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Quick Facts
- NAME: Ray Charles
- OCCUPATION: Songwriter, Pianist, Singer
- BIRTH DATE: September 23, 1930
- DEATH DATE: June 10, 2004
- EDUCATION: Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Albany, Georgia
- PLACE OF DEATH: Beverly Hills, California
- AKA: Ray Charles
- Full Name: Ray Charles Robinson
- Nickname: "The Genius"
- Nickname: "Father of Soul"
Best Known For
Ray Charles was a pioneer of soul music, integrating R&B, gospel, pop and country to creat hits like "Unchain My Heart," "Hit the Road Jack" and "Georgia on My Mind." A blind genius, he is considered one of the greatest artists of all time.
Videos see all videos
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Ray Charles - Mini Biography (4:13)
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Ray Charles - Quitting Cold Turkey
Watch a short video about Ray Charles and learn about how he soared to the top of the music charts, only to hit rock bottom from drug abuse, and back up again.
Ray Charles - Mini Biography
Ray Charles was one of America's greatest musicians, pioneering the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm & blues, gospel and blues.
Willie Nelson - Playing with Ray Charles
Musical legend Ray Charles describes what makes Willie Nelson so special as a singer and songwriter, and what makes his voice unique.
Stevie Wonder - The Blind Prodigy
As Stevie Wonder's talent became the talk of his neighborhood, Ronald White, a member of the band The Miracles, heard of this blind prodigy and had to see him for himself.
Quiz
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Play NowRay Charles. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:10, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/ray-charles-9245001.
Ray Charles. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/ray-charles-9245001 [Accessed 23 May 2013].
"Ray Charles." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 02:10 http://www.biography.com/people/ray-charles-9245001.
"Ray Charles," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/ray-charles-9245001 [accessed May 23, 2013].
"Ray Charles," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/ray-charles-9245001 (accessed May 23, 2013).
Ray Charles [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/ray-charles-9245001.
Ray Charles, http://www.biography.com/people/ray-charles-9245001 (last visited May 23, 2013).
Ray Charles. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/ray-charles-9245001. Accessed May 23, 2013.
Synopsis
Born in Georgia in 1930, 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.
Quotes
"I can't retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. You'd have to remove the music from me surgically—like you were taking out my appendix."
"There will never be another musician who did as much to break down the perceived walls of musical genres. Ray used to say that if he had a dime, he would give me a nickel. Well, I would give that nickel back to have him still be here with us, but I know that heaven has become a much better place with him in it."
Early Life
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 Florida when he was an infant. One of the most traumatic events of his childhood was witnessing the drowning death of his younger brother.
Soon after his brother's death, Charles gradually began to lose his sight. 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.
Musical Evolution
Charles's mother died when he was 15, and for a year he toured on the "Chitlin' Circuit" in the South. While on the road, he picked up a love for heroin.
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. The song did well on the R&B charts. More success on the R&B charts followed with "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" and "Kissa Me Baby." By 1953, Charles landed a deal with Atlantic Records. He celebrated his first R&B hit single with the label, "Mess Around."
Critical Acclaim
A year later, Charles's now classic song, "I Got a Woman," reached No. 1 on the R&B charts. The song reflected an advance in his musical style. He was no longer a Nat King Cole imitator. 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's 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." For his day, he maintained a rare level of creative control over his own music.
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View groupTruth is often more fascinating than fiction. Since the beginning of movies, actors have been portraying figures from history and bringing them to life on screen. Mastering the well-known mannerisms and characteristics of real world figures can be more challenging than portraying a fictional character. Enormous amounts of research and drastic physical transformations are not uncommon for actors wanting to properly inhabit their role on film. Whether playing a scheming Queen, a country singer, a temperamental boxer, or a pioneering writer, those performers who can accurately play the part often find Oscar gold as their reward. Here are the Academy Award-winning actors, and the larger-than-life people they portrayed.
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View groupWith its roots in the blues, jazz has been referred to as America's classical music, yet has also become a major global phenomenon, branching off into a variety of forms. Earlier pioneers like Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton paved the way for the swinging big-band sounds of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. In contrast, contemporaries Dizzie Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk developed bebop, with its speedy, dissonant harmonies and improvisations. And Miles Davis heralded the birth of cool jazz, modal jazz and fusion at different points in his career. Famous jazz instrumentalists have tended to be male, yet women have been at the forefront of the genre when it comes to vocalization, from the brassy blues of Bessie Smith to the haunting eclecticism of Nina Simone.
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