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- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Actor
A tragic fate may have given this visionary a heightened sensitivity, perception, awareness, even expansion to his obvious musical gifts that he may have never touched upon had he not suffered from his physical affliction. Whatever it was, Ray Charles revolutionized American music and was catapulted to legendary status by the time he died in Beverly Hills at age 73.
Born on September 23, 1930, to Aretha and Baily Robinson, an impoverished Albany, Georgia, family that moved to Greenville, Florida while he was still an infant. It was not a cause for joy and celebration. His father soon abandoned the family and his baby brother, George Robinson, drowned in a freak washtub accident. Ray himself developed glaucoma at the age of five and within two years had lost his sight completely. A singer in a Baptist choir, he developed a love and feel for rhythms and studied music at the State School for Deaf and Blind Children, showing which brought out his talent and ear for playing various instruments, including the piano and clarinet.
An orphan by his early teens, Ray joined a country band at age 16 called The Florida Playboys. He moved to Seattle in 1948 where he and Southern guitarist Gossady McGee formed the McSon Trio. With an emphasis on easy-styled jazz, Ray also played in bebop sessions on the sly. He departed from the McSon Trio and signed with Los Angeles-based Swing Time Records, becoming the pianist for rhythm and blues great Lowell Fulson and his band. Atlantic Records eventually picked him up. Along the road he would add composer, writer and arranger to his formidable list of talents.
Ray's first R&B hit was "Confession Blues" in Los Angeles in 1949. In 1951, he had his first solo chart buster with "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand". His amazing versatility and raw, soulful delivery quickly caught on with audiences and helped put Atlantic Records on the map. Hits like "Mess Around", "Things I Used to Do", "A Fool for You", "I've Got a Woman", "Drown in My Own Tears", and especially "What'd I Say" in 1959, pushed gospel and R&B to a wider crossover audience. He made a move into the country music arena--unheard of for a black singer--in the 1960s, doing soulful spins on Hank Williams and Eddy Arnold tunes. In 1960, he left Atlantic and signed with ABC-Paramount. Under ABC-Paramount, hits poured out during this peak time with "I Can't Stop Loving You", "Hit the Road Jack", "Busted" and his beloved signature song "Georgia On My Mind".
His landmark 1962 album "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" brought a new swinging style to country music. From there, he traveled a mainstream route--from interpreting songs from The Beatles ("Eleanor Rigby") to appearing in "Diet Pepsi" ads ("You Got the Right One, Baby, Uh-huh!"). He also showed up sporadically in films, playing himself in the movie Ballad in Blue (1965) and guest-starring in The Blues Brothers (1980) with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. A television musical variety favorite with his trademark dark sunglasses and dry humor, he worked alongside such musical legends as Ella Fitzgerald and Barbra Streisand on their very special evenings of song.
It is hard to believe that with everything he accomplished, Ray also had to deal with a longstanding heroin problem. In the mid-1960s, he was arrested for possession of heroin and marijuana and revealed that he had been addicted for nearly two decades. By 1965, he had completely recovered. The man who lived life on the edge was divorced twice and had 12 children both in and outside his marriages.
At the time of his death from liver disease on June 10, 2004, he was working on a recording project of duets with such performers as Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Elton John and Norah Jones. This collaboration entitled "Genius Loves Company" led to an incisive win at the Grammy Awards--eight posthumous trophies including "Album of the Year" and "Record of the Year".
A few months after his death, the critically-acclaimed feature film biography Ray (2004) was released starring Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Ray portrayed simple unaffected country bumpkins in silent rural melodramas. Unfortunately, Ray let Hollywood turn him into a headstrong egotist. Alienating most producers, he put up his own money to finance a major feature called The Courtship of Myles Standish (1923). The film was a miserable failure that wiped out Ray's fortune. Comeback attempts were hampered by the advent of the sound picture.- Producer
- Actor
Ray Charles Robinson Jr. was born on 25 May 1955 in the USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Ray (2004), Hotel California (2008) and Untitled Reginald F. Lewis project.- Music Department
- Additional Crew
- Composer
Ray Charles was born on 13 September 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a composer, known for Radio Days (1987), The First Nine Months Are the Hardest (1971) and Three's Company (1976). He was married to Bernice P Rosengarden. He died on 6 April 2015 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Charles Lee Ray is known for CoryxKenshin (2009).
- The Ray Charles Singers is known for Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948), Going the Distance (2004) and Don't Just Stand There (1968).
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Charles Ray Hamilton is known for Power Book II: Ghost (2020), Queen Sugar (2016) and Grey's Anatomy (2005).- Composer
- Soundtrack
Charles Ray Mack is known for Drive by: A Love Story (1997).- Charles Ray Howard was born in 1881 in San Diego, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Eternal Sin (1917). He died on 28 June 1947 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Ray Charles Copeland is known for Jurassic Women (1996).
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Ray-Charles Milord was born on 23 February 1985 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is an actor, known for The Kid (1997), Juliet Is the Sun (2011) and Watatatow (1990).- Ray Charles is known for Octopussy (1983).
- Charles Ray Ratcliff is known for Holy Bone (2017).
- Director
- Actor
Charles Ray is known for Egg (1979).- Charles Ray is known for Ponjola (1923) and The Joint Is Jumpin' (1949).
- Legal
- Charles A. Ray is known for Boogie Nights in 2 Minutes (2016).
- Charles Ray Simmons is known for A Very Careful Man (2010).
- Charles Ray Hancock is known for Breakdancing Vice Squad (2001).
- Ray Charles is known for Axis of Evil (2010).
- Charles Scott Ray is known for Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015).
- Charles Ray is known for A Zombie Croc: Evil Has Been Summoned (2015).
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ray Charles is known for The Aga Home Heater (1965).- Camera and Electrical Department
Charles Ray is known for Santa Claus and His Helpers (1964), Santa's Magic Kingdom (1966) and Santa's Enchanted Village (1964).- Actor
- Composer
Charles Ray is known for Save the Cupcake (2017) and Boogie Nights in 2 Minutes (2016).- Actor
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Ray Charles III is known for Age of Innocence (1977), Lizzie Borden's Revenge (2013) and Things II (1998).- Ray Charles Lockamy is known for Take You Down To (2017).
- Music Department
Billy Ray Charles is known for Solomon King (1974).- Additional Crew
Michael Ray Charles is known for Bamboozled (2000), Art City 3: A Ruling Passion (2002) and Art in the Twenty-First Century (2001).- Additional Crew
Charles Ray MacCallum is known for At War with the Army (1950).- Charles Ray Hastings is known for Summer Lasts All Season Long.
- Charles Ray is known for The President Show (2017).
- Camera and Electrical Department
Ray Charles is known for Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987), Class of 1984 (1982) and The Far Shore (1976).- Ray Prince Charles Daniels is known for Who Killed Hip Hop??? (2010).
- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Ray Charles McCullough II is known for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Home (2015) and Uncle Drew (2018).- Charles Ray Cormier is known for The Garageland Chronicles (2018), Special Delivery: The Garageland Chronicles (2016) and Fruit Therapy (2018).
- X-Ray Charles is known for Return of the Jackalope (2006) and American Nightmare (2002).
- Charles Ray Gibbs Jr. is known for Age Out (2018).