Remembering the Great Ray Charles

Imagine if Snoop Dogg or Justin Timberlake, or Beyonce, after tearing up the R&B Charts for a year or two, released a country album…and had the gall to call it The New Hip Sound of Country. And furthermore, imagine that the album not only does well with BOTH R&B and country music fans, it tops the album charts for months and even inspires a second volume in the very same year!

Such was the audacity, talent, versatility…yes, even genius…of the late great Ray Charles.

After making a big name for himself as a rhythm-and-blues-man in the late 1950s and early 60s with classics like “I Got a Woman,” “What’d I Say?,” “Hit the Road Jack,” and “Unchain My Heart,” in 1962 Charles released the landmark Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. The album was a SMASH, spawning HUGE cross-over hits like “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” and “You Don’t Know Me.” 

“Many musicians possess elements of genius, but only one—the great Ray Charles—so completely embodies the term that it’s been bestowed upon him as a nickname. Charles displayed his genius by combining elements of gospel and blues into a fervid, exuberant style that would come to be known as soul music. While recording for Atlantic Records during the Fifties, the innovative singer, pianist and bandleader broke down the barriers between sacred and secular music. The gospel sound he’d heard growing up in the church found its way into the music he made as an adult. In his own words, he fostered ‘a crossover between gospel music and the rhythm patterns of the blues.’ But he didn’t stop there: over the decades, elements of country & western and big-band jazz have infused his music as well. He is as complete and well-rounded a musical talent as this century has produced.” —Rock Hall

Every time I visit “The Oldest City in America,” St. Augustine, Florida, and drive by the entrance to the famous Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, I can’t help but marvel that years ago, in the 1930s, the legendary Ray Charles was learning to play piano and saxophone, learning to compose and arrange music, behind that iron gate. People like Ray Charles amaze me.

Born Ray Charles Robinson in Georgia in 1930, Ray was raised in poverty in Greenville, Florida. He witnessed the accidental drowning of his brother at age five. A year later he started losing his sight and was completely blind, reportedly from glaucoma, within a couple of years.

I’m not usually a fan of Hollywood’s biographical treatment of artists, especially when they are still on the scene. Charles was still alive when the 2004 film about him starring Jamie Foxx was produced. But because the movie focuses almost entirely on his early life, and early career, and ends with him beating his well-publicized heroin addiction, it paints a picture of the man, and his substance (no pun intended), that many modern music lovers likely don’t know. Ray Charles was deep.

“Charles was significantly involved in the biopic Ray, an October 2004 film which portrays his life and career between 1930 and 1966 and stars Jamie Foxx as Charles. Foxx won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.

“Before shooting could begin, however, director Taylor Hackford brought Foxx to meet Charles, who insisted that they sit down at two pianos and play together. For two hours, Charles challenged Foxx, who revealed the depth of his talent, and finally, Charles stood up, hugged Foxx, and gave his blessing, proclaiming, ‘He’s the one… he can do it.’

“Charles was expected to attend a showing of the completed film, but he passed away before it opened in theaters.

“As noted in the film’s final credits, Ray is based on true events, but includes some characters, names, locations, events which have been changed and others which have been ‘fictionalized for dramatization purposes.’ One example of the film’s use of dramatic license are the scenes which refer to Charles as being banned from Georgia…

“The film’s credits note that he is survived by 12 children, 21 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren…” —Wikipedia

Genius is hard to contain…and impossible to pigeon hole. Critics, especially jazz critics, have sometimes maligned his later work, perhaps for not fulfilling THEIR conception of what kind of music he should play and write. After all, he could play anything…well.

When he first started recording, even before his legendary Atlantic years under the tutelage of A&R icons Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, et al, he could play in any style. He could (and did) sound very much like the masterful Nat King Cole who was all over the radio at the time. At Atlantic, Charles pioneered a “rougher sound,” which would later come to be called “soul,” with the likes of the infectious, “I Got A Woman,” and “What’d I Say,” two of his greatest songs.

Truly he could sing and play with the best of them…in any style. He could cut it with the top jazz players. He could be smooth like Sam Cooke. Emotional like Elvis. Ultimately he proved he could help shape and define even country music with his brilliant cover of Hank Williams’ (who is more country than Hank?) “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” his rendition of Harlan Howard’s “Busted,” and his genre-bending version of the Jimmie Davis Americana classic, “You Are My Sunshine.“

And Ray Charles was a sensational live performer as well. I was fortunate to finally see him in a solo performance shortly before he died, in the same historic Canton Palace Theater (Canton, OH) that Hank Williams had been headed for when he died on New Years Day, 1953.

The show was short, about 45 minutes. There was no encore. He didn’t talk a whole lot. (He was not in very good health and had recently undergone hip surgery.) But his performance was BRILLIANT…his songs timeless.

Ray Charles had an uncanny ability to take the musical vehicles of even the greatest artists and performers and make them his own.

Such was the case with his cover of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia On My Mind” which went to #1 and was proclaimed the state song of Georgia on April 24, 1979. His truly moving and unforgettable version of “America the Beautiful” is enough to make many wish it, not “The Star Spangled Banner” were our national anthem. At any rate, his recording of the song is indeed a national treasure.

Ray Charles died in Los Angeles on June 10, 2004, from liver disease. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

For more information visit RayCharles.com.