Ray Charles was born in Georgia in 1930, into a poor family. Or as he says in his book, Ritz, D and Charles, R (1992, p3) “When I say we were poor, I'm spelling it with a capital P. Even compared to other blacks”. Growing up in Greenville, Florida, before moving to a School for the deaf and blind at the age of 7. He finally losing his sight after what turned out later was contracting glaucoma at the age of 5. It was at this school where his love of music would flourish, learning to play piano and to read and write music in braille. After 8 years he left and went to play piano at a radio station while also playing in a band. He then began touring with a number of bands before going solo. Throughout this time he was learning to write and arrange …show more content…
Charles recorded 'I got a woman' with Atlantic Records on November 18th 1954. It was his rework of the gospel track My Jesus Is All the World to Me. It uses the standard 16 Bar Gospel chord progression and “Some people consider this fusion of R&B, Gospel and Jazz was the first ever Soul record” (http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3998 Accessed 7 Dec 2014) This use of gospel songs and to work the words of the devil was deemed blasphemous by some. So as expected did not take straight away with everyone, but that can be said with a lot of styles even to this day. People will not always like what they find different and unfamiliar. Ray himself never claimed to intentionally create a new style but just did what he knew how. Playing how he felt true to himself. In 1957 he performed at Carnegie Hall for his first Jazz audience. This was was the point when the public became aware of his style, even though he had been performing in similar fashion. And “it wasn’t until 1959s top 10 hit 'What'd I say' however that Charles made a dent in the pop market” Edmondson, J