Ray Charles
Ray Charles died Thursday June 10th 2004
at exactly 11:30. He was Seventy-Three Years old when he died. Ray was born when “The Great Depression” was happening
in the far south. As he grew up he was raised on blues, country, gospel, jazz, and big bands music. As his long career continued
he developed a type of music that was all these types of music combined to make his own type of songs.
Ray was born on September 23rd, 1930 in
Albany, Georgia. His father’s name was Bailey Robinson. He was a Mechanic/Handy Man. His mother’s name was Aretha
Robinson. Her Job was to stack boards in a sawmill. When Ray was an infant he and his family moved to Greenville, Florida.
While the Great Depression was happening there was no financial gain for anyone, especially a black Family living in a well
segregated south.
When Ray was five years old he had to take in the pain of witnessing
his brother drowning in his mothers large metal portable laundry tub. Very soon after his brothers death he began to lose
his sight and by the age of seven he was completely blind. Although it was thought that Ray lost his sight from untreated
Glaucoma it has never been proven. Rays mother refused to let him cry in self-pity, however since the sight loss was permanent,
she began to help him learn how to find things and do things for himself.
Ray was interested in music at the age of three. He was
encouraged by an old café owner who was a pianist. At age seven he had become a charity student for the blind and deaf school
in St. Augustine, Florida. Even though it broke his heart to leave home it was a school that could teach him how to play the
piano, organ, alto saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, read, write, arrange music and score for big bands. At night time he would
love to listen to the radio. Then at age fifteen his mother died. Ray Left School without a cane, and guide dog and he never
begged for money. He began touring the South on the so-called chitlin’ circuit with a number of dance bands that played
in black dance halls.
In the south 1945 the idea for a young black Musician just
starting, hoping for a career in music were very bleak. Ray’s loss of sight and newfound love for heroin (the habit
that he didn’t get rid of for twenty years) one would think that situation was hopeless. But Ray would rather just keep
on going than giving up. In Seattle he met producer 16 year old Quincy Jones on a red light when ray was fourteen, he taught
the future producer how to write music and arrange music. There friendship lasted a lifetime with the two people working together
to make beautiful sounds for later in their careers.
Ray Charles Robinson dropped his last name so he wouldn’t
be confused with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and patterned himself in his early career after Nat “King” Cole. Rays
first 3 recordings were recorded in Tampa, Florida 1947. The songs included “Guitar Blues”, “Walkin’
and Talkin’ ” and “Wonderin’ “. His recording contract
in 1949 on the now Downbeat label, previous label was Swingtime. Ray and his trio (known as McSon Trio) moved to Los Angeles.
In the 1950s the trio released several songs such as “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand”, which hit the United States
R and B charts.
During 1952 Atlantic Recordings signed him a contract, although
the songs that he made were released one year after the contract. Ray finally got one of his songs to be put in a commercial.
The song was called “The Things That I Used to Do”, which sold over one million copies. In the 50’s he released
a lot of songs such as “I Got a Woman”, What’d I say”, “Let the Good Times Roll”, “I’m
Moving on”. In 1959 the hit song “What’d I say boosted his contract to ABC Paramount label late in the year.
“Georgia on My Mind” was released in 1979 and declared the Georgia
state song and was very famous. By the end of his career Ray Charles had released over 200 songs. On Thursday June 10th
2004 Ray Charles, the once said “Greatest Singing Career in the World” Died from Acute liver disease at exactly
11:30. Ray Charles + American Songs = Genius
