Ray Charles
Songs
| Play Clip | Song Name | Time | Genre | Released | More | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Rock and Roll Shoes | 2:42 | Country | 1984 | More | License |
| What I'd Say | 1959 | More | License | |||
| Georgia On My Mind | 1960 | More | License | |||
| Hit The Road Jack | 1961 | More | License | |||
| I Can't Stop Loving You | 1962 | More | License |
Ray Charles virtually invented soul music by bringing together Gospel, the secular lyrics and narratives of blues and country, big-band arrangements of Jazz, with the rhythms and improvisational skills from all of them, creating music that was both sophisticated and spontaneous
Ray Charles was raised in Greenville, Florida, and started playing the piano before he was five. At six he contracted glaucoma, which went untreated and eventually left him blind. He studied composition writing music in Braille and learned to play the Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Trumpet, and Organ while attending School for the Deaf and the Blind from 1937 to 1945
Charles made his first single "Confession Blues" in L.A. and recorded for several independent West Coast labels until he scored a Top 10 R&B hit in 1951 with "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" and began a national tour with blues singer Lowell Fulson
Late in 1953 he went to New Orleans and became a pianist and arranger for Guitar Slim better known as Eddie Jones. Guitar Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do" was arranged by Charles and featured him on piano, selling a million copies
"What'd I Say" was #6 in the Pop Charts and #1 R&B in 1959, a wild Blues/Gospel/Latin mix and became Charles' first million seller. In late 1959 he signed to ABC Paramount Records and moved into the pop market with "Georgia on My Mind" #1 in 1960 and "Hit the Road Jack" #1 in 1961. The album 'Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music' included his versions of songs by Hank Williams, Floyd Tillman, and other country songwriters, sold more than a million copies, as did the single, "I Can't Stop Loving You" which placed #1 in 1962
Throughout his career, Charles was active in a range of political and humanitarian causes. He provided financial support for the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, he was also a staunch supporter of Israel. In 1984 he performed his version of "America the Beautiful" at the Republican National Convention. Three years later, he formed the Ray Charles Robinson Foundation for Hearing Disorders, with a $1 million personal endowment. On June 10th, 2004 Ray Charles passed away from liver disease two months before the release of his final album Genuis Loves Company
Ray Charles performed the Graham Lyle song "Rock and Roll Shoes"