Ray Charles Robinson

RAY CHARLES ROBINSON

Ray Charles was a revolutionary pianist and a soul singer who helped shape the sound of rhythm and blues. He brought a soulful sound to everything from country music to pop standards to "God Bless America." Ray Charles Robinson was born on September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia. His father was Bailey Robinson, a railroad repair man, and his mother was Aretha. His father and mother never married. His family moved to Florida when he was still an infant.

After their move, his parents had a baby. His father soon after abandoned his family. Ray and his younger brother were close. One day, Ray and his brother were playing in the yard near a tub filled with water. His brother accidentally fell in and Ray tried to pull him out, but unfortunately his brother was too heavy for Ray to pull out. By the time Ray reached his mom, his brother had drowned.

After Ray witnessed his brother's death, he began to go blind at age five and was fully blind by the age of seven due to untreated glaucoma. His mother prepared him for his blindness by still requiring Ray to continue with his daily chores in order to find his way around. Once Ray became fully blind, his mother enrolled him as a charity student at the school for the blind in St. Augustine, Florida, where he learned to play the trumpet, the saxophone, the clarinet, and organ.

Unfortunately, at the age of fifteen, his mother died from food poisoning. That's when Ray Charles decided to become a musician and set out on his own. Ray Charles, during that time, played with various local bands till the age of seventeen. When Ray turned seventeen, he chose to leave Florida and jumped aboard a bus and headed to Seattle. Once in Seattle he entered a contest at a local club and was offered a job full-time playing piano and singing. One day when Ray was playing, a producer by the name of Quincy Jones noticed him and offered him a record deal. At this time, his name was shortened to Ray Charles to not be confused with the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. He also formed a trio and they ended up with a major R&B hit.

Ray Charles, although able to reconcile many American music styles such as blues, R&B and gospel into a beautiful sound, he was unable to do the same in his own private life. Ray married twice. Once in 1951 to a lady by the name of Eileen Williams. Ray and Eileen had one child and divorced in 1952. Ray remarried in 1955, to a lady by the name of Della Beatrice Howard. Della and Ray had three lovely children, but divorced in 1977. Though Ray had four children through his two marriages, he had twelve children altogether.

In 1940, Ray Charles started to use Heroin. He had struggled with the addiction for two decades. In 1964, he was arrested for it. Although he never served time in jail he was arrested three times for drug violations. Ray Charles had always been open about his addiction. He stated "it began with a desire to both emulate older musicians and prove his independence. While he was awaiting his trial he went to an award ceremony in which his son, Ray Jr. was receiving an award. He had to leave before his son received his award, so Ray Jr. cried. Ray, seeing this, realized that his son would be very hurt if someone yelled out that Ray was a drug addict, so he went to the hospital and got help for his drug addiction. After a year, he was over the addiction. He quit music for a year to get his life together and become more successful at what he did best.

In 1950, Ray left Seattle and began touring with a blues guitarist by the name of Lowell Fulson. Ray toured up and down the West Coast and