Ray Charles: Everything About Ray Charles

The African American singer, composer and pianist, Ray Charles, is a widely known and admired name since 1947. Ray Charles Robinson was born on 23^rd September 1930 to Bailey Robinson and Aretha Robinson in Albany, Georgia. Even though he was blind, he used his strong memory and gifted perfect pitch to get an edge in the musical industry. When he was 17, both his parents died, living him orphan, that feeling helped him in going in depth in his music.

Insights About Ray Charles

Ray Charles has mentioned in his biography that he became hooked on women and heroin early in his life and could never get rid of the 2 habits. He had been with several women during his lifetime and have fathered a dozen Ray Charles children.

In his musical career, Charles was the pioneer of bringing in soul music genre in the 1950s. He combined jazz, blues, gospel and rhythm styles to come up with the Ray Charles songs with soul music genre in the Atlantic Records. And in 1960s, Ray Charles contributed to the integration of rhythm and blues, country music and pop music for ABC Record’s 2 modern sounds albums.

Education

Ray Charles started learning piano when he was three at the Wylie Pitman’s Red Wing Café, Greenville. He started losing vision at the age of five. And by the age of seven, Charles completely lost his vision due to glaucoma.

After which from 1937 to 1945, Ray Charles attended the Florida School for Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine. At school, he had a professor named Mrs. Lawrence who taught her the difficult art of using braille and playing music. In 1945, Charles’s mother died after which he stopped going to school.

Career

In 1945, Ray Charles moved to Jacksonville where he played piano for bands to earn some income. He tried to gain name in musical industry at Jacksonville but couldn’t get that reputation there. Hence, he left Jacksonville at the age of 16 and moved to Orlando.

After years of living in borderline poverty and hard work at Orlando, Charles moved to Tampa for better exposure where he worked as a pianist for Charles Brantley’s Honey Dippers. He then moved ahead with his first 4 successful recordings at Tampa to Seattle, Washington to start his own band. The McSon Trio with Charles, McKee, and Milton, gained a lot of popularity around the nation. Post this, he recorded several songs and many more. Until 1970s, he was a sensation for his numerous hits.

Fun Facts About Ray Charles

Here are some of the lesser known and some very well-known facts about Ray Charles:

• Ray Charles was regarded as one of the most iconic as well as influential singers in the history
• He started losing his vision from the age of five and by seven he completely turned blind
• Blindness didn’t let him leave his passion for music. Charles managed to learn music through braille which bought out best of him
• He struggled through different phases of his live which only made him stronger
• He became orphan at the age of 14 post which he stopped going to school
• In 1951, Ray Charles married his 1^st wife and got divorced in 1952
• In 1955, Della Beatrice became Ray Charles wife. This marriage lasted for 22 years.
• Ray Charles had 12 children with 10 different women
• He loved playing chess and had a significant hold over the game
• He has several accolades and honors in his name like Kennedy Center Honors, Polar Music Prize, National Medal of Arts, 18 Grammy Awards, and many more
• Charles died on 10^th June 2004 at his home in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 73

Conclusion

Ray Charles was a well celebrated and well recognized music personality for the revolutionary music genres he had created back then. In his lifetime, he had faced several difficulties as a child but he worked hard and created an inspiring life journey with his top-notch work in the music industry. He will be remembered for years and years to come.