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Despite his initial protest, Charles attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Destitute, uneducated, and mourning the loss of her younger son, Aretha Robinson used her connections in the local community to find a school that would accept a blind African-American pupil. Ĭharles started to lose his sight at the age of four or five, and was blind by the age of seven, likely as a result of glaucoma. George accidentally drowned in his mother's laundry tub when he was four years old. Pitman would also care for Ray's younger brother George, to take some of the burden off their mother. Charles and his mother were always welcome at the Red Wing Cafe and even lived there when they were in financial distress.

#Let it snow piano notes how to#

His musical curiosity was sparked at Wylie Pitman's Red Wing Cafe, at the age of three, when Pitman played boogie woogie on an old upright piano Pitman subsequently taught Charles how to play the piano. In his early years, Charles showed an interest in mechanical objects and would often watch his neighbors working on their cars and farm machinery. Ĭharles was deeply devoted to his mother and later recalled, despite her poor health and adversity, her perseverance, self-sufficiency, and pride as guiding lights in his life. By his first birthday, Charles had a brother, George. The father abandoned the family, left Greenville, and married another woman elsewhere. Aretha and Bailey's wife, who had lost a son, then shared in Charles's upbringing. After the birth of the child, Ray Charles, she and the infant Charles returned to Greenville. During the ensuing scandal, she left Greenville late in the summer of 1930 to be with family back in Albany. A few years later Aretha became pregnant by Bailey. The Robinson family-Bailey, his wife Mary Jane, and his mother- informally adopted her and Aretha took the surname Robinson.

Bailey, a man her father worked with, took her in. He was the son of Bailey Robinson, a laborer, and Aretha (or Reatha) Robinson (née Williams), a laundress, of Greenville, Florida.ĭuring Aretha's childhood, her mother died. Early life and education Ĭharles was born on September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia. In 2022, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, as well as the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. 2 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. 10 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and No. He has won 18 Grammy Awards (five posthumously), the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, and 10 of his recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. He was one of the inaugural inductees at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. įor his musical contributions, Charles received the Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts, and the Polar Music Prize. Billy Joel said, 'This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley'. Frank Sinatra called Ray Charles 'the only true genius in show business,' although Charles downplayed this notion. He had a lifelong friendship and occasional partnership with Quincy Jones.

Ĭharles cited Nat King Cole as a primary influence, but his music was also influenced by Louis Jordan and Charles Brown. Charles had multiple singles reach the Top 40 on various Billboard charts: 44 on the US R&B singles chart, 11 on the Hot 100 singles chart, two on the Hot Country singles charts. His 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music became his first album to top the Billboard 200. Ĭharles's 1960 hit ' Georgia on My Mind' was the first of his three career No. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company. He contributed to the integration of country music, rhythm and blues, and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, notably with his two Modern Sounds albums. Ĭharles pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records.

Charles was blinded during childhood, possibly due to glaucoma. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called 'Brother Ray'. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as 'The Genius'. (Septem– June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist.