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Ray the Oscar winner
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Jamie Foxx wins the 2005 Oscar for the best actor with
his role as Ray Charles. Also 2nd Oscar for best sound
mix.
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Web-site Links
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Ray Charles Discography - Album CD
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Title
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Date
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Remarks
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| Ray Charles |
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1957 |
Atlantic |
| Ray Charles at Newport |
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1958 |
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| Ra Charles in Person |
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1959 |
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| Genius of Ray Charles |
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1960 |
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| Genius + Soul = Jazz |
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1961 |
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| The Genius Hits the Road |
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1960 |
ABC |
| The Genius after Hours |
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1961 |
Atlantic |
| Ray Charles and Betty Carter |
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1961 |
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| The Genius Sings the Blues |
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1961 |
Atlantic |
| Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music |
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1962 |
ABC |
| Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume
2 |
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1963 |
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| Ray Charles Greatest Hits |
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1963 |
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| Ray Charles Live in Concert |
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1965 |
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| Country and Western Meets Rhythm and Blues |
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1965 |
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| plus more ... |
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BIO - Ray Charles
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| Ray Charles was born Ray Charles Robinson, in Albany,
Georgia, USA, on September 23, 1930. He died in Los Angeles
on June 10, 2004. He was blind from the age of seven. |
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Ray Charles was a pianist and soul singer who helped
shape the sound of rhythm and blues and also brought a
soulful sound to everything from country music to pop
standard.
Ray Charles began going blind at an early age and was
totally blind by age seven. He attended the Florida School
for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida.
He learned to read Braille, and to write music and play
various instruments.
After leaving school, Charles began working as a musician
in Florida, eventually moving to Seattle, Washington in
1947. He started recording, achieving his first hit song
with "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" (1951) and was influenced
by Nat King Cole and Charles Brown.
After joining Atlantic Records, Charles's sound become
more and more original and groundbreaking as he took the
feel, and 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, with an occasional
nod to country music, such as his version of Hank Snow's
"I'm Moving On".
His first hit was "Mess Around," which was based on the
1929 classic "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" by Pinetop Smith.
He had another hit with the rap-like urban jive of "It
Should Have Been Me", but went into high gear with the
gospel drive of "I Got A Woman" (1955). This was followed
by "This Little Girl of Mine", "Drown in My Own Tears",
"Hallelujah I Love Her So," and "Lonely Avenue".
Although Ray Charles was criticized for singing gospel
songs with secular lyrics, there is a long tradition of
putting religious lyrics to popular songs and vice versa.
After an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958
he achieved mainstream success with "(The Night Time is)
The Right Time" and his classic signature song, "What'd
I Say".
The essence of this phase of his career can be heard on
his live album Ray Charles In Person, recorded before
a mostly African American audience in Atlanta in 1958.
This album also features the first public performance
of "What'd I Say". It broke out as a hit in Atlanta from
the tape, months before it was recorded in the studio
in a two-part version with better fidelity. Charles had
already begun to go beyond the limits of his blues-gospel
synthesis while still at Atlantic, which now called 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".
Subsequently at ABC Paramount Records, Charles established
greater control over his music, and broadened his approach
with out and out pop music, resulting in such hits as
"Unchain My Heart" and "Hit the Road, Jack".
He toured internationally and uniquely for the time the
whole show was devoted to Ray Charles, his orchestra and
singers "The Raylets".
In 1962, Charles surprised his new, broad audience with
his landmark album Modern Sounds in Country and Western
Music, which included the numbers "I Can't Stop Loving
You" and "You Don't Know Me". This was followed by a series
of hits, including "You Are My Sunshine", "Crying Time",
"Busted" and "Take These Chains From My Heart". In 1965,
Charles was arrested for possession of heroin and was
jailed for one year. After gaining his freedom, Charles
defiantly released Ashford and Simpson's "Lets Go Get
Stoned" (1966).
Since the 1960s, Charles's releases have been hit-or-miss,
with some massive hits and critically acclaimed work,
and some music that has been dismissed as unoriginal and
staid. He concentrated largely on live performances, although
his version of "Georgia On My Mind", a Hoagy Carmichael
song originally written for a girl named Georgia, was
a hit and soon was proclaimed the state song of Georgia,
with Charles performing it on the floor of the state legislature.
He also had success with his unique version of "America
the Beautiful". In 1980 Charles gave a musical cameo appearance
in The Blues Brothers.
Despite his support of Martin Luther King, Jr., in the
1960s and his support for the civil rights movement Charles
courted controversy when he toured South Africa in 1981
despite an international boycott of the country because
of its apartheid policy. He faced pickets in South Africa
and in 15 North American cities he toured subsequently
including Toronto, Albany, New York City and Los Angeles.
The United Nations agency supporting the boycott asked
him to apologize and promise not to visit South Africa
until the abolition of apartheid to which he responded
that they could "kindly kiss (my) far end". Despite having
described himself as a "Hubert Humphrey Democrat" Charles
accepted $100,000 to perform America the Beautiful at
Ronald Reagan's second inaugural ball. In response to
criticism his manager, Roy Adams, commented ""for that
kind of money we would have sung America The Beautiful
at a Ku Klux Klan rally."
A notorious ladies' man, Charles was married twice and
fathered 12 children. In a 60 Minutes profile, he admitted
to Ed Bradley that he "auditioned" his female back-up
singers. The saying was, "To be a Raelet, you've got to
let Ray". From the time of his switch from straight rhythm
and blues with a combo, Charles was often accused of selling
out. Charles left behind his classic formulation of rhythm
and blues to sing country music, pop songs, and soft-drink
commercials. In the process, he went from a niche audience
to worldwide fame.
He became famous again in the 1990s as a spokesman for
Diet Pepsi, but it is said that it boosted his career
with younger audience, particularly through popularizing
the catchphrase "You've got the right one, baby!" He also
did guest vocals for the INXS song "Please (You've Got
That...)", on the Full Moon, Dirty Hearts album. He was
an original inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He is inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame,
the Blues Hall of Fame, the Songwriters' Hall of Fame,
the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Jazz Hall of Fame, the Georgia
Music Hall of Fame, the Florida Artists Hall of Fame,
and the Playboy Hall of Fame.
Ray Charles's final public appearance came on April 30,
2004, at the dedication of his music studio as an historic
landmark in the city of Los Angeles. He died at the age
of 73 at his home in Beverly Hills, California.
His final recorded album, Genius Loves Company, released
after his death, consists of duets with various admirers
and contemporaries, including B.B. King, Van Morrison,
Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt,
Diana Krall, Norah Jones, and Johnny Mathis.
A critically-acclaimed bio-pic, Ray, was released in October
2004, starring Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles. The movie has
already won awards for Jamie Foxx (as best actor) and
the sound category. An album based upon songs in the film
enjoys chart success. |
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