Ray Charles | A Greatest Singer

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called “Brother Ray”. He was often referred to as “The Genius”. Charles started losing his vision at the age of 5, and by 7 he was blind,More info:wiki

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#10         Grand Ole Opry to Host All-Star Ray Charles Concert With Chris Young, Boyz II Men,More info:rollingstone

The genre-defying legacy of Ray Charles will be celebrated next month on one of the stages where the late entertainer felt most at home. During a special Monday night presentation of the Grand Ole Opry on October 8th, artists will gather for “An Opry Salute to Ray Charles.” Hosted by Opry member Darius Rucker, the evening will feature Chris Young, Boyz II Men, Brett Eldredge, Cam, Travis Tritt, Lukas Nelson, and others performing songs popularized by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame icon.

The event will be filmed for a PBS television special set to air in November to celebrate the influence that Charles, who died in 2004 at age 73, had on generations of musicians in the fields of R&B, country music and beyond. The special will also feature behind-the-scenes footage, vintage performance clips and a visit to the Ray Charles Library in Los Angeles.

#9         Ray Charles and Country’s Color Barrier,More info:rollingstone

In early 1963, when incoming Alabama governor George Wallace delivered his infamous “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” speech, the Number One record on the nation’s R&B chart, as well as a recent Top Ten hit on pop radio, was “You Are My Sunshine” by Ray Charles. That country standard was already well-known to generations of pop fans, thanks to sunny, sing-a-long recordings by Gene Autry, Bing Crosby and others. But Charles’ version was something else. A fierce and danceable duet with Raelette Margie Hendrix, Charles’ “You Are My Sunshine” swiped a song from the country canon, the music then, as now, most associated with Southern racism, and mixed it with unmistakable soul rhythms and a vocal attack born in the black church. The record was a subtle, and in many ways not subtle at all, embodiment of the integration Wallace and other racists were standing against.

#8       Ray Charles’ ‘Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music’ Gets Multi-Format Reissue,More info:rollingstone

Of the dozens of pop hits Ray Charles had during his remarkable career, his biggest was a soulful take on Don Gibson’s country classic “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” which logged five weeks at Number One. Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 1, the 1962 album featuring that now legendary performance, will be reissued early in 2019, along with the second volume of the Georgia-born musician’s takes on country standards, and will be available for the first time on streaming platforms beginning February 22nd.

“I’m not a country singer. I’m a singer who sings country songs,” Charles once said. But his ability to interpret country tunes with a voice that radiated blues and soul exposed such songs as Hank Williams’ “Hey, Good Lookin’,” Cindy Walker’s “You Don’t Know Me,” and Floyd Tillman’s “I Love You So Much It Hurts” to his African-American fan base while greatly expanding his white audience during the turbulent civil rights movement.

#7       Remembering Ray Charles: Performing Live Through The Decades,More info:jambase

Today marks 14 years since the death of renowned musician Ray Charles who passed away in 2004 at the age of 73. The blind pianist was part of the inaugural class of inductees into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, one of the many prestigious honors bestowed upon the beloved Georgia-native. This week’s Sunday Cinema remembers Brother Ray with a series of live performance videos spanning each decade between the 1960s and 2000s.

Charles began playing piano publicly while a teenager in the 1940s and began his professional career in earnest in the 1950s. Among his best-known songs was his early hit “What’d I Say” and the collection of videos below begins with a performance of the song from Brazil in 1963. Charles also had the ability to make other people’s songs his own, as evidenced by a 1972 performance on the Dick Cavett Show of The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” and Don Gibson’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (which was a single on Charles’ breakthrough album Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music).

#6       Q&A: Ray Charles,More info:rollingstone

#5       Ray Charles Net Worth,More info:thewealthrecord

#4       “Seven Spanish Angels” with Ray Charles & Willie Nelson,More info:music.si

#3       Ray Charles and Jamie Foxx: Genius Loves Company,More info:jazztimes

Nine words you’re likely to hear this coming February 27: “And the Oscar goes to Jamie Foxx for Ray.” So utterly and superbly does the standup comic turned dramatic actor-and trained pianist, whose earliest ambition was to become a professional musician-capture the heart and soul of Ray Charles that it’s impossible to imagine any performance outdistancing Foxx’s in the race for Oscar gold. Directed by Taylor Hackford (Everybody’s All-American, When We Were Kings), Ray traces Charles’ triumphant career and turbulent personal life, replete with debilitating drug abuse and a steady stream of extramarital affairs, from the childhood bout with glaucoma that blinded him at age seven to his ultimate achievement of international superstardom. Prior to the film’s October release, I caught up with Foxx at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he and Ray were greeted with unilateral praise.

#2        Ray Charles,More info:marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom

#1       Ray Charles, a masterful musician blind from childhood, dies at 73 in 2004,More info:nydailynews

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