Ray Charles
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Albany, Georgia (1930 – 2004)
As a rock and roll, rhythm & blues, soul, blues, jazz, country and pop musician he helped to shape the sound of rhythm & blues.
He brought a soulful sound to everything from country music (“
Ray Charles was born in Albany, Georgia on September 23, 1930. He was the son of Aretha Williams, a share cropper, and Bailey Robinson, a railroad repair man, mechanic and handyman. The two were never married. The family moved to Greenville, Florida, when Ray was an infant. Bailey had three more families, leaving Aretha to raise the family on her own.
Ray Charles was not born blind. He started to lose his sight somewhere at the age of five. He was rendered totally blind by the age of seven. Charles never knew exactly why he lost his sight, though there are sources that suggest his blindness was due to glaucoma, and some other sources suggest that Ray began to lose his sight from an infection caused by soapy water to his eyes which was left untreated. He attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida from 1937-1945 where he developed his musical gift that he is known and remembered for today. His father died when he was ten, followed by his mother five years later.
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Here We Go Again
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Ray Charles - Retrospect
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Anthology
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Ray!
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Videos
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with Poncho Sanchez - Mary Ann
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& Betty Carter - Everytime We…
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Honey, Honey
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You don't know me (live)
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Events
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Jun
6
Night Of the Kings 2012
Zielona Brama, Gdańsk, Poland
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your_prayers, jponte35, sesh_nath and 8 other people added Ray Charles to their libraries. 3 minutes ago
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rancor04 tagged Ray Charles with ‘jazz’. 4 hours ago
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esbartolo wrote about Ray Charles in ESB Jazz Radio - New and upcoming releases - January 2012. Sunday evening
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