Ray Charles Caricature

Ray Charles Caricature, illustrated here in 1985, age 55.

Ray Charles Robinson was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called “Brother Ray.” He was often referred to as “The Genius.” Charles was blinded during childhood due to glaucoma by the age of 7.

Charles pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic. He contributed to the integration of country music, rhythm and blues, and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, notably with his two “Modern Sounds” albums. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company.

Charles cited Nat King Cole as a primary influence, but his music was also influenced by Louis Jordan and Charles Brown. He had a lifelong friendship and occasional partnership with Quincy Jones. Frank Sinatra called Ray Charles “the only true genius in show business.”

Charles’ 1960 hit “Georgia On My Mind” was the first of his three career No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

Charles is a 17-time Grammy Award winner. He was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987; 10 of his recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

At 18, Charles first tried marijuana when he played in McSon Trio and later became addicted to heroin for seventeen years.

Greatest hits: “Georgia”, “I Got A Woman”, “Hit The Road Jack”, “Singing This Song For You”, “You Don’t Know Me”, “It’s My World”, “Busted”, “America The Beautiful”, “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and “Mess Around”.

Charles was married twice. Charles fathered a total of 12 children with ten different women.

Charles died at his home in Beverly Hills, California of complications resulting from liver failure, on June 10, 2004, at the age of 73.