Ray Charles

One of my favourite jazz, blues, R&B, soul and gospel music pianist is Ray Charles Robinson. He was famous for integrating gospel style music and R&B music. He was born in Georgia had some massive hits such as 'Unchain my Heart' and 'Georgia on my mind'. Ray Charles had a rough upbringing. His younger brother drowned in a bucket in an unfortunate accident when Ray was very young. He had no other siblings and at the age of 7, Ray went blind. His mother died when Ray was still quite young and he never saw much of his father because he had 3 different families with 3 different women. His mother sent him to a state sponsored school for the deaf and blind in Florida where he learnt to read, write and arrange music.

Ray quickly became a great success after writing the song 'I got a Woman'. His new style of mixing jazz and gospel helped to create a new genre known as soul. While on the road and performing his songs, Ray got addicted to drugs such as heroine. Ray eventually admitted himself to a rehabilitation hospital. By the time he entered the hospital, Ray had been arrested, had many arguments with his wife and had had a child with a woman other then his wife. Another thing Ray is famous for is refusing to play in a concert hall in Georgia because it was segregated. Because of this, he was banned from playing in Georgia. This ban was eventually lifted and Ray's song 'Georgia on my Mind' became the official state song of Georgia.


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I personally love Rays music. He completely broke the boundaries of musical genres. I personally think that there will never be another artist who will manage to do that as successfully as Ray Charles Robinson did.




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