Here's some things about the man that I didn't know... thought on this day, you might enjoy reading.


Key Facts in the Life of Ray Charles
Thu Jun 10, 5:11 PM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ray Charles (news), who battled childhood poverty, blindness and heroin addiction to help create soul music and become one of America's most enduring musicians, died on Thursday at the age of 73, his spokesman said .

Charles died at 11:35 a.m. at his Beverly Hills home of complications of liver disease. Family members and his manager were present, said Jerry Digney, his longtime publicist.

The following are some key facts in the life of Ray Charles:


-- Sept. 23, 1930: Ray Charles Robinson is born in Albany, Georgia


-- 1936: Charles contracts glaucoma, which eventually leaves him blind


-- April 1949: Charles makes his chart debut with "Confessin' Blues"


-- March 1955: Charles hits No. 2 on R&B charts with "I Got a Woman," widely considered first "soul" song, a mix of R&B and gospel


-- 1956: Charles hits No. 1 on the R&B chart with "Drown in My Own Tears"


-- November 1957: "Swannee River Rock" becomes first Charles hit to cross over to pop charts


-- December 1966: After a conviction on possessing heroin and marijuana, Charles receives a five-year suspended sentence. He recovers from drug addiction at a California sanitarium


-- 1979: Charles' version of "Georgia On My Mind" is declared official song of Georgia


-- January 1986: Charles is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame


-- March 1988: Charles receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 30th annual Grammy Awards. At the ceremony, it was said Charles is, "the father of soul (having) personified the true essence of soul music in all his ... performances of basic blues, pop ballads, jazz tunes and even country music."


-- June 1993: Songwriters Hall of Fame awards Lifetime Achievement Award


-- March 1994: Charles receives 12th Grammy of his career, for Best Male R&B Performance, "A Song for You"


-- Charles has 32 chart hits, including three at No. 1: "Georgia" in 1960, "Hit the Road Jack" in 1961 and "I Can't Stop Loving You" in 1962


-- Charles on his family's poverty, from www.raycharles.com: "You hear folks talking about being poor. ... Even compared to other blacks ... we were on the bottom of the ladder looking up at everyone else. Nothing below us except the ground."


-- Charles on music, from his autobiography, courtesy of www.raycharles.com: "I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of. ... Music was one of my parts ... Like my blood. It was a force already with me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me -- like food or water. ... Music is nothing separate from me. It is me. ... You'd have to remove the music surgically." (With data from www.raycharles.com, www.rockhall.com)


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What it doesn't say is that Ray was one of the very few artists who owned his own master recordings from the get go. He had it drawn into his contract... and they agreed! Because of this, he never had to deal with the shit Prince dealt with with WB regarding rights and royalties and ownership. He always worked out of the studio he owned... what a genius both musically and business-wise alike.

Thanks for this

CalhounSq said:

You're welcome.