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Ray Charles

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Ray Charles Robinson was born in 1930 in Albany, in the state of Georgia, and grew up in Florida. At the age of three he heard boogie-woogie on the piano in a café, and the owner taught him to play. By about the age of seven he was blind. At a school for the deaf and the blind he learned classical piano and how to read music in Braille. After his mother's death he spent his teens travelling between bands in Florida and in 1948 left for Seattle, where he got to know the young Quincy Jones. At first he took Nat King Cole as his model.

Music and breakthrough

In 1952 Atlantic Records bought his contract. At the end of 1954 he recorded I Got a Woman, a song that goes back to a gospel song by The Southern Tones and that brought together gospel, jazz and blues. In 1959 came What'd I Say, a blend of gospel, jazz, blues and Latin American music, his first big pop hit. At ABC he then became one of the first Black musicians to be granted artistic freedom at a major label. Georgia on My Mind (1960) became a number one, and with Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962) he brought country and rhythm and blues together.

Influence

Charles sang with a raw, churchy voice and accompanied himself on piano, often with the women's chorus The Raelettes and a big band behind him. By coupling the worldly lyrics of the blues with the form and the rapture of gospel, he gave soul its shape in the 1950s. Colleagues called him The Genius. He died in 2004.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to I Got a Woman and notice the singing: Charles exults and calls out like a preacher in church. Hear how that gospel rapture here carries a song about a girlfriend.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsSoul