:''For Ray Charles of the Ray Charles Singers and longtime vocal conductor for Perry Como, see Ray Charles (elder).''
'''Ray Charles''' was the stage name of '''Ray Charles Robinson''' (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004). He overcame the handicap of blindness to become a pioneering American pianist and soul musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues and brought a soulful sound to everything from country music to pop standards to a now-famous rendition of "America the Beautiful." Frank Sinatra called him "the only true genius in the business."
Biography
Early years
Ray Charles Robinson was born in Albany, Georgia to Bailey and Aretha Robinson. The family moved to the small North Florida hamlet of Greenville when he was only a few months old. His father wasn't around much. He worked and had two more families, leaving his mother to raise the family with the aid of his father's wife Mary Jane, who helped raise Ray. When Ray was 5 his younger brother, George, who was around 4, drowned in an outside tub. Ray witnessed him fall and tried to pull him out, but he was too heavy for Ray. Ray began going blind soon after and was totally blind by the age of seven. He said that the causes were undiagnosed. However there are sources which attribute Ray's blindness to glaucoma.) He attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida, as a charity case; he learned how to read Braille, as well as to write music and play various musical instruments. While he was there, his mother Aretha died. His father died two years later.
After he left school, Charles began working as a musician in Florida in several bands that played in various styles including jazz and country music, eventually moving to Seattle in 1947 at the age of seventeen. He soon started recording, first for the label Swingtime Records, achieving his first hit songs with "Confession Blues" (1949) and "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" (1951) before signing with Atlantic Records in 1952. When he entered show business, his name was shortened to Ray Charles to avoid confusion with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.
Middle years
Charles scored his first Atlantic hit in 1953 with the release of the Ahmet Ertegun-composed "Mess Around" single, he had another hit with the version of "It Should Have Been Me," but his career went into high gear with the gospel drive of "I Got a Woman" (1955). This was followed by "This Little Girl of Mine," "Drown in My Own Tears," "Hallelujah I Love Her So", and "Lonely Avenue." Half of
