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!

45th Anniversary of Hendrix's Death

Jimi in 1967, shot by Gered Markowitz

45 years ago today, news swept across London, and the world, that the legend Jimi Hendrix had died in the Samarkhand Hotel in Notting Hill. The circumstances, like so many deaths of this kind, have been widely disputed, but it seems most likely that it was the 9 sleeping pills consumed (18 times the recommended dose) that ended the life and career of (let’s just say it) the greatest guitarist ever to have lived. As well as covering his classic The Wind Cries Mary, I wanted to share some facts that you may not have known about the great man…

Born in Seattle in 1942, he was named John Allen Hendrix, but after his father’s return from fighting in World War II, he renamed him James Marshall. It wasn’t until he arrived in London in 1966 that Animals bassist Chas Candler suggested he swap to Jimi.

As a school boy, before getting his hands on an actual guitar, Hendrix practiced on a broom and also tried his hand at a one-stringed ukelele!

His first band was called the Velvetones, but after three months of them playing only on acoustic guitar, Hendrix realised electric was the way forward.

Hendrix was caught twice riding in stolen cars at the age of 19, and was given the choice of going to prison or joining the army. He spent two years as a paratrooper, but went straight back into his music when he was discharged in 1963.

As mentioned in previous blog posts, he started his musical career as a session musician, playing back up for the likes of Ike and Tina Turner, Sam Cooke and Little Richard.

Hendrix became famous for all the tricks he could perform with his guitar: playing with his teeth, behind his head, and, as all left-handed guitarists like myself will appreciate, playing a right-handed guitar upside-down.

New York City became Hendrix’s home in 1966 and soon was given a residence at Café Wha?, a famous bar in Greenwich which is still one of the city’s best music venues. He was brought to London in September 1966 by Chas Chandler and soon formed the band he’s most famous for, The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

After this, Hendrix went from strength to strength; The Experience had a string of hits, sell-out tours, as well as a number of controversial performances, including Monterey Pop Festival where he not only destroyed his guitar, but set fire to it. By the time he was headlining Woodstock in 1969, The Experience had ended and Hendrix was the world’s highest-paid rock musician.

The Wind Cries Mary was written by Hendrix in 1967 and inspired by his then girlfriend, Kathy Mary Etchingham. As she told Q magazine in 2013, "We'd had a row over food. Jimi didn't like lumpy mashed potato. There were thrown plates and I ran off. When I came back the next day, he'd written that song about me. It's incredibly flattering." 

Despite being about Hendrix having a tantrum at the dinner table, I thought the song was a very poignant choice for today’s anniversary. The man achieved so very much in his 27 years, and I doubt there's a rock musician out there today who hasn't been influenced by him. “Will the wind ever remember the names it has blown in the past”? In Hendrix’s case, how could we possibly forget?

Happy 70th Birthday Van Morrison!

"Van the Man" Morrison

George Ivan Morrison was born on 31st August 1945. Although best known for his 1967 hit Brown Eyed Girl, it’s only in the twenty-five or so years he has had his talents suitably recognised: In that time he’s won 2 Grammies, 1 Brit, BMI ICON and Ivor Novello awards, been inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and Irish Music Hall of Fame, given an OBE in 1996 and if that wasn’t enough, he was knighted this year for his services to popular music.

Hailing originally from Northern Ireland, “Van the Man" left school at 15 to follow his musical dreams, fronting R&B band Them before venturing into his solo career, and is still going strong and touring today at the age of seventy. Strongly influenced by American singers like Ray Charles, Lead Belly and Jelly Roll Morton, he himself has been inspirational for the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bono and Elvis Costello. 

For me, Morrison's voice has bettered with age: soulful, raspy and truly unique. Although I had a range of hits to choose from, I had to cover my favourite, Sometimes We Cry. This beautiful ballad is usually sung as a duet, and even though I love Morrison’s original version of 1997, his collaboration with Tom Jones for the album Reload is something special. Do check them both out, as well as listening to mine below!