Ray Charles - The Classic Years (1991)

Ray Charles (born Ray Charles Robinson; September 23, 1930, Albany, Georgia, USA – June 10, 2004, Beverly Hills, California, USA) was an African-American pianist and singer. He left a lasting impression on virtually all of the typically American musical styles (jazz, soul, rock and roll, gospel, blues, rhythm and blues, pop, country, funk). In 2004, a film about his life was made, starring Jamie Foxx, titled Ray.
Ray Charles showed an interest in various machines and mechanical devices as a young child, and he enjoyed watching his neighbor fix cars and agricultural machinery. His interest in music began when he saw Mr. Wiley Pitt play boogie woogie on an upright piano that he owned in his Red Wing café. Pit wanted to adopt Ray's younger brother, George, but his mother, out of religious conviction, sent all three of her sons to the New Shiloh Baptist Church.
Ray began to lose his sight at the age of five. By the age of seven, he was completely blind due to glaucoma. In addition to his blindness, the barely 10-year-old boy was also plagued by spiritual struggles. Even before he lost his sight, he had lost something even more important: his younger brother (who, like his blindness, accompanied him throughout his life). He enrolled in the School for the Blind and Deaf in St. Augustine, Florida. There he learned to play music using Braille. He lost his father at the age of ten, and his mother five years later. In 1948, he performed in Seattle with his old friend Gossie McGee. His first album was released in 1949 on Swing Time Records. He became popular in the 1950s after moving from Swing Time to Atlantic Records. The musician, who lived on cocaine and heroin, had a musically acclaimed success that was in stark contrast to his turbulent, sometimes unpleasant, and unhappy personal life. He married Della Beatrice Howard in a private ceremony in Dallas on April 5, 1955. His success remained unbroken on the charts until his death. He was involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. In 1977, the state of Georgia apologized to him for banning him from the state for this. His song "Georgia On My Mind" became the state's official song. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Ray 10th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and in November 2008, he was ranked 2nd on its list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". He received 12 Grammy Awards during his lifetime, and eight more after his death in 2005.