Ray Charles
Ray Charles is a well known American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer that was born September 23, 1930. At the age of seven, Ray became blind. Ray Charles married twice and had twelve children. Charles died June 10, 2004 because of liver disease.
Charles grew up in Greenville, Florida. When he was three, his musical curiosity was sparked at Wylie Pitman's Red Wing Cafe when when Wylie Pitman played boogie woogie on an old upright piano. Pitman taught Ray to play the piano. Charles started to lose his sight at the age of four or five,and was completely blind by the age of seven, apparently as a result of glaucoma. Despite Ray’s protests, Aretha, Ray’s mom, made him attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine . Charles further developed his musical talent at school, and was taught to play the classical piano music of J.S. Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
…show more content…
He started to build a reputation as a talented musician in Jacksonville, but the jobs did not come fast enough for him to construct a strong identity. He decided to leave Jacksonville and move to Orlando because it was a bigger city with more opportunities. Ray couldn’t find any work so he moved again to Tampa. He then decided to move to Seattle, Washington where he and his band, McSon Trio, wrote there first national hit, "Confession Blues", which landed the number 2 spot on the April 1949 Billboard R&B chart.
In June 1952, Atlantic Records bought Charles's contract. He began recording jump blues and boogie-woogie as well as slower blues ballads. By 1959, Charles reached the Billboard Top Ten with "What'd I Say", which made him a major figure in R&B. Charles also recorded instrumental jazz albums. In 1965, Charles' career was halted because he was arrested for the third time of drug use. He soon went to rehab to avoid time in