Ray Charles

The singer and pianist known as The Genius, who took rhythm and blues from Atlantic to the pop charts, then brought country songs to the top of them with Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.

Origin: Albany, Georgia, United States
Years active: 1949-2004
Genres: rhythm and blues, soul, jazz, country
Labels: Swing Time, Atlantic, ABC-Paramount, Tangerine, Columbia, Warner, Concord
Also known as: Ray Charles Robinson, Brother Ray, The Genius

Beginnings

Ray Charles Robinson was born on 23 September 1930 in Albany, Georgia, and raised in Greenville, Florida. From 1937 to 1945 he studied at a school in St. Augustine, where he learned piano, alto saxophone, clarinet, trumpet and organ, and was taught to write music in Braille. Contemporaries often called him The Genius, and Frank Sinatra is quoted calling him the only true genius in show business.

He modeled himself early on Nat King Cole. His first national hit, Confession Blues, reached number 2 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1949. Swing Time Records followed with two more R&B hits, Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand in 1951 and Kissa Me Baby in 1952.

Atlantic

In June 1952 Atlantic bought his contract for $2,500, and his first session for the label took place that September. Mess Around was a small hit in 1953. Late in 1954 he recorded I Got a Woman, built on a gospel record by the Southern Tones. In 1957 Atlantic gathered his singles on Ray Charles. He hired the Cookies and renamed them the Raelettes, and by 1958 he was headlining the Apollo, Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival, where his first live album was recorded.

What'd I Say came next. Charles said he improvised it to fill time at the end of a show in December 1958, and Atlantic recorded it on 18 February 1959. It reached number 6 on the Hot 100 and number 1 on the R&B chart, and it was his first gold record. The Genius of Ray Charles, with a big band on one side and strings on the other, followed in October 1959 and reached number 17 on the Billboard 200.

ABC-Paramount

In November 1959 he signed with ABC-Paramount, which offered a $50,000 annual advance, higher royalties and eventual ownership of his masters. His first hit single there, Georgia on My Mind in 1960, was the first of his three Hot 100 number ones. It came from The Genius Hits the Road, and in 1979 his version was proclaimed the state song of Georgia. Hit the Road Jack, written by Percy Mayfield, reached number 1 in 1961.

In 1962 he turned to country. Producer Sid Feller gathered around 250 songs from Nashville publishers, Charles chose, and Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was recorded in three sessions in February and released in March. On 23 June 1962 it replaced the West Side Story soundtrack at number one on the Billboard albums chart. I Can't Stop Loving You spent five weeks at the top of the Hot 100 and two weeks at the top in Britain, and You Don't Know Me reached number 2. Pitchfork's 2019 review of the two volumes called them quietly revolutionary. That year he also founded his own label, Tangerine.

Legacy

In 1983 he signed with Columbia and recorded country albums and duets, among them Seven Spanish Angels with Willie Nelson. He was one of the first inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and received the Kennedy Center Honors that year. The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award followed in 1987 and the National Medal of Arts in 1993. He won 17 Grammy Awards, and the Country Music Hall of Fame later inducted him as well. He died on 10 June 2004.

Billy Joel said he thought Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley. Rolling Stone ranked him sixth on its 2023 list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. The Library of Congress added What'd I Say to the National Recording Registry in 2002 and Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music in 2026, and Paul McCartney was struck by What'd I Say on first hearing.

Records

Ray Charles 1957 · Atlantic
His first album for Atlantic, made up of the singles that had already made his name.
The Genius of Ray Charles 1959 · Atlantic
Six big band songs on one side, six string ballads on the other, and a number 17 album.
What'd I Say 1959 · Atlantic
A collection of earlier singles around the title track, and his first gold album.
The Genius Hits the Road 1960 · ABC-Paramount
A concept album of songs about places in the United States, with Georgia on My Mind.
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music 1962 · ABC-Paramount
Twelve country standards chosen by Charles from some 250 on tape, and a number one album in the United States.

Songs

I Got a Woman Ray Charles · 1954
Gospel energy and secular words, recorded in Atlanta in November 1954.
What'd I Say What'd I Say · 1959
Improvised to fill the end of a show, split across two sides of a single, and closer of his concerts for the rest of his career.
Georgia on My Mind The Genius Hits the Road · 1960
A 1930 song that became the official state song of Georgia in his version.
I Can't Stop Loving You Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music · 1962
A Don Gibson ballad, five weeks at number one in the United States and two in Britain.
You Don't Know Me Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music · 1962
A string-backed ballad of unrequited love, the second single from Modern Sounds.

Quincy Jones, Willie Nelson, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley

Where to go next

Official

The Ray Charles Foundation The official site, with a legacy timeline and archives.
About Ray Charles The foundation's biography and mission.
Legacy timeline A decade-by-decade timeline from the foundation.

Reference

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame His inductee page.
Ray Charles A long biography and awards list.
National Recording Registry titles The Library of Congress descriptions for What'd I Say and Modern Sounds.

Writing and criticism

Pitchfork on Modern Sounds, 2019 A review of the two volumes on their first digital release.
Pitchfork on the Country Music Hall of Fame A short news item on his induction.
Guardian on I Can't Stop Loving You Simon Hoggart on the 1962 number one.
Guardian on the lost Cash duet The Johnny Cash duet Why Me Lord, released on Rare Genius.

Interviews

New Musical Express interview, 1963 Charles on the eve of his first British tour, reprinted by the Guardian.

Sources

Ray Charles, Wikipedia
Ray Charles, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
About Ray Charles, The Ray Charles Foundation
Ray Charles: 'Genius? That's nothing to be ashamed of', The Guardian (2015-03-11)
Ray Charles Inducted Into Country Music Hall of Fame, Pitchfork (2021-08-16)
National Recording Registry titles with descriptions and essays, Library of Congress
Lost Johnny Cash and Ray Charles duet surfaces, The Guardian (2010-10-28)