Yep... it's called: Uh Huh! The Story of Ray Charles by John Duggleby. I guess you could say in a way that Prince's "Uh Huh!" song helped bring Ray back into the spotlight during the 1990s with Charles' now infamous Pepsi commercials. Charles was so well-known for singing that little ditty, that he now has a biography named after the song, originally written and recorded by Prince. I don't know the whole story behind the song, besides what I've read in The Vault, etc. Maybe someone else can share what they know... ??

Using chronological structure and many color photographs, Duggleby gives equal time to Charles's impoverished Florida childhood, his early career imitating jazz and blues artists, and his later successes as a pianist, singer, composer, and as the father of the musical genre soul. ...[And unlike the movie], this book is current through 2005 when Charles won posthumously [after his death] eight Grammies for his album Genius Loves Company. To his credit, Duggleby does not whitewash Charles's lifestyle... Furthermore he builds a convincing case for the significant contributions Charles made to twentieth-century music, influencing the Beatles, Elvis, and other musical icons. -- Caitlin Augusta, reviewer

Ray Charles has always been my mother's all-time favorite musician. I grew up on his music playing "night and day" (excuse the pun). And just as we all had a great time seeing Prince finally get some recognition last year, my mother got to see Ray Charles get some long-deserved recognition as well. May he rest in peace!
[Edited 8/10/05 23:09pm]

I remember there was a thread about this ages ago. As I remember, the surprising upshot was that it is believed Prince did NOT write the tune used in the Cola advert with Ray Charles. He in fact just later used the basic song from that advert and lengthened it and added bits and called it 'Uh Huh' - I'm not sure if he was asked to or if he just did it off his own back. Because this unreleased song has circulated, people have just assumed he must have written the original.

In The Vault, it doesn't say that Prince wrote the original tune, it says: "Prince has incorporated sampled parts from a Ray Charles Diet Pepsi commercial into his song".

I still don't know who wrote the original tune, but it doesn't appear that it was Prince who resurrected Charles' career.

yes the word from the insiders is.. that Prince heard the advertisment, sampled the "uh-huh", and made his own song from it for fun. NOt his "uh-huh" originally.

That's the last straw. Prince is a fraud.

No one knows for sure. Back in the day, it was rumoured that P was payed a shiteload of money to write the song, but then a few years back the story changed that he just lengthened it and added his own lyrics. Who knows the truth?

whodknee said:

I think that's going a bit too far. Prince never claimed to have written the song, his fans just assumed that since he has an unreleased song with the same title that he must have written the original when he really just recorded his own expanded version of the pepsi song AFTER it was written.

Both the Prince version and the Ray Charles version are VERY similar in most every way. There can be only one songwriter who deserves credit. Now who is it?

Snap said:

According to the U.S Copyright Office, Prince does.

1. Registration Number: PAu-1-570-584
Title: Uh huh / Prince Rogers Nelson.
Note: Words & music.
Claimant: Controversy Music
Created: 1991
Registered: 15Oct91
Special Codes: 3/M

SexyBeautifulOne said:

That doesn't actually prove anything, as lists of samples included in the music are never included - in other words, if Prince used various bits of the tune of the Pepsi tune incorporated into his own song, those credits are not going to appear here - but they probably would be included on liner notes if it was ever released officially. All this proves is that Prince wrote a song called 'Uh-Huh', and if he's changed the song enough he's allowed to register it.

Actually, I seem to remember it was noted in the old discussion that the pepsi commercial came out in 1990 or early 1991, whereas this is registered in late 1991 after the commercial came out.

Did Ray Charles ever record a full-length version of the Pepsi commercial? It would seem strange not to record a full-length version of the song that resurrected his career if he had been given said version by Prince. Has anyone actually read the biography? You would have thought it would mention this important part of Ray's life. If a fully-paid biographer doesn't mention that Prince supplied the song, then it would suggest to me that the tune was written by some anonymous advertising composers who weren't worth mentioning.

No one knows for definite I guess, I mean I would love to believe that Prince wrote the advert tune, but I would have expected Prince to claim responsibility for the Pepsi tune if indeed he wrote it, what reason would he have to keep it quiet?