RAY CHARLES – EN

Ray Charles
(Ray Charles Robinson)

Was born on September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia.

His father, a mechanic, and his mother, a sharecropper, moved the family to Greenville, Florida when he was an infant. One of the most traumatic events of his childhood was witnessing the drowning death of his younger brother.

Ray Charles was a legendary musician who pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s. Often called the “Father of Soul,” Charles combined blues, gospel and jazz to create groundbreaking hits such as “Unchain My Heart,” “Hit the Road Jack” and “Georgia on My Mind.” He died in 2004, leaving a lasting impression on contemporary music.

He was blind by the age of 7, and his mother sent him to a state-sponsored school, the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida — where he learned to read, write and arrange music in Braille. He also learned to play piano, organ, sax, clarinet and trumpet. The breadth of his musical interests ranged widely, from gospel to country, to blues.

At the of age 16, Charles moved to Seattle. There, he met a young Quincy Jones, a friend and collaborator he would keep for the rest of his life. Charles performed with the McSon Trio in 1940s. His early playing style closely resembled the work of his two major influences — Charles Brown and Nat King Cole. Charles later developed his distinctive sound.

In 1949, he released his first single, “Confession Blues,” with the Maxin Trio.

A year later, Charles’ now classic song, “I Got a Woman,” reached No. 1 on the R&B charts. The song reflected an advance in his musical style. His fusion of gospel and R&B helped to create a new musical genre known as soul. By the late 1950s, Charles began entertaining the world of jazz, cutting records with members of the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Fellow musicians began to call Charles “The Genius,” an appropriate title for the ramblin’ musician, who never worked in just one style, but blended and beautified all that he touched (he also earned the nickname “Father of Soul”). Charles’ biggest success was perhaps his ability to cross over into pop music too, reaching No. 6 on the pop chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart with his hit “What’d I Say.”

The year 1960 brought Charles his first Grammy Award for “Georgia on My Mind,” followed by another Grammy for the single “Hit the Road, Jack.”

Charles avoided jail after his arrest for possession by finally kicking the habit at a clinic in Los Angeles.

In 1980, Charles appeared in the comedy The Blues Brothers with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. The music icon received a special honor a few years later as one of the first people inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Charles was recognized for his contributions to the genre alongside such fellow luminaries as James Brown, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke and Buddy Holly.