles.

At this stage of his career, Charles's musical style was a mix of gospel and blues. His distinctively raspy, soulful voice backed by his raucous piano became a trademark in his songs, especially the romping "What'd I Say." That song was a major hit in 1959, the first for Charles that sold over a million copies. The song crossed over to hit the U.S. popular music chart at number six, after hitting number one on the R&B chart. By now, Charles was a major name in the music industry, arranging and performing with several other artists, as well as composing his own hits. He was nicknamed the "Genius," after the Atlantic release of The Genius of Ray Charles in 1960. That same year, Charles's version of Hoagy Charmichael's "Georgia On My Mind" reached number one on the pop charts and sold over a million copies. In 1961 Charles won three Grammy Awards, two for "Georgia On My Mind," and one for the album The Genius of Ray Charles.

The Genius On His Way
Executives at ABC-Paramount Records took note of Charles's crossover success and persuaded him to sign with them in 1959. Charles continued his success with the album The Genius Hits the Road, which reached number nine on the pop charts. Three more "Genius" albums did very well in the charts: Genius + Soul = Jazz, The Genius After Hours, and The Genius Sings the Blues. The single "Hit the Road Jack," written by Charles's friend Percy Mayfield, reached number one and sold over a million copies. In 1962 another album, Modern Sounds in Country And Western Music, solidified Charles's place in music history by remaining at the top of the pop charts for 14 weeks. The album included Charles's renditions of Hank Williams and Floyd Tillman songs. One of the singles from the album, "I Can't Stop Loving You," was the year's bestselling single at over two million copies.

His versatility—and willingness to take risks—allowed Charles to record many different styles of music. As he told Down Beat, "My music's not about pleasing critics; it's about pleasing me." Charles's forays into so many different styles—gospel, jazz, R&B, pop, and country—often gave his music the reputation of being "eclectic." Charles claimed that he always had the confidence to record any music that sounded interesting to him because he had the backing of his record companies. He told Chris Morris of Billboard, "The way I look at it, I have a deal with record companies. I say, 'Look, if you don't bother me about my music, I won't bother you about your marketing, because I don't know nothing about marketing, and I don't figure you know that much about what I'm doing.'"

Charles spent the 1960s recording and touring, until he hit a bump in the road in 1964. After embarking on a world tour that included shows in Japan and Europe, Charles was arrested at Boston's Logan Airport for possession of narcotics. Customs officials found heroin and marijuana. After his arrest, Charles confessed to having been addicted to heroin since the age of 15. After the confession, he checked into a rehabilitation center in California and quit heroin in four days, never to go back. By the time he faced trial in 1966 for the arrest, he had been found clean and sober by several random drug tests throughout 1965. He was convicted of possession but was given a suspended sentence, a fine, and four years' probation. In 1966 Charles responded to the ordeal with the timely single "I Don't Need No Doctor."

In 1966 Charles expanded his horizons with a cameo role in the film Ballad in Blue. He also formed his own custom record company with ABC called Tangerine Records, and his first hit on that label was "Let's Go Get Stoned." In 1973 Charles left ABC to form Crossover Records with Atlantic, his original company. He continued to influence other musicians, including Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Steve Winwood, and Joe Cocker, earning numerous awards and countless hits along the way. Towards the end of the 1960s, however, his musical style had shifted from strong gospel and R&B to softer pop, jazz, and country songs.

Lifetime Achievement
In the 1970s Ray Charles was a major celebrity, recording an album each year of the decade, accumulating awards, and making film and television appearances. He composed songs for films and television shows, including the theme song for Three's Company and "Beers to You" for the Clint Eastwood film Any Which Way You Can. He appeared in the film The Blues Brothers as well as television's Moonlighting. While critics claimed that his music had taken on a softer touch, lacking the harder edge of his earlier gospel and blues mixes, fans continued to flock to his worldwide performances. Charles returned to country music with Friendship (1984), an album of duets pairing him with leading country stars including George Jones and even country-bluegrass vocalist Ricky Skaggs. He helped compose and then performed on the song "We Are the World" for the United States' fundraising efforts for Africa (USA for Africa) in 1985.

Charles's long career earned him several prestigious awards. In 1979 his rendition of "Georgia on My Mind" was officially named Georgia's state song. Charles was one of the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and in 1988 he was awarded the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1994 Charles was honored with a twelfth Grammy Award for his rendition of "Song for You." A 1997 collection of his hits, Genius and Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection, had critics and fans taking a trip down memory lane. Some critics thought that the 101 songs included on Genius and Soul weren't enough. J. D. Cosidine of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Given the way many sets leave listeners moaning 'enough!,' isn't it nice to be left hungry for more?"

Though Charles's recording pace slowed during the last years of his life, he remained a sell-out draw in good-sized venues whenever he chose to tour. He released Thanks for Bringing Love Around Again on his own Crossover label in 2002, and the following year he began recording Genius Loves Company, a duet project pairing him on mostly classic pop songs with famed partners ranging from bluesman B.B. King and country singer Willie Nelson to newcomer chanteuse Norah Jones.

Charles fell ill with acute liver disease during the recording sessions, but the finished album was termed "modest, friendly, laid-back, and pleasing" by Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide, and it gave the singer a new burst of publicity. That burst turned into an explosion after Charles's death on June 10, 2004, at his home in Beverly Hills, California, when the world learned it had lost a true musical genius. "Of course, a great soul has gone on," vocalist Aretha Franklin told Jet. "He was a fabulous man, full of humor and wit. A giant of an artist, and of course, he introduced the world to secular soul singing."

At the Grammy Awards ceremony in February of 2005, Genius Loves Company won eight awards, including best album and record of the year for "Here We Go Again," Charles's duet with Norah Jones. The posthumous wins were the first since those for John Lennon's Double Fantasy in 1982, and the album shot to the top of the Billboard sales chart for the week following the ceremony. What promised to be a decades-long process of examining the musical legacy of Ray Charles had already begun in the fall of 2004, with the release of the biographical film Ray, featuring actor Jamie Foxx in the role of Charles. Part of the film's success—it won five Academy Awards, including a best actor nod for Foxx—was due to its solid-gold soundtrack of Ray Charles songs, the use of which Charles had approved before his death.

Selected discography

Singles
"Drown In My Own Tears," Atlantic, 1956.
"Hallelujah I Love Her So," Atlantic, 1956.
"Georgia on My Mind," Atlantic, 1960.
"Ruby," ABC, 1960.
"Hit the Road Jack," ABC, 1961.
"Unchain My Heart," ABC, 1961.
"I Can't Stop Loving You," ABC, 1962.
"Born to Lose," ABC, 1962.
"You Don't Know Me," ABC, 1962.

Albums
Ray Charles, Atlantic, 1957.
What'd I Say, Atlantic, 1958.
The Genius of Ray Charles, Atlantic, 1959.
The Genius Sings the Blues, Atlantic, 1960.
The Genius Hits the Road, ABC, 1960.
Genius + Soul = Jazz, ABC, 1961.
Modern Sounds in Country and Western, ABC, 1961.
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Volume 2, ABC, 1962.
Ingredients in A Recipe for Soul, ABC, 1963.
Crying Time, ABC, 1966.
A Portrait of Ray, ABC, 1968.
Doing His Thing, ABC, 1969.
Volcanic Action of My Soul, ABC, 1971.
Brother Ray Is at It Again, Atlantic, 1980.
Wish You Were Here Tonight, Columbia, 1983.
Friendship, Columbia, 1984.
From the Pages of My Mind, Columbia, 1986.
Just Between Us, Columbia, 1988.
Would You Believe?, Warner Brothers, 1990.
My World, Warner Brothers, 1993.
Genius and Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection, Rhino, 1997.
Strong Love Affair, Warner Brothers, 1996.
Thanks for Bringing Love Around Again, Crossover, 2002.
Genius Loves Company, Concord, 2004.

Sources
Books
Crampton, Luke, and Dafydd Rees, editors, Encyclopedia of Rock Stars, DK Publishing Inc., 1996.
Herzhaft, Gérard, Encyclopedia of the Blues, University of Arkansas Press, 1997.
Romanowski, Patricia, editor, The New Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, Rolling Stone Press, 1995.

Periodicals
Billboard, February 15, 1997.
Down Beat, January 1998.
Eyeneer Music Archives, 1997.
Jet, February 20, 1995; September 22, 1997; June 28, 2004.
Maclean's, July 13, 1998.
New York Times, February 14, 2005.
Palo Alto Weekly, September 26, 1997.
People, September 22, 1997.
U.S. News and World Report, September 22, 1997.

Online
"Ray Charles," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (March 27, 2005).

• Genres: Rhythm & Blues

Biography

Ray Charles was the musician most responsible for developing soul music. Singers like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson also did a great deal to pioneer the form, but Charles did even more to devise a new form of black pop by merging '50s R&B with gospel-powered vocals, adding plenty of flavor from contemporary jazz, blues, and (in the '60s) country. Then there was his singing; his style was among the most emotional and easily identifiable of any 20th century performer, up there with the likes of Elvis and Billie Holiday. He was also a superb keyboard player, arranger, and bandleader. The brilliance of his 1950s and '60s work, however, can't obscure the fact that he made few classic tracks after the mid-'60s, though he recorded often and performed until the year before his death.

Blind since the age of six (from glaucoma), Charles studied composition and learned many instruments at the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and the Blind. His parents had died by his early teens, and he worked as a musician in Florida for a while before using his savings to move to Seattle in 1947. By the late '40s, he was recording in a smooth pop/R&B style derivative of Nat "King" Cole and Charles Brown. He got his first Top Ten R&B hit with "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" in 1951. Charles' first recordings came in for their fair share of criticism, as they were much milder and less original than the classics that would follow, although they're actually fairly enjoyable, showing strong hints of the skills that were to flower in a few years.

In the early '50s, Charles' sound started to toughen as he toured with Lowell Fulson, went to New Orleans to work with Guitar Slim (playing piano on and arranging Slim's huge R&B hit, "The Things That I Used to Do"), and got a band together for R&B star Ruth Brown. It was at Atlantic Records that Ray Charles truly found his voice, consolidating the gains of recent years and then some with "I Got a Woman," a number-two R&B hit in 1955. This is the song most frequently singled out as his pivotal performance, on which Charles first truly let go with his unmistakable gospel-ish moan, backed by a tight, bouncy horn-driven arrangement.

Throughout the '50s, Charles ran off a series of R&B hits that, although they weren't called "soul" at the time, did a lot to pave the way for soul by presenting a form of R&B that was sophisticated without sacrificing any emotional grit. "This Little Girl of Mine," "Drown in My Own Tears," "Hallelujah I Love Her So," "Lonely Avenue," and "The Right Time" were all big hits. But Charles didn't really capture the pop audience until "What'd I Say," which caught the fervor of the church with its pleading vocals, as well as the spirit of rock & roll with its classic electric piano line. It was his first Top Ten pop hit, and one of his final Atlantic singles, as he left the label at the end of the '50s for ABC.

One of the chief attractions of the ABC deal for Charles was a much greater degree of artistic control of his recordings. He put it to good use on early-'60s hits like "Unchain My Heart" and "Hit the Road Jack," which solidified his pop stardom with only a modicum of polish attached to the R&B he had perfected at Atlantic. In 1962, he surprised the pop world by turning his attention to country & western music, topping the charts with the "I Can't Stop Loving You" single, and making a hugely popular album (in an era in which R&B/soul LPs rarely scored high on the charts) with Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Perhaps it shouldn't have been so surprising; Charles had always been eclectic, recording quite a bit of straight jazz at Atlantic, with noted jazz musicians like David "Fathead" Newman and Milt Jackson.

Charles remained extremely popular through the mid-'60s, scoring big hits like "Busted," "You Are My Sunshine," "Take These Chains From My Heart," and "Crying Time," although his momentum was slowed by a 1965 bust for heroin. This led to a year-long absence from performing, but he picked up where he left off with "Let's Go Get Stoned" in 1966. Yet by this time Charles was focusing increasingly less on rock and soul, in favor of pop tunes, often with string arrangements, that seemed aimed more at the easy listening audience than anyone else. Charles' influence on the rock mainstream was as apparent as ever; Joe Cocker and Steve Winwood in particular owe a great deal of their style to him, and echoes of his phrasing can be heard more subtly in the work of greats like Van Morrison.

One approaches sweeping criticism of Charles with hesitation; he was an American institution, after all, and his vocal powers barely diminished over his half-century career. The fact remains, though, that his work after the late '60s on record was very disappointing. Millions of listeners yearned for a return to the all-out soul of his 1955-1965 classics, but Charles had actually never been committed to soul above all else. Like Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, his focus was more upon all-around pop than many realize; his love of jazz, country, and pop standards was evident, even if his more earthy offerings were the ones that truly broke ground and will stand the test of time. He dented the charts (sometimes the country ones) occasionally, and commanded devoted international concert audiences whenever he felt like it. For good or ill, he ensured his imprint upon the American mass consciousness in the 1990s by singing several ads for Diet Pepsi. He also recorded three albums during the '90s for Warner Bros., but remained most popular as a concert draw. In 2002, he released Thanks for Bringing Love Around Again on his own Crossover imprint, and the following year began recording an album of duets featuring B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, and James Taylor. After hip replacement surgery in 2003, he scheduled a tour for the following summer, but was forced to cancel an appearance in March 2004. Three months later, on June 10, 2004, Ray Charles succumbed to liver disease at his home in Beverly Hills, CA. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi

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