Ray Charles
Source: Web (raycharles.bandcamp.com)
Arts & Music • Historical Archive • 🇺🇸 United States • 3,351 views

Ray Charles 🇺🇸

Ray Charles Robinson (Known as "Ray Charles")
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Born Sep 23, 1930 🇺🇸 Albany, Georgia, United States
Passed Away Jun 10, 2004 Beverly Hills, California, United States
Lifespan 73 years old
3,351 views
Notice / Correction
"Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically."

Archival Overview

'The Genius' who pioneered soul music by fusing gospel fervour, rhythm and blues, and country music into American pop royalty.

Biographical Record

Ray Charles Robinson was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer pioneer known affectionately as 'The Genius' and 'Brother Ray'. Blinded by glaucoma by age seven, he studied braille music and multi-instrumental composition at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind before launching his musical career.

In the 1950s, Charles pioneered the soul music genre by merging sacred Black gospel vocal styles with secular rhythm and blues in explosive hits like 'I Got a Woman' and 'What'd I Say'. In 1962, he broke racial and genre boundaries with his monumental album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, recording 'I Can't Stop Loving You' and 'Georgia on My Mind'. Winner of 17 Grammy Awards, Charles reshaped modern popular music.

Key Life Milestones

1959

What'd I Say Breakthrough

Improvised 'What'd I Say' during a dance show, producing an epochal crossover soul and R&B masterpiece.

1962

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Released his landmark crossover LP, demolishing racial and genre barriers in American pop music.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Inglewood Park Cemetery
Inglewood, California, United States
GPS: 33.9688, -118.3431
View on Memory Atlas
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