Celebrating Ray Charles' 85th Birthday

Ray Charles, 1930 - 2004

"The Genius" as he is known in some musical circles, would have been 85 years old today. It's not only his songs that make Ray Charles such a predominant figure in music history but his story too, and a driving passion for music which pushed him to overcome poverty, discrimination and disability.

Charles (or Ray Charles Robinson, as he was born), began to lose his sight at the age of four due to glaucoma, and was completely blind by the time he turned seven. Before this, he was taught to play an upright piano by Wylie Pitman, a boogie woogie pianist who owned the Red Wing Cafe. Charles and his mother were regulars here, and also lived at the venue after falling on financial difficult times. 

He continued studying piano at school, but was more interested jazz and blues than the classical pieces they were trying to teach him. Learning to play when blind is quite a feat, especially for a young child. It involves learning the left hand movements by reading braille with the right hand and learning the right hand movements by reading braille with the left hand, and then synthesizing the two parts. After his mother's death he moved to Jacksonville and played in bands, and then onto the bigger city of Orlando, but work was still scarce at this time, just as World War II was ending. It wasn't until 1948 when he moved to Washington and formed his own band that Charles began to find success.

In 1953 he signed with Atlantic Records and produced his song Mess Around, then the following year he hit the big time with I've Got A Woman. This was to mark the beginning of Charles' sound - a mix of RnB, gospel, jazz and blues. 1956 saw the birth of the Raelettes, previously the Cookies, who became Charles' backing singers. One of the original Raelettes Margie Hendricks was Charles' mistress for six years, and mother to his fifth child (in total, Charles had twelve children, by ten different women!). 

What I'd Say was Charles biggest hit at Atlantic, which he later claimed was composed spontaneously on stage. It was banned from several radio stations due to its suggestive lyrics, but despite that became Charles' first entry into the top ten. Charles changed over to ABC-Paramount and soon after produced Georgia On My Mind and Hit The Road Jack.

By the late 1960s however, things began to change. The genre that Charles represented was falling out of favour, and despite a move over to country, he had very little success compared to the fame he had known in previous decades. Ray Charles passed away in 2004 with an acute liver disease. 

Even after his death, his name lives on as an artist full of talent, who provided us with some incredible songs. "Music's been around a long time," Charles once said, "and there's going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it's a big record, that's the frosting on the cake, but music's the main meal." 

Well, hallelujah to that!