Ray Charles

Ray Charles was an American musician who was a pioneer of mixing soul music with rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles. He also helped racially integrate country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success.

Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" in 2004, and number two on their November 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".

He recorded with guitarist G.D. McKee and bassist Milton Garrett as the Maxin Trio and achieved his first hit with "Confession Blues" in 1949. The song soared to No. 2 on the R&B charts. He recorded two more R&B hits, "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" in 1951 and "Kissa Me Baby" in 1952.

"Mess Around" became Charles' first Atlantic hit in 1953 and he later had hits the following year with "It Should Have Been Me" and "Don't You Know". He also recorded the songs, "Midnight Hour" and "Sinner's Prayer".

Late in 1954, Charles recorded his own composition, "I Got a Woman", and the song became Charles' first number-one R&B hit in 1955. Other hits during the late '50s include "This Little Girl of Mine", "Drown in My Own Tears", "Lonely Avenue", "A Fool For You" and "The Night Time (Is the Right Time)".

Charles recorded instrumental jazz albums including The Great Ray Charles in 1957, Soul Brothers in 1958 and Soul Meeting in 1961. By 1958, Charles was headlining venues such as The Apollo Theater, The Uptown Theater and The Newport Jazz Festival, where he cut his first live album.

In 1959, "What'd I Say", which combined gospel, jazz, blues and Latin music would become a crossover top ten pop record. He released his first country song, a cover of Hank Snow's "Movin' On", and had recorded three more albums, The Genius After Hours, The Genius Sings the Blues and The Genius of Ray Charles. The Genius of Ray Charles provided his first top 40 album entry where it peaked at No. 17.

Charles would win a Grammy Award for "Georgia on My Mind" that was released as a single by Charles in 1960. He also earned another Grammy for the follow-up "Hit the Road Jack". By late 1961, Charles had expanded his small road ensemble to a full-scale big band, partly as a response to increasing royalties and touring fees, becoming one of the few black artists to crossover into mainstream pop with such a level of creative control.

The 1962 album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music and its sequel Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 2, helped to bring country into the mainstream of music. His version of the Don Gibson song, I Can't Stop Loving You topped the Pop chart for five weeks and stayed at No. 1 R&B for ten weeks in 1962. It also gave him his only number one record in the UK. He also had major pop hits in 1963 with "Busted" and "Take These Chains From My Heart".

In 1966, Charles had a series of hits including the dance number, "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Let's Go Get Stoned", which became his first No. 1 R&B hit in several years, and "Crying Time", which reached No. 6 on the pop chart and later helped Charles win a Grammy Award the following March. In 1967, he had a top twenty hit with another ballad, "Here We Go Again".

In 1972, he released the album, Message from the People, which included his gospel-influenced version of "America the Beautiful". In 1974, he recorded several albums on his own Crossover Records label. His 1975 recording of Stevie Wonder's hit, "Living for the City" later helped Charles win another Grammy.

In 1977, he released the album, True to Life, and, in April 1979, his version of "Georgia on My Mind" was proclaimed the state song of Georgia.

In 1983, Charles would record a string of country albums and duets with singers such as George Jones, Chet Atkins, B.J. Thomas, Mickey Gilley, Hank Williams, Jr. and Willie Nelson, for which he recorded the No. 1 country duet, "Seven Spanish Angels".

He returned to record with the album, Would You Believe, and a return on the R&B charts with a cover of The Brothers Johnson's "I'll Be Good to You", a duet with Quincy Jones and Chaka Khan. The song hit number-one on the R&B charts in 1990 and won Charles and Khan a Grammy for their dual work. Charles had another duet, with Billy Joel on "Baby Grand". His' 1993 album, My World, reached the Billboard 200 and his cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" would give him a charted hit on the adult contemporary chart as well as his twelfth and final Grammy he would receive in his lifetime.

By the beginning of the 1980s, Charles would reach younger audiences by appearances in various films and TV shows. In 1980, he made a cameo on the film, The Blues Brothers, and his version of "Night Time is the Right Time" was played during the Cosby Show episode, "Happy Anniversary". In 1985, he appeared with other popular musicians in the USA for Africa charity recording, "We Are The World". Charles' popularity increased among younger audiences in 1991 after he appeared where he popularized the catchphrase "You Got the Right One, Baby"

In 2003, Charles performed "Georgia On My Mind" and "America the Beautiful" at a televised annual electronic media journalist banquet held in Washington, D.C. His final public appearance came on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his music studio as a historic landmark in the city of Los Angeles.