Ray Charles, 1930-2004

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Ray Charles, 1930-2004
2
Thu, 06-10-2004 - 5:25pm
Another great loss, singer-songwriter Ray Charles has died.

http://www.wftv.com/entertainment/3404749/detail.html?treets=orlc&tml=orlc_break&ts=T&tmi=orlc_break_3061_02470306102004

Spokesman Jerry Digney said Charles died of acute liver disase today in Bevery Hills, Calif., while surrounded by family and friends. He was 73.

The blind Grammy-winning crooner blended gospel and blues in such crowd-pleasers as "What'd I Say" and heartfelt ballads like "Georgia on My Mind."

A gifted pianist and saxophonist, Charles explored many musical genres over his career, including blues, country, jazz and big band. Among his classic hits were "Hit the Road Jack" and "I Can't Stop Loving You," and he also gave different creative spins to "America the Beautiful" and "Makin' Whoopee."

He also collaborated with rock and pop musicians, including Eric Clapton, Chaka Kahn and Billy Joel. In 1986, Charles teamed with Joel for the hit piano/vocal duet, "Baby Grand."

Charles was born Ray Charles Robinson in Albany, Ga., on Sept. 23, 1930. He lost his sight at age 7, and while glaucoma is often mentioned as a cause of his blindness, Charles said nothing was ever diagnosed.

His father, Bailey Robinson, was a mechanic and a handyman, and his mother, Aretha, stacked boards in a sawmill. However, the singer-songwriter became an orphan at age 15.

Charles won nine of his 12 Grammy Awards between 1960 and 1966, including the best R&B recording three consecutive years.

He was also an original inductee of the Rock and Roll of Hall of Fame in 1986 and was honored by the Kennedy Center in Washington the same year.

On the personal front, Charles was known as a legendary womanizer. According to the Internet Movie Database, Charles was married twice and fathered nine children.

He also struggled with heroin addiction for nearly 20 years before quitting in 1965, following a drug bust at the Boston airport.

The musician's legendary status often landed him parts on television and in movies.

He played Ray in the 1980 cult movie classic "The Blues Brothers" and appeared on such television shows as "Moonlighting," "The Nanny" and the variety shows of Perry Como, Andy Williams and Flip Wilson.

Last year, nagging hip problems forced Charles to call off his first tour in 53 years. More than 30 other shows during Charles' career had to postponed because of his hips.

"It breaks my heart to withdraw from these shows," Charles said in a statement in August. "All my life, I've been touring and performing. It's what I do. But the doctors insist I stay put and mend for a while, so I'll heed their advice."

He underwent hip replacement surgery in November.

Charles' last public appearance was alongside Clint Eastwood on April 30, when the city of Los Angeles designated the singer's studios, built 40 years ago in central Los Angeles, as a historic landmark.

Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 06-11-2004 - 12:47pm

A bit more info. about RC's background.


>"Ray Charles Robinson -- he later changed his name to avoid confusion with the noted boxer -- was born in Albany, Georgia, on September 23, 1930. His father was a handyman; his mother stacked boards in a sawmill. The family moved to Greenville, Florida, when Ray was an infant.


"Talk about poor," Charles once said. "We were on the bottom of the ladder."


Charles' younger brother, George, drowned when Ray was 5, an event Charles witnessed. George had fallen into a tub; Ray tried to pull him out, "but he was too heavy," he told an interviewer.


Not long after, Charles began losing his sight. By the time he was 7, he was totally blind. But his mother, Charles said, was resolute.


"When the doctors told her that I was gradually losing my sight, and that I wasn't going to get any better, she started helping me deal with it by showing me how to get around, how to find things," he said in the autobiography. "That made it a little bit easier to deal with."


He'd been playing piano since he was 3. In 1937, he entered the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind as a charity student, studied classical piano and clarinet, and learned to read and write music in Braille. Both his parents died by the time Charles turned 15."<


From......... http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/10/obit.charles/index.html

cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Fri, 06-11-2004 - 6:26pm

You can even listen to a couple of his songs here...from the Experience Music Project:


http://www.experience.org/explore/show_feature1.asp?id=100


R&B pioneer Ray Charles was born in Albany, Georgia in 1930. Legend has it that Ray was three years old when he began to teach himself piano. His more than five-decade long musical career was more officially inaugurated at the age of sixteen, when the orphaned Charles left the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind. For several years Ray Charles performed with dance bands in Jacksonville, Florida and throughout much of the South. He relocated to Seattle in 1948 and soon found work in local clubs. Charles quickly formed his own group — the McSon (or "Maxin") Trio, and in 1949 they recorded their first single, "Confession Blues," in a small, primitive Seattle studio.

Before long, Ray Charles embarked on his first tour in which he supported Los Angeles blues star Lowell Fulson. A subsequent move to Los Angeles enabled Charles to devote much of his time to recording while maintaining a close proximity to the music industry. After several more releases he hit the charts with 1951's R&B gem, "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand." These early sides provided but a glimpse of Ray Charles' genius. The classic, soulful sound Charles is known for first appeared in 1955 with "I Got a Woman." In 1958 "Georgia On My Mind" became his first national number one hit. The late 50s/early 60s was a successful new era for The Genius; it saw the beginning of a remarkable string of hits which continued for decades. As his popularity and artistic range continued to expand, Charles also proved to be a master of the country and jazz idioms. Today, Ray Charles is regarded as one of America's most original and enduring musical treasures.

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