Ray Charles Biography

Ray Charles Robinson was born on 23 September, 1930 and died on June 10, 2004. Better known by his stage name Ray Charles. Ray Charles Robinson was born in Albany, Ga. His father, Bailey Robinson, was a mechanic and handyman, and his mother, Aretha, stacked boards in a sawmill. His family moved to Greenville, Fla., when Charles was a baby. Ray Young was brought up during the Great Depression, a time when almost nothing is like a financial benefit to anyone and especially a black family living in the South are completely separate. Ray Charles Biography is an American musician. It could be said that Ray Charles was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into the early recordings with Atlantic Records.

Ray Charles also helped integrate the state of race and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, especially with his Modern Sounds albums. While with ABC, Ray Charles became one of the first African-American musicians who are given artistic control by a mainstream record company. Frank Sinatra called Charles' genius is only valid in show business. "

At age seven his right eye was removed, soon after that he became totally blind. He was sent to St. Augustine School for the Blind, in Florida, where he learned to read Braille (system of raised dots on paper that blind can be used to read) and began playing the piano, clarinet, and saxophone. His blindness required him to use a strong memory for music and gift pitch perfect. At the age of fifteen years of Charles lost his mother, two years later his father died. Charles experienced suffering, has gone blind and was left an orphan at an early age, giving his.

From 1955, Charles toured extensively in the United States and elsewhere with his own big band and quartet gospel-style female backup called The Raeletts. He also appeared on television and worked in films such as Ballad in Blue (1964) and The Blues Brothers (1980) as an act of features and sound track composer. He formed his own record label custom, Tangerine in 1962 and Crossover Records in 1973. Recipient of national and international awards, he received 13 Grammy Awards, including a lifetime achievement award in 1987. In 1986 Charles was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Kennedy Center Honor. He published an autobiography, Brother Ray, Ray Charles' Own Story (1978), written with David Ritz.

Ray Charles died of acute liver disease on Thursday, June 10, 2004. Ray Charles died at the age of 73 years. Ray Charles left behind a long list of hits and Grammy awards and musicians he influenced are as diverse as the musical genre he wrote, arranged, performed and recorded.