17.11.

2017 Ray Charles - Wikipedia

Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson[note 1] (September 23, 1930 June 10, 2004), known
Ray Charles
professionally as Ray Charles, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and
composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother
Ray." He was often referred to as "The Genius."[2][3] Charles was blind from the
age of seven.

He pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining blues,
rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic
Records.[4][5][6] He also contributed to the integration of country music, rhythm
and blues and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC
Records, most notably with his two Modern Sounds albums.[7][8][9] While he was
with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic
control by a mainstream record company.[5]

Charles cited Nat King Cole as a primary influence, but his music was also
influenced by country, jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues artists of the day,
Charles in 1960s
including Louis Jordan and Charles Brown.[10] He became friends with Quincy
Jones. Their friendship lasted until the end of Charles's life. Frank Sinatra called Background information
Ray Charles "the only true genius in show business," although Charles Birth name Ray Charles
downplayed this notion.[11] Robinson[note 1]

In 2002, Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on its list of the "100 Greatest
Born September 23,
Artists of All Time",[2] and number two on their November 2008 list of the "100
1930
Greatest Singers of All Time."[12] Billy Joel observed, "This may sound like
Albany, Georgia,
sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley".[13]
U.S.[1]
Origin Greenville,
Florida, U.S.
Died June 10, 2004
Contents (aged 73)
Beverly Hills,
1 Early life and education
California, U.S.
2 Career
2.1 Genres R&B soul blues
19451952: Life in Florida, Los Angeles, Seattle and first hits gospel country
2.2 19521959: Atlantic Records jazz pop rock
2.3 19591971: Crossover success
and roll
2.4 19711983: Commercial decline
2.5 19832004: Later years Occupation(s) Musician, singer,
songwriter,
3 Death
composer
4 Personal life
4.1 Substance abuse and legal issues Instruments Vocals piano
4.2 Other interests keyboards
5 Legacy Years active 19472004
5.1 Influence on music industry
Labels Atlantic ABC
5.2 Awards and honors
5.3 Contribution to civil rights movement Warner Bros.
5.4 The Ray Charles Foundation Swing Time

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6 Discography Concord
7 Filmography Columbia
8 Television Flashback
9 Notes Associated acts The Raelettes
10 References USA for Africa
11 Bibliography Billy Joel Gladys

12 External links Knight

Website www.raycharles
.com (http://www.
Early life and education raycharles.com)

Ray Charles Robinson was the son of Bailey Robinson, a laborer, and Aretha (or Reatha) Williams. At the time, his mother was a
teenage orphan making a living as a sharecropper. They lived in Greenville, Florida with Robinson's father and his wife, Mary
Jane Robinson. The Robinson family had informally adopted Aretha (or Reatha), and she took the surname Robinson. When she
became pregnant by Bailey, incurring scandal, she left Greenville late in the summer of 1930 to be with family members in
Albany, Georgia for the baby's birth, after which mother and child returned to Greenville. She and Mary Jane then shared in Ray's
upbringing. He was deeply devoted to his mother and later recalled her perseverance, self-sufficiency, and pride as guiding lights
in his life. His father abandoned the family, left Greenville, and married another woman elsewhere.[14]

In his early years, Charles showed an interest in mechanical objects and would often watch his neighbors working on their cars
and farm machinery. His musical curiosity was sparked at Wylie Pitman's Red Wing Cafe, at the age of three, when Pitman played
boogie woogie on an old upright piano; Pitman subsequently taught Charles how to play the piano. Charles and his mother were
always welcome at the Red Wing Cafe and even lived there when they were in financial distress.[10] Pitman would also care for
Ray's younger brother George, to take some of the burden off their mother. George drowned in his mother's laundry tub when he
was four years old.[10][15] Charles started to lose his sight at the age of four[3] or five,[16] and was completely blind by the age of
seven, apparently as a result of glaucoma.[17] Destitute, uneducated, and still mourning the loss of her younger son, Aretha (or
Reatha) Robinson used her connections in the local community to find a school that would accept a blind African-American pupil.
Despite his initial protest, Charles attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine from 1937 to
1945.[18]

Charles further developed his musical talent at school[17] and was taught to play the classical piano music of J.S. Bach, Mozart
and Beethoven. His teacher, Mrs. Lawrence, taught him how to use braille music which was a difficult process that requires
learning the left hand movements by reading braille with the right hand and learning the right hand movements by reading braille
with the left hand, and then combining the two parts. While Charles was happy to play classical music, he was more interested in
the jazz, blues, and country music he heard on the radio.[18]:2938 On Fridays, the South Campus Literary Society held assemblies
at which Charles would play piano and sing popular songs. On both Halloween and George Washington's birthday, the black
department of the school held socials at which Charles would play. It was here he established "RC Robinson and the Shop Boys"
and sang his own arrangement of "Jingle Bell Boogie". During this time, he performed on WFOY radio in St. Augustine.[18]

When Charles was 14 years old in the spring of 1945, his mother died. Her death came as a shock to him; he later said that the
deaths of his brother and mother were "the two great tragedies" of his life. Charles returned to school after the funeral but was
expelled in October for playing a prank on his teacher.[18]

Career

19451952: Life in Florida, Los Angeles, Seattle and first hits

After leaving school, Charles moved to Jacksonville with a couple who had been friends with his late mother. He played the piano
for bands at the Ritz Theatre in LaVilla for over a year, earning $4 a night (US$49 in 2016 dollars[19]). He joined the musicians'
union in the hope that it would help him get work. He befriended many union members, but others were less kind to him because
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he would monopolize the union halls piano, since he did not have one at home. He started to build a reputation as a talented
musician in Jacksonville, but the jobs did not come fast enough for him to construct a strong identity. He decided to leave
Jacksonville and move to a bigger city with more opportunities.[20]

At age 16, Charles moved to Orlando, where he lived in borderline poverty and went without food for days. It was difficult for
musicians to find work, as since World War II had ended there were no G.I. Joes left to entertain. Charles eventually started to
write arrangements for a pop music band, and in the summer of 1947 he unsuccessfully auditioned to play piano for Lucky
Millinder and his sixteen-piece band.[18]

In 1947, Charles moved to Tampa, where he had two jobs: one as a pianist for Charles Brantley's Honeydippers,[21] a seven-piece
band, and another as a member of a white country band called the Florida Playboys (though there is no historical trace of his
involvement in the Florida Playboys besides his own testimony). This is when he began his habit of always wearing sunglasses,
made by designer Billy Stickles. In his early career, he modeled himself on Nat "King" Cole. His first four recordings
"Wondering and Wondering", "Walking and Talking", "Why Did You Go?" and "I Found My Baby There"were supposedly
made in Tampa, although some discographies also claim he recorded them in Miami in 1951 or Los Angeles in 1952.[18]

Charles had always played piano for other people, but he was keen to have his own band. He decided to leave Florida for a large
city, and, considering Chicago and New York City too big, followed his friend Gossie McKee to Seattle, Washington, in March
1948, knowing that the biggest radio hits came from northern cities.[18][22] Here he met and befriended, under the tutelage of
Robert Blackwell, a 15-year-old Quincy Jones.[23]

He started playing the one-to-five A.M. shift at the Rocking Chair with his band McSon Trio, which featured McKee on guitar
and Milton Garrett on bass. Publicity photos of the trio are some of the earliest known photographs of Charles. In April 1949, he
and his band recorded "Confession Blues", which became his first national hit, soaring to the second spot on the Billboard R&B
chart.[18] While still working at the Rocking Chair, he also arranged songs for other artists, including Cole Porter's "Ghost of a
Chance" and Dizzy Gillespie's "Emanon".[20] After the success of his first two singles, Charles moved to Los Angeles in 1950,
and spent the next few years touring with the blues musician Lowell Fulson as his musical director.[3]

In 1950, his performance in a Miami hotel impressed Henry Stone, who went on to record a Ray Charles Rockin' record (which
never became particularly popular). During his stay in Miami, Charles was required to stay in the segregated but thriving black
community of Overtown. Stone later helped Jerry Wexler find Charles in St. Petersburg.[24]

After joining Swing Time Records, he recorded two more R&B hits under the name Ray Charles: "Baby, Let Me Hold Your
Hand" (1951), which reached number five, and "Kissa Me Baby"(1952), which reached number eight. Swing Time folded the
following year, and Ahmet Ertegn signed him to Atlantic Records.[17]

19521959: Atlantic Records

In June 1952, Atlantic Records bought Charles's contract for $2,500 (US$22,547 in 2016 dollars[19]).[25] His first recording
session for Atlantic ("The Midnight Hour"/"Roll with My Baby") took place in September 1952, although his last Swingtime
release ("Misery in My Heart"/"The Snow Is Falling") would not appear until February 1953. He began recording jump blues and
boogie-woogie as well as slower blues ballads, in which he continued to show the vocal influences of Nat "King" Cole and
Charles Brown.

In 1953, "Mess Around" became Charles's first hit for Atlantic; the following year he had hits with "It Should Have Been Me" and
"Don't You Know", which became his first chart success for Atlantic.[25] He also recorded the songs "Midnight Hour" and
"Sinner's Prayer". Some elements of his own vocal style were evident in "Sinner's Prayer", "Mess Around", and "Don't You
Know".

Late in 1954, Charles recorded his own composition "I Got a Woman". It became one of his most notable hits, reaching number
two on the R&B chart.[25] "I Got a Woman" included a mixture of gospel, jazz and blues elements that would later prove to be
seminal in the development of rock and roll and soul music. In 1955, he had hits with "This Little Girl of Mine" and "A Fool for

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You". In upcoming years, he scored with "I'll Drown in My Own Tears" and "Hallelujah, I Love Her So". By 1959, "What'd I Say"
had reached the Billboard Top Ten, making him a major figure in R&B.[25]

Parallel to his R&B career, Charles also recorded instrumental jazz albums, such as The Great Ray Charles (1957). During this
time, he also worked with the jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson, releasing Soul Brothers in 1958 and Soul Meeting in 1961. By 1958,
Charles was not only headlining black venues such as the Apollo Theater, in New York, and the Uptown Theater, in Philadelphia,
but also bigger venues, such as the Newport Jazz Festival (where his first live album was recorded).

In 1956, Charles recruited a young all-female singing group, the Cookies, and reshaped them as the Raelettes. Until then, he had
used his wife and other musicians to back him on recordings such as "This Little Girl of Mine" and "Drown in My Own Tears".
The Raelettes' first recording session with Charles was on the bluesy gospel-inflected "Leave My Woman Alone".

19591971: Crossover success

Charles reached the pinnacle of his success at Atlantic with the release of "What'd
I Say", a complex song that combined gospel, jazz, blues and Latin music, which
Charles would later claim he had composed spontaneously as he was performing
in clubs and dances with his small band. Despite some radio stations banning the
song because of its sexually suggestive lyrics, the song became Charles's first
crossover top-ten pop record.[26]

Later in 1959, he released his first country song (a cover of Hank Snow's "I'm
Charles in 1971
Movin' On") and also recorded three more albums for the label: a jazz record
(released in 1961 as The Genius After Hours); a blues record (released in 1961 as
The Genius Sings the Blues); and a traditional popbig band record (The Genius of Ray Charles). The Genius of Ray Charles was
his first top-40 album, peaking at number 17, and was later viewed as a landmark record in his career.

Charles's Atlantic contract expired in the fall of 1959, with several big labels offered him record deals; choosing not to renegotiate
his contract with Atlantic, he signed with ABC-Paramount Records in November 1959.[27] He obtained a more liberal contract
than other artists had at the time, with ABC offering him a $50,000 (US$410,788 in 2016 dollars[19]) annual advance, higher
royalties than before and eventual ownership of his master tapesa very valuable and lucrative deal at the time.[28] During his
Atlantic years, Charles had been heralded for his own inventive compositions, but by the time of the release of the instrumental
jazz album Genius + Soul = Jazz (1960) for ABC's subsidiary label Impulse!, he had virtually given up on writing original
material, instead following his eclectic impulses as an interpreter.[26]

With "Georgia on My Mind", his first hit single for ABC-Paramount in 1960, Charles received national acclaim and four Grammy
Awards, including two for "Georgia on My Mind" (Best Vocal Performance Single Record or Track, Male, and Best Performance
by a Pop Single Artist). Written by the composers Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael, the song was Charles's first work with
Sid Feller, who produced, arranged and conducted the recording.[26][29] Charles earned another Grammy for the follow-up "Hit
the Road Jack", written by the R&B singer and songwriter Percy Mayfield.[30]

By late 1961, Charles had expanded his small road ensemble to a full-scale big band, partly as a response to increasing royalties
and touring fees, becoming one of the few black artists to cross over into mainstream pop with such a level of creative
control.[26][31] This success, however, came to a momentary halt during a concert tour in November 1961, when a police search of
Charles's hotel room in Indianapolis, Indiana, led to the discovery of heroin in the medicine cabinet. The case was eventually
dropped, as the search lacked a proper warrant by the police, and Charles soon returned to music.[31]

In the early 1960s, whilst on the way from Louisiana to Oklahoma City, Charles faced a near-death experience when the pilot of
his plane lost visibility, as snow and his failure to use the defroster caused the windshield of the plane to become completely
covered in ice. The pilot made a few circles in the air before he was finally able to see through a small part of the windshield and

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land the plane. Charles placed a spiritual interpretation on the event, claiming that "something or someone which instruments
cannot detect" was responsible for creating the small opening in the ice on the windshield which enabled the pilot to land the
plane safely.[10]

The 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music and its sequel, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,
Vol. 2, helped to bring country music into the musical mainstream. Charles's version of the Don Gibson song I Can't Stop Loving
You topped the Pop chart for five weeks, stayed at number 1 on the R&B chart for ten weeks, and gave him his only number-one
record in the UK. In 1962, he founded his own record label, Tangerine Records, which ABC-Paramount promoted and
distributed.[10]:248 [18]:21316 He had major pop hits in 1963 with "Busted" (US number 4) and Take These Chains from My Heart
(US number 8).

In 1965, Charles's career was halted once more after he was arrested for a third time for possession of heroin. He agreed to go to
rehab to avoid jail time and eventually kicked his habit at a clinic in Los Angeles. After spending a year on parole, Charles
reappeared in the charts in 1966 with a series of hits composed with the fledgling team of Ashford & Simpson, including the
dance number "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "Let's Go Get Stoned", which became his first number-one R&B hit in several years.
His cover version of "Crying Time", originally recorded by the country artist Buck Owens, reached number 6 on the pop chart and
helped Charles win a Grammy Award the following March. In 1967, he had a top-twenty hit with another ballad, "Here We Go
Again".[32]

19711983: Commercial decline

Charles's renewed chart success,
however, proved to be short lived, and
by the 1970s his music was rarely
played on radio stations. The rise of
psychedelic rock and harder forms of
rock and R&B music had reduced
Charles' radio appeal, as did his
Charles in 1968 choosing to record pop standards and
Charles meeting with President
covers of contemporary rock and soul Richard Nixon, 1972 (photo by
hits, since his earnings from owning Oliver F. Atkins)
his masters had taken away the motivation to write new material. Charles
nonetheless continued to have an active recording career. Most of his recordings
between 1968 and 1973 evoked strong reactions: people either liked them a lot or strongly disliked them.[17] His 1972 album A
Message from the People included his unique gospel-influenced version of "America the Beautiful" and a number of protest songs
about poverty and civil rights. Charles was often criticized for his version of "America the Beautiful" because it was very
drastically changed from the song's original version. The common argument against this is that the words are scattered and
changed, but the music in the background remains beautiful and untouched. Many people believed that this was a perfect
representation of the freedom Americans are given, free to do what they want, so long as they follow the laws (of music) that we
are given.[33]

In 1974, Charles left ABC Records and recorded several albums on his own label, Crossover Records. A 1975 recording of Stevie
Wonder's hit "Living for the City" later helped Charles win another Grammy. In 1977, he reunited with Ahmet Ertegn and re-
signed to Atlantic Records, for which he recorded the album True to Life, remaining with his old label until 1980. However, the
label had now begun to focus on rock acts, and some of their prominent soul artists, such as Aretha Franklin, were starting to be
neglected. In November 1977 he appeared as the host of the NBC television show Saturday Night Live.[34] In April 1979, his
version of "Georgia on My Mind" was proclaimed the state song of Georgia, and an emotional Charles performed the song on the
floor of the state legislature.[17] Although he had notably supported the American Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther
King, Jr. in the 1960s, Charles was criticized for performing at the Sun City resort in South Africa in 1981, during an international
boycott protesting that country's apartheid policy.[17]

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19832004: Later years

In 1983, Charles signed a contract with Columbia Records. He recorded a
string of country albums and had hit singles in duets with singers such as
George Jones, Chet Atkins, B. J. Thomas, Mickey Gilley, Hank Williams,
Jr., Dee Dee Bridgewater ("Precious Thing") and his longtime friend
Willie Nelson, with whom he recorded the number 1 country duet "Seven
Spanish Angels".

Prior to the release of his first album for Warner, Would You Believe,
Charles made a return to the R&B charts with a cover of the Brothers
Johnson's "I'll Be Good to You", a duet with his lifelong friend Quincy
Jones and the singer Chaka Khan, which hit number one on the R&B chart
in 1990 and won Charles and Khan a Grammy for their duet. Prior to this,
Charles returned to the pop charts with "Baby Grand", a duet with the
singer Billy Joel. In 1989, he recorded a cover of the Southern All Stars'
"Itoshi no Ellie" for a Japanese TV advertisement for the Suntory brand,
releasing it in Japan as "Ellie My Love", where it reached number 3 on its
Oricon chart.[35] In the same year he was a special guest at the Arena di
Verona during the tour promoting Oro Incenso & Birra of the Italian singer
Zucchero Fornaciari.

Charles's 1993 album My World became his first album in some time to Charles at the North Sea Jazz Festival,
reach the Billboard 200, whilst his cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for 1983

You" gave him a hit on the adult contemporary chart and his twelfth and
final Grammy. By the beginning of the 1980s, Charles was reaching
younger audiences with appearances in films and TV shows. In 1980,
he appeared in the film The Blues Brothers. Charles's version of "Night
Time Is the Right Time" was played during The Cosby Show episode
"Happy Anniversary", but he did not appear on the show. In 1985, he
appeared among a group of other musicians in the USA for Africa
charity recording "We Are the World". Charles's popularity increased
among younger audiences in 1991 after he appeared in a series of Diet
Pepsi television commercials, which featured him singing the
catchphrase "You Got the Right One, Baby". Two more slickly
Charles with President Ronald Reagan and
produced adult contemporary albums followed, Strong Love Affair
First Lady Nancy Reagan, 1984
(1996) and Thanks for Bringing Love Around Again (2002); both failed
to chart and were soon forgotten.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he made appearances on the television show Super Dave Osbourne in a series of vignettes in
which he was somehow driving a car, often as Super Dave's chauffeur. During the sixth season of Designing Women, Charles sang
"Georgia on My Mind" in place of the instrumental cover version which had been used in the previous five seasons. He also
appeared in four episodes of the popular TV comedy The Nanny, playing Sammy in seasons 4 and 5 in 19971998. In 2001 and
2002, Charles appeared in commercials for the New Jersey Lottery to promote its campaign "For every dream, there's a jackpot".
During this same period, Charles toured in numerous countries around the world; he was extremely popular in Japan. When he
appeared in London and Paris, he usually flew in the Concorde, while his band arrived separately in a 747.

Charles performed at two US Presidential inaugurations: Ronald Reagan's second inauguration, in 1985, and Bill Clinton's first
inauguration, in 1993.[36] On October 28, 2001, several weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, Charles appeared during
game 2 of the World Series, between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees, and performed "America the Beautiful".

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In the same year he collaborated once again with Zucchero Fornaciari

who sampled a piece of melody coming from What'd I Say in the
album Shake.

In 2003, he headlined the White House Correspondents Dinner in

Washington, D.C., attended by President George W. Bush, Laura Bush,
Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.[37] Also in 2003, Charles
presented Van Morrison with Morrison's award upon being inducted in
the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the two sang Morrison's song
"Crazy Love" (the performance appears on Morrison's 2007 album The
Best of Van Morrison Volume 3). In 2003, Charles performed "Georgia
on My Mind" and "America the Beautiful" at a televised annual Charles at the 2003 Montreal International
banquet of electronic media journalists held in Washington, D.C. His Jazz Festival, one of his last public
final public appearance was on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his performances
music studio as a historic landmark in Los Angeles.[17]

Death
In 2003, Charles had successful hip replacement surgery and was planning to go back on tour, until he began suffering from other
ailments. He died at his home in Beverly Hills, California of complications resulting from acute liver disease,[3] on June 10, 2004,
aged 73, surrounded by family and friends.[38][39]

His funeral took place on June 18, 2004, at the First AME Church in Los Angeles with numerous musical figures in
attendance.[40] B. B. King, Glen Campbell, Stevie Wonder and Wynton Marsalis each played a tribute at the funeral.[41] He was
interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery.

His final album, Genius Loves Company, released two months after his death,
consists of duets with various admirers and contemporaries: B. B. King, Van
Morrison, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald,
Natalie Cole, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Norah Jones and Johnny
Mathis. The album won eight Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album,
Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
(for "Here We Go Again", with Norah Jones), and Best Gospel Performance (for
"Heaven Help Us All", with Gladys Knight); he also received nods for his duets
with Elton John and B. B. King. The album included a version of Harold Arlen's
and E. Y. Harburg's "Over the Rainbow", sung as a duet with Johnny Mathis,
which was played at Charles's memorial service.[41] Star honoring Charles on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6777
Two more posthumous albums were released: Genius & Friends (2005), a Hollywood Boulevard
selection of duets recorded from 1997 to 2004 with artists of Charles's choice,
including "Big Bad Love" with Diana Ross, and Ray Sings, Basie Swings (2006),
which combined live vocal performances by Charles from the mid-1970s recorded from the concert mixing board with new
instrumental tracks specially recorded by the contemporary Count Basie Orchestra and other musicians to create a "fantasy
concert" recording.

Personal life
Charles was married twice and had 12 children with ten different women. His first child, Evelyn, was born in 1949 to his
companion, Louise Flowers. His first marriage was to Eileen Williams Robinson and lasted from July 31, 1951 until the following
year, 1952.

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His second marriage, to Della Beatrice Howard Robinson (called "Bea" by Charles), began on April 5, 1955, and lasted 22 years.
Their first child together, Ray Jr., was born in 1955. Charles was not in town for the birth, as he was playing a show in Texas. The
couple had two more children, David (1958) and Robert (1960). Charles felt that his heroin addiction took a toll on Della during
their marriage.[10]

Charles had a six-year-long affair with Margie Hendricks, one of the original Raelettes, and in 1959 they had a son, Charles
Wayne. His affair with Mae Mosley Lyles resulted in another daughter, Raenee, born in 1961. In 1963, by Sandra Jean Betts, Ray
Charles had a daughter, Sheila, a singer-songwriter, who died of breast cancer on June 15, 2017.[42][43]

In 1966, his daughter Aretha was born to a woman who remains unidentified, and another daughter, Alexandra, was born to
Chantal Bertrand. Charles divorced Della Howard in 1977. Later that year he had a son, Vincent, with Arlette Kotchounian. A
daughter, Robyn, was born a year later to Gloria Moffett. His youngest child, a son, Ryan Corey den Bok, was born in 1987 to
Mary Anne den Bok. One of Charles's long-term girlfriends at the time of his death was Norma Pinella.

Substance abuse and legal issues

Charles first tried recreational drugs when he played in McSon Trio and was eager to try them as he thought they helped
musicians create music and tap into their creativity. He later became addicted to heroin for sixteen years. He was first arrested in
the 1950s, when he and his bandmates were caught backstage with loose marijuana and drug paraphernalia, including a burnt
spoon, syringe, and needle. The arrest did not deter Charles's drug use, which only escalated as he became more successful and
made more money.[18]

Charles was arrested again on a narcotics charge on November 14, 1961, while waiting in an Indiana hotel room before a
performance. The detectives seized heroin, marijuana, and other items. Charles, then 31, stated that he had been a drug addict
since the age of 16. The case was dismissed because of the manner in which the evidence was obtained,[44] but Charles's situation
did not improve until a few years later. Individuals such as Quincy Jones and Reverend Henry Griffin felt that those around
Charles were responsible for his drug use. Charles loved to drink.

In 1964, Charles was arrested for possession of marijuana and heroin.[18] Following a self-imposed stay[44] at St. Francis Hospital
in Lynwood, California, he received five years' probation for his crime. Charles responded to the saga of his drug use and reform
with the songs "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Let's Go Get Stoned", and the release of Crying Time, his first album since having
kicked his heroin addiction in 1966.[45][46]

Other interests
Charles enjoyed playing chess, using a special board with raised squares and holes for the pieces.[47] In a 1991 concert, he
referred to Willie Nelson as "my chess partner".[48] In 2002, he played and lost to the American grandmaster and former U.S.
champion Larry Evans.[49]

In 2001, Morehouse College honored Charles with the Candle Award for Lifetime Achievement in Arts and Entertainment,[50]
and later that same year granted him an honorary doctor of humane letters.[51] Charles donated $2 million to Morehouse "to fund,
educate and inspire the next generation of musical pioneers."[51]

In 2010, a $20 million 76,000 sq ft (7,100 m2) facility, the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center and Music Academic Building,
opened at Morehouse.[52]

Legacy

Influence on music industry

Charles possessed one of the most recognizable voices in American music. In the words of musicologist Henry Pleasants:

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Sinatra, and Bing Crosby before him, had been masters of

words. Ray Charles is a master of sounds. His records
disclose an extraordinary assortment of slurs, glides, turns,
shrieks, wails, breaks, shouts, screams and hollers, all
wonderfully controlled, disciplined by inspired musicianship,
and harnessed to ingenious subtleties of harmony, dynamics
and rhythm... It is either the singing of a man whose
vocabulary is inadequate to express what is in his heart and
mind or of one whose feelings are too intense for satisfactory
Statue by Andy Davis in Ray Charles
verbal or conventionally melodic articulation. He cant tell it
Plaza in Albany, Georgia
to you. He cant even sing it to you. He has to cry out to you,
or shout to you, in tones eloquent of despairor exaltation.
The voice alone, with little assistance from the text or the
notated music, conveys the message.[53]

His style and success in the genres of rhythm and blues and jazz had an influence on a number of highly successful artists,
including Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, Billy Joel, and Steve Winwood. According to Joe Levy, a
music editor for Rolling Stone, "The hit records he made for Atlantic in the mid-50's mapped out everything that would happen to
rock 'n' roll and soul music in the years that followed".[54] Charles was also an inspiration to Pink Floyd member Roger Waters,
who told the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet: "I was about 15. In the middle of the night with friends, we were listening to jazz. It
was "Georgia on My Mind", Ray Charles's version. Then I thought 'One day, if I make some people feel only one-twentieth of
what I am feeling now, it will be quite enough for me.'"[55]

Ray, a biopic portraying his life and career between the mid-1930s and 1979, was released in October 2004, starring Jamie Foxx
as Charles. Foxx won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor for the role. On December 7, 2007, the Ray Charles Plaza was
opened in his hometown of Albany, Georgia, featuring a revolving, lighted bronze sculpture of Charles seated at a piano. The
plaza's dedication was attended by his daughter Sheila Raye Charles.

Awards and honors

In 1979, Charles was one of the first musicians born in the state to be inducted into the Georgia State Music Hall of Fame.[56] His
version of "Georgia on My Mind" was also made the official state song of Georgia.[57]

In 1981 he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was one of the first inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at
its inaugural ceremony, in 1986.[58] He also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986.[59]

In 1987, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1991, he was inducted to the Rhythm & Blues Foundation
and was presented with the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement during the 1991 UCLA Spring
Sing.[60]

In 1993, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[61] In 1998 he was awarded the Polar Music Prize, together with Ravi
Shankar, in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2004 he was inducted to the National Black Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame.[62] The
Grammy Awards of 2005 were dedicated to Charles.

In 2003, Charles was awarded an honorary degree by Dillard University, and upon his death he endowed a professorship of
African-American culinary history at the school, the first such chair in the nation.[63] A $20 million performing arts center at
Morehouse College was named after Charles and was dedicated in September 2010.[64]

The United States Postal Service issued a forever stamp honoring Charles, as part of its Musical Icons series, on September 23,
2013.[65]

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In 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama said that "Ray Charles's version of 'America the Beautiful' will always be in my view the
most patriotic piece of music ever performedbecause it captures the fullness of the American experience, the view from the
bottom as well as the top, the good and the bad, and the possibility of synthesis, reconciliation, transcendence."[66]

Contribution to civil rights movement

On March 15, 1961, shortly after the release of the hit song "Georgia on My Mind" (1960), then Albany, Georgia-born musician
was scheduled to perform at a dance at Bell Auditorium in Augusta, but cancelled the show after learning from students of Paine
College that the larger auditorium dance floor would be restricted to whites, while blacks would be obligated to sit in the Music
Hall balcony. Charles left town immediately after letting the public know why he wouldn't be performing, but the promoter went
on to sue Charles for breach of contract, and Charles was fined $757 in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on June 14, 1962.
The following year, Charles did perform at a desegregated Bell Auditorium concert together with his backup group the Raelettes
on October 23, 1963,[67][68][69] and was not banned from performing thereafter in Georgia as depicted in the 2004 film, Ray.[70]
On December 7, 2007, Ray Charles Plaza was opened in Albany, Georgia, with a revolving, lighted bronze sculpture of Charles
seated at a piano.[60]

The Ray Charles Foundation

Founded in 1986, the Ray Charles Foundation maintains the mission statement of financially supporting institutions and
organizations in the research of hearing disorders.[71] Originally known as "The Robinson Foundation for Hearing Disorders", it
was renamed in 2006, and has since provided financial donations to numerous institutions involved in hearing loss research and
education.[72] Specifically, the purpose of the Foundation has been "to administer funds for scientific, educational and charitable
purposes; to encourage, promote and educate, through grants to institutions and organizations, as to the causes and cures for
diseases and disabilities of the hearing impaired and to assist organizations and institutions in their social educational and
academic advancement of programs for the youth, and carry on other charitable and educational activities associated with these
goals as allowed by law".[73] The organization's philanthropic views stem from Charles' own views on giving, as the musician
often contributed cochlear implant donations to those who could not afford the procedure. Charles was recorded as saying that the
reason he has given so much more time and money to the hearing impaired, rather than the visually impaired, was that music
saved his life, and he wouldn't know what to do if he couldn't experience it.

Recipients of donations include Benedict College, Morehouse College and numerous other universities.[74] The foundation has
taken action against donation recipients who do not use funds in accordance with its mission statement, such as the Albany State
University, which was made to return a $3 million donation after not using the funds for over a decade.[75] The foundation
currently houses its executive offices at the historic RPM International Building, originally the home of Ray Charles Enterprises,
and now also home to the Ray Charles Memorial Library on the first floor, which was founded on September 23, 2010 (what
would have been his 80th birthday). The library was founded to "provide an avenue for young children to experience music and
art in a way that will inspire their creativity and imagination", and is not open to the public without reservation, as the main goal is
to educate mass groups of underprivileged youth and provide art and history to those without access to such documents.[76]

Discography
"I Got a Woman" (1954)
"What'd I Say" (1959)
"Georgia on My Mind" (1960)
"Hit the Road Jack" (1961)
"One Mint Julep" (1961)
"Unchain My Heart" (1961)
"I Can't Stop Loving You" (1962)

Filmography
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17.11.2017 Ray Charles - Wikipedia

Swingin' Along (1961), as himself

Ballad in Blue (1965), as himself
The Big T.N.T. Show (1966) (documentary)
The Blues Brothers (1980), as Ray
Limit Up (1989), as Julius
Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990) (documentary)
Love Affair (1994), as himself
Spy Hard (1996), as bus driver
The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave (2000), as himself
Blue's Big Musical Movie (2000), as the voice of G-Clef (his final film role)

Television
Who's the Boss, episode "Hit the Road, Chad" (February 3, 1987), as himself
St. Elsewhere, episode "Jose, Can You See?" (February 4, 1987), as Arthur Tibbits
Moonlighting, episode "A Trip to the Moon" (1987), as himself
Wings, episode "A Decent Proposal" (May 12, 1994), as himself
The Nanny (1999), as Sammy
Saturday Night Live host, season 3, episode 5 (November 12, 1977)

Notes
1. According to Bob L. Eagle; Eric S. LeBlanc.
+leblanc&source=bl&ots=8HKsd2Cge3&sig=uQvKIgDv3XTl6D1NKT5qWaVibDY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2
punWtcHPAhXpJcAKHUSPCAEQ6AEIJTAD#v=onepage&q=%22ray%20charles%22&f=false Blues: A Regional
Experience (https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZNfAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA361&lpg=PA361&dq=%22ray+charle
s%22+ ) Check |url= value (help). p. 361., based on the authors' interpretation of 1935 Florida census
information, he was born Horace Charles Robinson in Greenville, Florida. However, most other reliable give his
birth name as Ray Charles Robinson, and his birthplace as Albany, Georgia. It has been suggested that there has
been a misinterpretation and that Horace Charles Robinson was in fact a half-brother.

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Bibliography
Charles, Ray and Ritz, David (2004). Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story (Third Da Capo Press ed.). Da Capo
Press. ISBN 0-306-81431-5.
VH1 (see list of contributors) (https://books.google.com/books?id=pRi-4Vmh_9QC&pg=PR10&vq=Modern+Sound
s&dq=Modern+Sounds+In+Country+and+western+music&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U0hsXXBfXprrBW6
D-sf2Mr__9YwVA#PPA217,M1) (2003). 100 Greatest Albums. edited by Jacob Hoye. Simon & Schuster, USA.
p. 210. ISBN 0-7434-4876-6.
Lydon, Michael (1998). Ray Charles: Man and Music. Riverhead Books. ISBN 1-57322-132-5.

External links
Official website (http://www.raycharles.com)
Ray Charles (https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/106672) at Encyclopdia Britannica

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles 14/15
17.11.2017 Ray Charles - Wikipedia

Ray Charles (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8896492) at Find a Grave

Article from the St. Augustine Record noting Charles' being on WFOY (http://staugustine.com/stories/022503/new
_1351077.shtml)
Ray Charles (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1464285/Ray-Charles.html) Daily Telegraph obituary
Ray Charles (https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2ce02909-598b-44ef-a456-151ba0a3bd70) discography at
MusicBrainz
Ray Charles (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/ray-charles) at Rolling Stone
Ray Charles (http://songwritershalloffame.org/ceremony/entry/C3105/5049) at Songwriters Hall of Fame
"Ray Charles" (https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/ray-charles/). Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Ray Charles (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0153124/) on IMDb
Ray Charles (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3876) at AllMusic
Ray Charles (https://www.discogs.com/artist/Ray+Charles) discography at Discogs
Ray Charles autobiography: The Early Years 19301960 (https://web.archive.org/web/20071012222747/http://ww
w.raycharles.com/the_man_autobiography.html) at the Wayback Machine (archived October 12, 2007)
I Can't Stop Loving You: Ray Charles and Country Music Past Exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and
Museum (https://web.archive.org/web/20100411224745/http://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/past/view/i-can-t-
stop-loving-you-ray-charles-and-country-music)
Ray Charles's oral history video excerpts (http://www.visionaryproject.com/charlesray) at the National Visionary
Leadership Project
Ray Charles (https://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/partners/UNTML/browse/?start=14&fq=untl_collection%3AJGP
C) interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
Appearances (https://www.c-span.org/person/?raycharles) on C-SPAN

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