Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson
BORN: September 23, 1930, Albany, GA
Ray Charles was the musician most responsible for developing soul music.
Singers like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson also did a great deal to pioneer
the form, but Charles did even more to devise a new form of Black pop by
merging '50s R&B with gospel-powered vocals, adding plenty of flavor
from contemporary jazz, blues, and (in the '60s) country. Then there is his
singing -- his style is among the most emotional and easily identifiable
of any 20th-century performer, up there with the likes of Elvis and Billie
Holiday. He's also a superb keyboard player, arranger, and bandleader. The
brilliance of his 1950s and 1960s work, however, can't obscure the fact that
he's made few classic tracks since the mid-'60s, though he's recorded often
and tours to this day.
Blind since the age of six (from glaucoma), Charles studied composition and
learned many instruments at the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and the
Blind. His parents had died by his early teens, and he worked as a musician
in Florida for a while before using his savings to move to Seattle in 1947.
By the late '40s, he was recording in a smooth pop/R&B style derivative
of Nat "King" Cole and Charles Brown. He got his first Top Ten R&B hit
with "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" in 1951. Charles' first recordings have
come in for their fair share of criticism, as they are much milder and less
original than the classics that would follow, although they're actually fairly
enjoyable, showing strong hints of the skills that were to flower in a few
years.
In the early '50s, Charles' sound started to toughen as he toured with Lowell
Fulson, went to New Orleans to work with Guitar Slim (playing piano on and
arranging Slim's huge R&B hit, "The Things That I Used to Do"), and got
a band together for R&B star Ruth Brown. It was at Atlantic Records that
Ray truly found his voice, consolidating the gains of recent years and then
some with "I Got a Woman," a number two R&B hit in 1955. This is the
song most frequently singled out as his pivotal performance, on which Charles
first truly let go with his unmistakable gospelish moan, backed by a tight,
bouncy horn-driven arrangement.
Throughout the '50s, Charles ran off a series of R&B hits that, although
they weren't called "soul" at the time, did a lot to pave the way for soul
by presenting a form of R&B that was sophisticated without sacrificing
any emotional grit. "This Little Girl of Mine," "Drown in My Own Tears,"
"Hallelujah I Love Her So," "Lonely Avenue," and "The Right Time" were all
big hits. But Charles didn't really capture the pop audience until "What'd
I Say," which caught the fervor of the church with its pleading vocals, as
well as the spirit of rock & roll with its classic electric piano line.
It was his first Top Ten pop hit, and one of his final Atlantic singles,
as he left the label at the end of the '50s for ABC.
One of the chief attractions of the ABC deal for Charles was a much greater
degree of artistic control of his recordings. He put it to good use on early-'60s
hits like "Unchain My Heart" and "Hit the Road Jack," which solidified his
pop stardom with only a modicum of polish attached to the R&B he had
perfected at Atlantic. In 1962, he surprised the pop world by turning his
attention to country & western music, topping the charts with the "I
Can't Stop Loving You" single, and making a hugely popular album (in an era
in which R&B/soul LPs rarely scored high on the charts) with Modern Sounds
in Country and Western Music. Perhaps it shouldn't have been so surprising;
Charles had always been eclectic, recording quite a bit of straight jazz
at Atlantic, with noted jazz musicians like David "Fathead" Newman and Milt
Jackson.
Charles remained extremely popular through the mid-'60s, scoring big hits
like "Busted," "You Are My Sunshine," "Take These Chains from My Heart,"
and "Crying Time," although his momentum was slowed by a 1965 bust for heroin.
This led to a year-long absence from performing, but he picked up where he
left off with "Let's Go Get Stoned" in 1966. Yet by this time Charles was
focusing increasingly less on rock and soul, in favor of pop tunes, often
with string arrangements, that seemed aimed more at the easy-listening audience
than anyone else. Charles' influence on the rock mainstream was as apparent
as ever; Joe Cocker and Steve Winwood in particular owe a great deal of their
style to him, and echoes of his phrasing can be heard more subtly in the
work of greats like Van Morrison.
One approaches sweeping criticism of Charles with hesitation; he's an American
institution, after all, and his vocal powers have barely diminished over
the years. The fact remains, though, that his work since the late '60s on
record has been very disappointing. Millions of listeners yearned for a return
to the all-out soul of his 1955-1965 classics, but Charles had actually never
been committed to soul above all else. Like Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley,
his focus is more upon all-around pop than many realize; his love of jazz,
country, and pop standards is evident, even if his more earthy offerings
are the ones that truly broke ground and will stand the test of time. He's
dented the charts (sometimes the country ones) occasionally, and can command
devoted international concert audiences whenever he feels like it. For good
or ill, he's ensured his imprint upon the American mass consciousness in
the 1990s by singing several ads for Diet Pepsi. The CD era has seen several
excellent packages that focus on various chronological/thematic phases of
the legend's career. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
One of the father's of contemporary soul, Ray Charles has become an American
musical institution. Born Ray Charles Robinson in a small Georgia town, Charles
contacted glaucoma at the age of six and lost his sight, but this has not
stopped him from launching an active and productive career that has continued
through the 1990s and on. He has often appeared in music documentaries and
has performed in feature films, where he usually appears as himself. He has
also been on television, either hosting his own specials, or acting as a
guest artist on those of others. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide