Ray Charles

Ray Charles is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as “The Genius”. Among friends and fellow musicians, he preferred being called “Brother Ray”.

Charles was born on September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia. He was the son of Bailey Robinson, a labourer, and Aretha (or Reatha) Robinson (née Williams), a laundress, of Greenville, Florida.

One of the most traumatic events of his childhood was witnessing the drowning death of his younger brother.

Charles started to lose his sight at the age of four or five, and was blind by the age of seven, likely as a result of glaucoma. His mother 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.

Charles started to learn the paino at the age of three and further developed his musical talent at school and was taught to play the classical piano music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. His teacher, Mrs. Lawrence, taught him how to use braille music, 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, then combining the two parts.

After leaving school, Charles moved to Jacksonville to live with Charles Wayne Powell, 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. He joined Local 632 of the American Federation of Musicians, in the hope that it would help him get work. In 1947, Charles moved to Tampa, where he held two jobs, including one as a pianist for Charles Brantley’s Honey Dippers.

Charles moved to Seattle, Washington, in March 1948, knowing that the biggest radio hits came from northern cities. There he met and befriended, under the tutelage of Robert Blackwell, the 15-year-old Quincy Jones.

With Charles on piano, McKee on guitar, and Milton Garred on bass, The McSon Trio started playing the 1–5 A.M. shift at the Rocking Chair. Publicity photos of this 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.

At 18, Charles first tried marijuana and was eager to try it as he thought it helped musicians create music and tap into their creativity. He later became addicted to heroin for seventeen years. Charles was first arrested in 1955, when he and his bandmates were caught backstage with loose marijuana and drug paraphernalia, including a burnt spoon, syringe, and needle.

After signing with Swing Time Records, Charles recorded two more R&B hits under the name Ray Charles: ‘Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand’ (1951), which reached No. 5, and ‘Kissa Me Baby’ (1952), which reached No. 8. Swing Time folded the following year, and Ahmet Ertegun signed Charles to Atlantic Records.

In 1953, ‘Mess Around’ became his first small hit for Atlantic; during the next year, he had hits with ‘It Should’ve Been Me’ and ‘Don’t You Know’. He also recorded the songs ‘Midnight Hour’ and ‘Sinner’s Prayer’ around this time.

Charles’ contract with Atlantic expired in 1959, and several big labels offered him record deals. Choosing not to renegotiate his contract with Atlantic, he signed with ABC-Paramount in November 1959. With ‘Georgia on My Mind’, his first hit single for ABC-Paramount in 1960, Charles received national acclaim and four Grammy Awards. Written by Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael, Charles’ rendition of the tune helped elevate it to the status of an American classic, and his version also became the state song of Georgia in 1979. Charles earned another Grammy for the follow-up track ‘Hit the Road Jack’, written by R&B singer Percy Mayfield.

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.

In 1964, Charles’s career was halted after he was arrested for a third time for possession of heroin. He agreed to go to a rehabilitative facility 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 Ashford & Simpson and Jo Armstead, including the dance number ‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’ and ‘Let’s Go Get Stoned’.

Charles enjoyed playing chess. As part of his therapy when he quit heroin, he met with psychiatrist Friedrich Hacker [de], who taught him how to play chess. He used a special board with raised squares and holes for the pieces. When questioned if people try to cheat against a blind man, he joked in reply, “You can’t cheat in Chess… I’m gonna see that!”

In 1986, he was one of the first inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural ceremony. He also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986.

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

He appeared in many TV shows and films including Moonlighting, Sesame Street, The Blues Brothers, St. Elsewhere and Saturday Night Live and also recorded commercials for Pepsi-Cola, singing ‘You Got the Right One, Baby!’ as his catchphrase.

During his career, he released over 60 studio albums and over 100 singles.

Charles was married twice. His first marriage lasted less than a year; his second lasted 22 years. Throughout his life, Charles had many relationships with women. He fathered a total of 12 children with ten different women. Charles held a family luncheon for his 12 children in 2002, ten of whom attended. He told them he was mortally ill and $500,000 had been placed in trusts for each of the children to be paid out over the next five years.

He died on June 10, 2004, at age 73, of complications resulting from liver failure at his home in Beverly Hills, California.

His final album, Genius Loves Company, released two months after his death, consists of duets with 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.

In 2004 the American biographical musical drama film Ray was released. Jamie Foxx starred as the legendary performer, winning an Academy Award for his portrayal of Charles.