of race, nationality, musical style and everything
else that divides human beings,
With hit songs ranging from “I Got A Woman,”
“Hit the Road, Jack,” “What’d I Say,” “Busted,”
“Crying Time,” “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” and his
rendition of “America the Beautiful,”
there were no ears in America that Charles’
music couldn’t reach.
There wasn’t anything he took on musically
that he didn’t conquer. Jazz, blues, gospel, country,
rhythm and blues, soul. He was an absolute master.
Music is nothing separate from me. It is me...
You'd have to remove the music surgically."
Ray Charles Robinson was not born blind,
he had almost seven years of sight memory - colors,
the things of the backwoods country, and the face of the most
important person in his life: his mother, Aretha Robinson.
The first child of Aretha and Baily Robinson was born
in Albany, GA, on September 23, 1930.
He hit the road early, at about three months,
when the Robinsons moved across the border to Greenville, FL.
It was the height of the Depression years. And the Robinsons
had started out poor...
St. Augustine's was the Florida state school for the deaf and blind.
Ray Charles was accepted as a charity student.
you hear folks talking about being poor," Charles recounts.
"Even compared to other blacks. . . we were on the bottom of
the ladder looking up at everyone else. Nothing below us except
the ground." It took three years, starting when Ray Charles was four,
for the country boy who loved to look at the blazing sun at its height
, the boy who loved to try to catch lightning, the boy who loved to
strike matches to see their fierce, brief glare, to travel
the path from light to darkness.
Charles' blindness - believed to be caused by undiagnosed glaucoma
when he was a child -
Through his darkness, he enlightened and brightened our lives."
The Reverend Robert Robinson, one of Charles' 12 children concerning his Fathers Passing
"If you would do something for my family today,
why don't you stand on your feet and give God your praise!
We're here to celebrate God today!"
He taught us all about rhythm and blues
he taught us about country music,
he reinstilled our interest in patriotic songs.
Anything he touched was just brilliant."
By 1952, he’d come to the attention of Atlantic Records,
In the 1980s, Charles was often in the public eye, making frequent appearances on television and in the movies. He had a number of albums and performed duets with many well-known musicians including Willie Nelson, Chaka Khan, and the Blues Brothers. His appearance on the 1985 release of "We Are the World," brought a renewed interest in much of his work. During the 1990s he continued to write and perform, and in 1992 President Bill Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts. To this day, Ray Charles is one of the most important influences on popular music. His passionate singing and intelligent melding of different genres remains the ideal by which many musicians continue to gauge their work.
In 1982.Charles was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame
.
Charles was also inducted into the Rock and Roll's
Hall of Fame in its inaugural year 1986.
Ray Charles died on June 10th, 2004.
They call him the "genius" and they call him the "father of soul.
" With perfect pitch and an expressive voice,
he combines worlds as diverse as jazz, country,
rhythm and blues, and gospel to break your heart
or make you dance. His name is Ray Charles,
and if you turn your radio to any station
you will hear the influence of his ground-breaking music.
Rest In Peace, Ray. You will be missed.
Ray Charles hits
Singles Year Chart Peak
"Swanee River Rock" 1957 34
"What'd I Say, Part 1" 1959 6
"I'm Movin' On" 1959 40
"Sticks And Stones" 1960 40
"Georgia" 1960 1
"Rub" 1960 28
"One Mint Julep" 1961 8
"Hit The Road Jack" 1961 1
"Unchain My Heart" 1961 9
"Hide 'Nor Hair" 1962 20
"I Can't Stop Loving You" 1962 1
"You Don't Know Me" 1962 2
"You Are My Sunshine" 1962 7
"Your Cheating Heart" 1962 29
"Don't Set Me Free" 1963 20
"Take These Chains From My Heart" 1963 8
"No One" 1963 21
"Without Love (There Is Nothing)" 1963 29
"Busted" 1963 4
"That Lucky Old Sun" 1963 20
"My Heart Cries For You" 1964 38
"Baby, Don't You Cry" 1964 39
"Crying Time" 1966 6
"Together Again" 1966 19
"Let's Go Get Stoned" 1966 31
"I Chose To Sing The Blues" 1966 32
"Here We Go Again" 1967 15
"In The Heat Of The Night" 1967 33
"Yesterday" 1967 25
"Eleanor Rigby" 1968 35
"Don't Change On Me" 1971 36
"Booty Butt"
