Ray Charles: Genius Musician Who Overcame Blindness

Life and Music of Ray Charles Essay
Life and Music of Ray Charles The history of musicians is a very interesting subject. There are
thousands and millions of interesting types of musicians. Ray Charles was a very talented
musician. His focus was on Soul Music, which was Jazz combined with Gospel music. Jazz was also
a big focus of his music. Ray Charles wasn't like other musicians. He was a blind musician. Many
often wonder how someone can be blind and also be a musician, but Ray Charles was a fine
example to show that it was possible. Ray Charles was born on September 23, 1930, in Albany,
Georgia. His family was a very poor family. His father's name was Baily and his mother's name was
Aretha. He was born during the Great Depression. When he was still just an infant...show more
content...
The blindness never stopped Ray one bit. He acted as if he could see it all. He felt that he was
closer with the music since he truly felt it and didn't just read it off a piece of paper like all other
musicians. Ray had a great attitude towards his music and the surrounding of music. The first
recordings of his career were published in Tampa, Florida in 1947. After his recordings Ray
formed his own group called McSon Trio and also moved to Los Angeles. That was merely the
start of his musical career. He was soon to be a very well known musician. The group's albums
and singles that they released were some of the biggest hits of that time. He went on about his
musical career and recorded his first commercial record, with over a million sold, in 1953. In
January of 1986 Ray was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He made his own style
of music. He mixed and combined many genres of music to create the style he liked. For many
years to come he continued to throw smash hits one after another. Ray had to get admitted to a
drug program after being arrested several times in his career for drugs. He got help with his drug
problem and continued his music. Within that time he came up with his hit 'Crying Time'. That song
won Two Grammy awards. After that hit he got caught up with the law once again so he got five
year suspension. From that point on his career went downhill. He had a few hit album
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Ray Charles: Genius
Ray Charles was one of the greatest when it came to soul music. He integrated R&B, gospel, pop
and country to create hits like "Unchain My Heart," "Hit the Road Jack" and "Georgia on My
Mind." Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson also helped form this type of music, but didn't play a part as
big as Ray Charles. Although he was blind , he didn't let that stop him from being considered one of
the greatest artists of all time.
Ray Charles was born on September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia. His father was a mechanic, and
his mother was a sharecropper. They had moved to Greenville, Florida when he was an infant. One
of the most traumatic events of his childhood was witnessing his little brother die from drowning.
Soon after his little brother's death, Ray...show more content...
Charles's biggest success was perhaps his ability to cross over into pop music too, reaching number
6 on the pop chart and number one on the R&B chart with his song "What'd I Say."
In 1960, Charles obtained his first Grammy Award for "Georgia on My Mind," followed by
another Grammy for the single "Hit the Road, Jack." In his time period, it was rare that he
maintained a level of creative control over his own music. Charles changed the boundaries of music
genres in 1962 with his album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. On this album, he
showed his own way of many country classics. Although Charles was good with his music, he
struggled in his personal life. He battled with his heroin addiction. Unfortunately, in 1965, Charles
was arrested for possession of heroin.
Charles didn't go to jail after his arrest for possession because he got over his addiction of heroin
at a clinic in Los Angeles. His music that was released in the 1960s and 70's were all or nothing,
but he remained one of music's most respected stars. Charles won a Grammy Award for his
remaking of Stevie Wonder's song "Living for the City." Three years after, he released his
autobiography and named it Brother

Analysis Of The Film 'Ray Charles'
Movie Review Extra credit Essay
For this greatly appreciated extra credit opportunity given to us, I decided to do a critical analysis
on the film Ray (2004) about the life of Ray Charles. The director of this film, Taylor Hackford, has
done a fantastic job unfolding real life story of experiences that Ray Charles had, while using a
classical narrative structure. The film Ray was such a great tribute to one of the most influential
pioneers of jazz music who was known as the father of soul during the 1940's to the 1950's. Jamie
Foxx was the actor who played the role as Ray Charles in this Universal Pictures film that was
released in theatres in the year 2004. The plot to this award winning film was to capture the hard life
struggles that helped...show more content...
Musically, this film helped portray just how talented Ray Charles was, with the help of trained
classical pianist and gifted singer, actor Jamie Foxx. Jamie Foxx was able to portray Ray's cool
style of song while representing the historical time when fusion of swing, bop, R&B, gospel, and
rock were developed in the jazz scene.The film Ray provides an unflinching portrait of Ray
Charles' musical genius while overcoming drug addiction and transforming into a beloved
performer. A few songs that I recognized in this film are "I Got a Women", "Georgia on My Mind",
and "Hit the Road Jack". All in all, Jamie Foxx played such an inspiring role capturing both aspects
of music and real life struggles that Ray Charles is known for. Since Ray Charles was a popular and
known jazz artist in the 1940's – 1960's, he would have been around for both the bebop and post bop
eras, which was also around the same time as the Civil Right Movement. The film captured the
realization that race was an issue during Ray Charles's life and that his innovation of fusing gospel
style of music was a revitalized sense of black pride. Overall, Jamie Foxx's performance was nothing
of amazing and Taylor Hackford's film was a great representation to Ray

Analysis Of America The Beautiful By Ray Charles
This obvious song choice, one that was considered for the national anthem, was not selected for
its plain spoken lines, but for the singer. America the Beautiful, sung by Ray Charles, is more than
transparent lyrics; It is about a story and soulfulness. Written in 1893 by Wellesley college
professor, Katharine Lee Bates,America The Beautiful was conceived as a poem. Ray Charles'
rendition of the poem was turned into a unique and historic song, one of his most memorable hits.
Since the creation of this song, it has become exceedingly popular over the past three decades; it
has been sung at the Super Bowl, World Series, and Winter Olympics. Charles sang it over and over
at hundreds of performances in and outside of the country, but he always...show more content...
He was ranked number two on the list of the "100 greatest singers of all time" and number ten on
the list of the "100 greatest artists of all time" by Rolling Stone Magazine. The top charts, singles,
and genres he completed are more than most could fathom. Ray Charles is in about every hall of
fame having to do with music, be it Rhythm & Blues, Jazz, Rock & Roll, Gospel, or Country and
Western. "I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know," is one of his best
known quotes. With all odds against him, Ray's driving force in life was music, and who better to
sing the song America the Beautiful other than one of the biggest music legends. He reinvented a
piece of literature that described America to a T. He added soul and sound to an old poem and
breathed–in new life for generations to experience. With a story like his, there is not much of
anything else that would be considered more american to myself. He was a hardworking man,
who persevered when most would have given up, and he believed in his country; he loved
America. Ray Charles, out of all people, had every right to see no need in believing in such
beauty in the world and caring for his country as he did, but he did. And because of this, we have
one of the most American songs that has ever been written, if not the most. For those who may see
this song as an easy option or too plain spoken, not delving into the "heart" of America enough, I ask
you to

Ray Charles Accomplishments
Ray Charles
Ray Charles was a blind man but he didn't let that get in his way in his singing career. He was a
successful man in life. He was an amazing pianist, singer, and songwriter. Ray Charles has an
amazing background story. He had many flaws but yet he still was successful he lived to be what
he wanted he has an amazing childhood story. In this research project i'm going to talk about his
early life, early career , and his later years of becoming famous. Ray Charle known as "Genius" or
"Father of Soul" was born on September 23, 1930 in Albany Georgia, he was a poor kid growing up.
(http://www.pbs.org/). He was raised in Florida and became blind at age seven. (http://www.pbs.org
/). Ray Charles played music before he became blind so

Contributions Of Ray Charles
They called him 'The Genius' others called him the 'father of soul'. His passionate vocal and
perfect pitch helped him combine worlds as diverse as jazz, country, rhythm and blues and gospel,
thus creating a new blend of music called Soul. This master creator was known as Ray, Ray
Charles. He used this new genre to address social and cultural issues of the great depression.
Ray Charles was born Ray Charles Robinson September 23rd 1930 in Albany, Georgia USA. He
lived in Georgia with his parents Aretha and Bailey for a couple of months before moving to
Aretha's hometown of Greenville, Florida. Here Ray lived most of his youth with his mother and
younger brother George. It is unclear if Ray's father was present in his early life, as he had another
wife in Albany, Georgia....show more content...
All these
Ray charles grew up listening to Louis Armstrong and Nat–King. He spent his teenage years
analysing and imitating singer like Nat–King Cole and pianist Charles Brown. This constant practice
and ????? helped Ray to build up a skill base that would play a vital role in his later success.
However in order for Ray to flourish and become successful he would have to develop much further
musically. I will now discuss how he did so, who influenced him and where and when these
developments happened.
Ray then left his his hometown of Greenville to tour around the state of Florida with a country
western band. We later see this influence in his critically claimed record 'Modern Sounds of Country
Western Music'.
His moved to Seattle in 1948 later had a huge influence on Rays music. This was a tactual moved
on Charles behalf knowing all the successful acts at the time were from the northern cities, and
considering New York and Chicago were to big Seattle was the next best choice. Here Ray was a
pianist for many great artists of the late 1940s and early

Ray Charles
Ray Charles The Life and Legacy of a Genius Ray Charles was a revolutionary pianist and a soul
singer who helped shape the sound of rhythm and blues. He brought a soulful sound to everything
from country music to pop standards to "God Bless America." His birth name was Ray Charles
Robinson, but he shortened it when he entered show business to avoid confusion with the famous
boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. I chose Ray Charles as the topic for my paper after seeing the movie
Ray. After viewing this film I realized that there was a lot of interesting information about Ray
Charles that I had never heard about. Therefore, the focus of my paper is to learn who Ray Charles
really was and to discuss his life and achievements....show more content...
By this time Charles had already begun to go beyond the limits of his blues–gospel style while still
at Atlantic. It was from this point on that people began to call him The Genius. He recorded with
large orchestras and with jazz artists like Milt Jackson and even made his first country music
cover with Hank Snow's "I'm Movin On." And with that song he did move on, he moved right on
to ABC records. At ABC, Charles had a great deal of control over his music. This control helped
him to broaden his approach, not on experimental side projects, but with "out and out" pop music,
resulting in hits such as "Unchain My Heart" and "Hit the Road Jack," which may I add is a
personal favorite of mine. In 1962, Charles surprised his new, broad audience with his landmark
album Modern Sounds in Country Western Music, which included the numbers "I cant's Stop
Loving You," and "You Don't Know Me," This was followed by a series of hits which included
the numbers "You are My Sunshine," "Crying Time," "Busted," and "Take these Chains From My
Heart." During all this time while Ray's life seemed to be flourishing with greatness, it was from
the movie Ray that I learned he was struggling with a drug addiction. It didn't seem to stop Ray
until 1965. In 1965, Charles was arrested for possession of heroin but avoided jail time after kicking
the habit in a clinic in Los Angeles. He spent a year on

ray charles Essay
Ray Charles
In the 1930s many black musicians where coming out of the south. One especially who would soon
top the charts and hit fame and fortune starting in his young years, Ray Charles. After conquering
poverty, blindness and many other things, success was possible. In his young age he had a few losses
in his family and near after came down with a disease which was causing him to go blind. He later
came over the blindness and was able to learn and compose music with the help of his skills in
mathematics. After enduring a harsh childhood and blindness, Ray Charles was able to over come his
handicap and follow his dream in music.
Ray Charles was born on September 23, 1903 to a...show more content...
Not too soon after Ray turned five years old, there was a very tragic accident at their house. While
RC's little brother was in the bath tub he drowned. At first Ray was unsure that he was drowning and
thought that he was just playing going to the bottom of the washtub to get a shiny penny, but then
Ray realized his splashes and kicks weren't from him playing around. When Ray realized, he
attempted to pull him out since he was only one year older than his brother, he lacked the strength
to pull him out, so he yelled for his mother. Retha ran out but by the time she had pulled George out
of the tub, it was to late (Michael 9).
A few months after this tragic event RC was having trouble with his vision, he was having
problems with puss coming from his eyes and would wake up every morning with his eyes stuck
shut. After his vision was just getting worse and worse, his mother took him to a doctor, Doctor
McLeod. He was then prescribed ointments and eye drops and was also instructed to visit a clinic
fourteen miles away from their home (Michael 9). Soon after Retha was told that her son was going
blind, so she admitted him to a new school. He was then put on the train and sent to Saint
Augustine's school for the def and the blind (10).
At the age of seven RC went completely blind. At this new school, St. Augustine's, RC was able to
learn and become a great basket weaver; he was also able to build his musical

Ray Charles Addiction
Ray Charles was suffering from substance abuse disorder. Substance disorder is defined as a
complex behavioral disorder characterized by preoccupation with obtaining alcohol or other drugs
(AOD) and a narrowing of the behavioral repertoire towards excessive consumption and loss of
control over consumption. It is usually also accompanied by the development of tolerance and
withdrawal and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Ray Charles continued substance
abuse caused fights at home, problems with the law, and also problems with music performances,
and holding record labels. Ray Charles Would keep his drug habit away from home as much as he
could but he would constantly fight with his wife about his drug use increasing and...show more
content...
Therefore, the counselor needs to be someone that has a personality and willing to listen to Ray
and his stories. The therapist needs to approach Ray as a human and not a client. This will let Ray
open up to him/her and will allow for Ray to get deeper and deeper into his reasons of his drug
addiction.
The first treatment that the therapist should enforce on Ray is inpatient treatment. Inpatient
treatment will allow him to be able to withdraw from the drug and not have the ability to relapse
quickly. Performing on the road was his introduction to his drug addiction; therefore, he needed a
break from the road to fully recover. While in inpatient treatment he will have one–on–one
counseling as well as group counseling. During his one–on–one counseling the therapist will include
role playing. Ray Charles should role play talking to his mom and expressing his feelings that he
couldn't express at the age 7 when his brother died. Ray carried the blame of his brother dying from
childhood to his adulthood without telling anyone how he felt at the time of the event. Therefore,
the role–playing will let out all the hurt, blame, and uneasiness that were felt at that time. The
therapist will act as the mother and Ray will be allowed to dig deep in his inner feelings so that
there will not be any need to long for drugs. After this measure has been applied the therapist will
then focus on the future of Ray Charles life.
In

Ray Charles: Genius
"I don't think any of us really KNOWS why we're here. But I think we're suppose to BELIEVE
we're here for a purpose." – Ray Charles
At the time, he may not have known how true this quote would be or even if it would relate to him
when he said it. Ray Charles was one of the few artists that could be considered worthy of the title
of "genius" (Johnson). The "Living Legend" (Charles – About the Library) was born in Albany,
Georgia on September 23, 1930 under the name of Ray Charles Robinson. Charles grew up during
the Great Depression, always enduring discrimination and experiencing many hardships from an
early age until his death. He was able to achieve many things throughout his life, and even after he
died on June 10, 2004

Ray Charles
Ray Charles Is it justifiable or not for him to take gospel music and turn the song into secular
songs? Explain whether it was right or wrong. What motivated Ray Charles to experiment with
so many genres of music? Was Ray Charles responsible for Margie Hendrix's early death? Why
/Why not? Use one word to describe Ray Charles and explain why. It was justifiable for Ray
Charles to take gospel music and turn the song into secular because a new generation was arising. In
a community where different genres of music are seen as competition in the music industry, Ray
wanted to stand out. The best way to achieve this he had to cause controversy. By remixing and old
time favourite gospel track, he gained popularity both negative and...show more content...
ad the girl he would always listen to what they said no questions

Ray Charles: The Pioneer Of R & B
Ray Charles was born on September 23rd, 1930 and died June 10th, 2004. He was a singer
/songwriter and he sang soul music, the blues, and gospel music. He learned to play piano at a very
young age. Ray Charles started to lose his sight at age 4–5 and went completely blind by age 7 due
to glaucoma. When He was about 4–5 years old his brother ,George, drowned in a bathtub and died.
Even though Ray Charles was blind he still made tons of songs such as Sitting On the Dock of the
Bay, Hallelujah I Love Her So, and I Got a Woman. Rolling Stone ranked him 10th on 100 best
singers at that time. Ray Charles was sometimes called "The Pioneer of R&B''. In 1948 He signed
with swingtime records. He recorded a few of his best songs there.
Ray inspired

The Impact Of Ray Charles On American Culture
The impact that Ray Charles has had on American culture is nearly indescribable. Although
unable to see, he was successful in making his artistic visions come to life by fusing the sounds of
blues, gospel, jazz, and R&B, making him one of the leading soul artists of the 1950s. The
legendary musician is recognized for being a pillar in the industry, credited with making strides in
desegregating musical genres. Although he composed many of his early hits, Charles is
considered to be an interpreter of music, offering his distinct personal vision of many classics. Over
the course of his career, which spanned five decades, he recorded over 60 albums and sold millions
of records worldwide. Ray Charles was born on Sept. 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia, and grew up in
Greenville, Florida. At the young age of five, he began losing his sight, and became completely
blind by the time he was seven. However, this did not hinder Ray Charles at all, as he continued to
persevere in developing his musical talents. One of the most unique aspects of Ray Charles was his
unparalleled ability to crossover different genres of music. He mixed together genres such as blues,
jazz, gospel, R&B, pop, and even country. With this integration, he created smash hits such as "I
Got a Woman," "Hit the Road Jack," and "I Can't Stop Loving You." When a listener listens close
enough to one of Charles' songs, aspects of the various styles he incorporated can be heard not only
through the way the lyrics are

"I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver,
my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a
necessity for me–like food or water." (Azquotes.com) Those were one of Ray Charles's most
famous quotes. Ray Charles was the best rhythm and blues musician of all times. His love for
music started at a young age and took him far in his future years. Above is a great musician he
suffered great losses on his road to success. Ray Charles has faced many problems that a regular
person couldn't cope with but he never lost faith. Ray Robinson was born on September 23, 1930
(Ford 11), and one year later his brother George was born. Ray and his brother used to spend a
long time together, and they both had a bond that couldn't be broken. Ever since he was born
Ray's father was never there to support them. Both children have been raised by Aretha
Robinson, their devoted and caring mother, and Mary Jane, his mother's loyal and caring friend.
(Ford 10) The Robinson family were very poor, but Ray's mother worked her hardest to make sure
they never went one night without food. Ray's mother taught them to be responsible and how not
to rely on anyone else but themselves at a very young age. One of the important things that Ray
learned was how to do his chores, otherwise, he will be punished. As a young boy, life for Ray was
perfect the way it was, until one tragic day, he saw his little brother drown

Why Was Ray Charles So Popular
Have you ever wanted to go deeper into learning about musical entertainers from the past? All of
the types of music we have today came from people deeper in history. Ray Charles is one of many
musical entertainers that created a different type of music. One reason he was so popular was
because he combined many types of music to create an enjoyable sound for everyone.I chose Ray
Charles because I wanted to learn more about why he was so popular in the 1940s–1970s and how
he influenced music. In this essay I am going to talk about Ray Charles's childhood, family, and
entertaining career.
Ray Charles had a rough childhood growing up. On www.biography.com it stated ," Ray Charles
Robinson was born on September 23, 1930, in Albany,...show more content...
On www.notablebiographies.com they said, "In 1959, on the ABC–Paramount label, Charles
recorded his famous "Georgia on My MInd," which later became the official song of the state of
Georgia."Ray Charles donated one million dollars to an all–black college in Atlanta,Georgia. Charles
won ten Grammy awards from a national studio for arts and science. Charles gave two million
dollars to Wilberforce University, which they greatly appreciated. The universities both gave
Charles honorary degrees for what he had given to them. He also received a Kennedy Center
honor award in 1986. Ray also got married to the former Della Altwine and had three
children.Charles's final album was called Genius Loves Company and was released two months
after he had died. He was also invited to Las Vegas to introduce a new line of slot machines. In
1993, he was awarded with a Presidential medal from President Bill Clinton. Ray was on an ABC
show called Now where they had asked him his views on Elvis Presley.Even though he knew that
he would lose many he still said what he had thought about Elvis. He said that Elvis just copied
African American artists.Charles was very popular in the 1950s when he made

When I started researching Rhythm & Blues I was uncertain of the songs I would find, but I was
overjoyed when I learned "Hit the road Jack" by Ray Charles fits in this genre. By the age of seven
Ray became completely blind and was sent to the Saint Augustine School for the Blind where he
began to play the piano, clarinet, and saxophone using his strong music memory and perfect pitch.
Later, Charles lost both of his parents and younger brother; his personal suffering intensified the
emotional aspect of his music. Ray's passion for music bleeds through his performances, and his
genius compositions get stuck in my head for weeks. He displays his morals, beliefs, and past
experiences in his songs creating profound characteristics that melt the

Essay On Ray Charles
Ray is based on the life of Ray Charles. In his case, he was not born blind, but later became blind
at the age of seven. Many reports from doctors in the recent years believe he had glaucoma, but
there was no way to know for sure. Within the movie, there were a few scenes that flashed back to
his childhood, and with the mother he had he was not able experience learned helplessness. His
mother was his only teacher when he first became blind, and she challenged him and expected him
to be independent. Once it was known he was going blind, she taught him how to survive by
teaching him to use his memory and sticking his arms out in front of him to get around the house.
There was a scene where he tripped and fell and cried for his mother and instead of helping she
remained silent and there his heightened sense of hearing was shown....show more content...
As an adult, he did not use any aids and it was stated in the movie that he wore hard soled shoes
so he could hear the echo off of the wall so when he passed by an open door the sound changes.
His gait resulted in shorter strides and stayed within double support phase. When he was on the
road traveling for music, his payments had to be in all singles so he could count it and make sure
it was correct. His social life was affected, he was excluded at first because everyone thought they
had to take care of him. When talking to women, he felt their wrists to determine if they were pretty
or not. Since the movie was supposed to date back to the 30s – 40s, the childhood scenes shown that
there was not much help for someone with his disability to learn at home. Later in the movie, there
was a scene where his mother put him on a bus for him to attend a blind school, which with
research I found out was the Florida School for the Deaf and the

Essay about Ray Charles Robinson
Ray Charles Robinson
Ray Charles Robinson, more commonly known as Ray Charles (to avoid confusion with boxer
Sugar Ray Robinson), was born in the southern city of Albany, GA on September 23, 1930. He was
a prolific, multi–talented singer, pianist, bandleader, and composer who, when on stage captivated
his audience not only by his musical ability, but also because he was a blind, African American man.
He was given the nickname "the Genius" for his capability of combining the music of gospel, jazz,
pop, country and rhythm and blues (R&B), known as "soul music."
Charles began going blind at around age five, and had completely lost all eye sight by age seven.
The cause of his blindness was never confirmed,...show more content...
About a year later, in 1951, Charles recorded his first hit song, "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand."
Charles' musical style was heavily influenced by Nat King Cole and Charles Brown. But he was
able to do even more with his music, and more or less created a whole new musical genre,
especially after meeting musical mogul Quincy Jones, who took Charles under his wing. He drew
mainstream, national attention with his performance of "I Got a Woman" and "Hallelujah, I Love
Her So," fusing gospel with R&B and jazz. The group had a few million–seller records, and with this
boost in his career, Charles was able to attain his own record deal with Atlantic Records in 1954. In
1955, Charles formed his own band, frequently backed by a group of female gospel–style singers
known as the Raelettes, with whom he traveled for many years. In 1959, Charles recorded "What'd
I Say" which became his own first million dollar–seller. Soon after, he left Atlantic Records for ABC
Records because he felt that they wanted him to strictly be an R&B performer and weren't willing to
grow with him and his music.
By the mid 1960's, after fighting a long, uphill battle to end his seventeen–year addiction to heroin,
Charles finally regained control over his life. He started his own record label, Tangerine (later
known as Crossover), and recorded some of his most famous songs "Georgia on My Mind," "I Can't
Stop Loving You" and the hit pop song "Hit the Road

Ray Charles Research Paper
Music Assignment Term 3 2015
Ray Charles
Many look at Jazz Musician Ray Chaeles as being the 'Father of Soul', as he virtually created Soul
music. By bring together the genera's of gospel, blues, country, and jazz, Charles was able to create
a groundbreaking style of music that had not yet been heard of in the music industry.
Born Ray Charles Robinson on the 23rd of September 1930 in Albany, Georgia, Charles was raised
by his two parents. Charles had witnessed the droning death of his younger brother, which had left
him traumatised, and soon after this, at the age of 6, he contracted glaucoma, which was left
untreated, and eventually left him completely blind. Charles attended the Florida School for the
Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida, where he learned to read, write and compose music
in Braille. But his love for music started way before attending school, as he had learnt to play the
piano before the age of five....show more content...
After this Charles dropped out of school to focus on his music career and work in dance bands, as
by this time he had learnt to play the alto saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, and organ. Dropping his last
name so as to avoid confusion between him and a pro boxer with the same last name, Ray Charles
moved to Seattle with just $600, and started to record for several independent record labels,
releasing his first single 'Confession Blues' in 1949. Although this song done well on the R&B
charts, more success on the charts followed in 1951 when Charles released his song 'Baby Let Me
Hold Your

Essay about Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles was a revolutionary pianist and a soul singer who helped shape the sound of rhythm
and blues. He brought a soulful sound to everything from country music to pop standards to "God
Bless America." His birth name was Ray Charles Robinson, but he shortened it when he entered
show business to avoid confusion with the famous boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. I chose Ray Charles
as the topic for my paper after seeing the movie Ray. After viewing this film I realized that there was
a lot of interesting information about Ray Charles that I had never heard about. Therefore, the focus
of my paper is to learn who Ray Charles really was and to discuss his life and achievements.
The Early Years Ray Charles was born in...show more content...
During this time he started recording and achieved his first hit song in 1951. The song was titled
"Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand." When Charles first began singing many felt as though his sound
and piano playing resembled those of Nat King Cole and Charles Brown. Ray was quoted saying,
"When I started to sing like myself – as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while
– when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel
sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism
for it." – (San Jose Mercury News, 1994) Charles soon became more innovative when he realized
that his first recordings were only skillful imitations of his heroes. After joining Atlantic Records,
Charles's sound became more and more original and found breaking. He took many tunes from
gospel music and put them to secular lyrics performed in front of a jazz lineup playing R&B with
exceptionally tight arrangements. He sometimes even added a country music feel to some of his
arrangements for example in his version of Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On."
The Middle Years "Do it right or don't do it at all. That comes from my mom. If there's something
I want to do, I'm one of those people that won't be satisfied until I get it done. If I'm trying to sing
something and I can't get it, I'm going to keep at it until I get it where I want it." –

Ray Charles: Genius Musician Who Overcame Blindness

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Ray Charles: Genius Musician Who Overcame Blindness