Who Is Ray Charles Robinson?

Ray Charles, whose full name is Ray Charles Robinson is widely known for his inspirational life story, transformation of jazz and his influence on nearly every genre during his active years. With his distinct vocals and passionate piano playing skills, Ray Charles knew how to entertain a crowd along with bring people together. During Ray’s primary active years there was still much racism going on towards colored people. Ray’s music helped the current white and black generations come together during these times with their similar likings to his music.
Ray Charles Robinson was born on September 23rd, 1930 in Albany Georgia. His parents, Aretha and Bailey Robinson were never formally married and he was born into a poor family. Ray's’ mother Aretha
dropped out of school early in her academic career to make money picking cotton and doing household jobs around her village.
Ray’s father Bailey made a living as a railroad worker and spent most of his time working between Perry, Florida and Adele, Georgia. Bailey Robinson was hardly present during his life but he would occasionally stop by to spend some time with Ray and his brother George. At the age of five, Ray’s family decided to move to a small village called Greenville which resides on the border of Florida and Georgia. Soon after getting settled in their new home, Ray witnessed his little brother George drowning in a bathtub. When Ray returned from alarming his mother, it was too late and his brother had already drowned. Within the same year, Ray started having issues with his eyesight and was officially declared legally blind due to glaucoma.
At the age of seven Rays mother enrolled him in the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine where he attended from 1937 to 1945. It was during this time in school that he learned to play the piano, organ, saxophone, trumpet, clarinet and read and write music in braille. Shortly after his mother died, Ray relocated to tampa Florida at the age of fifteen in hopes of igniting his musical career.
whether it was a solo act or a fill in, Ray accepted whatever gig he was offered and continued to stay consistent. After a couple of years of gaining experience and confidence in the tampa music scene, Ray made a big move to Seattle the same year his father bailey died. Ray helped put together the Maxin Trio in 1949 where he released his first single called “Confession Blues”. After three years in Seattle, Ray moved to Los Angeles in 1950 to start his solo career. It was during this time that Ray switched his stage name to Ray Charles instead of Ray Charles Robinson in order to avoid confusion with a famous current boxer called Sugar Ray Robinson. Ray had been recording with Swingtime Records for four years before he released his first big hit called “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand”. Shortly after his first hit, Ray was signed to Atlantic Records where he composed and released many hits in the 1950’s. Ray did what no one else at that time had done and combined blues, jazz and gospel to create a distinct and new sound. Shortly after his divorce in 1953 with his long time girlfriend named Eileen Williams, Ray released “Mess Around” and “It Should Have Been Me” which were both up top on the music charts. It was not until his release of “I’ve Got A Woman” in 1955 that he gained national recognition with the song standing strong at number one on the R&B charts. With songs such as “Night Time Is The Right Time”, “Drown In My Own Tears”, “Mary Ann”, “Lonely Avenue” and “This Little Girl Of Mine”, Ray was consistently releasing number one hits at the top of the R&B charts throughout the years of 1953 to 1959. It was during this exciting time period in his life that Ray started going downhill with his addiction to heroine. His drug addiction started drastically affecting his personal life and it all began with marijuana as his gateway drug at the age of eighteen. During his time in the Maxin Trio, Charles went from a recreational heroin user to a functioning heroin addict for twenty years. In 1965 Charles was arrested for possession of heroin and marijuana in his hotel room in Indiana. In order to avoid jail time, Charles checked himself in St. Francis hospital in Lynwood, California. Ray got rid of his addiction cold turkey without the use of tranquilizers and other forms of medicine. He spent a couple of months going through brutal withdrawals but came out clean through the help of psychiatric treatments. After his time in the sanitarium, Ray saw a psychoanalyst on a regular basis.
Although Ray encountered many hardships in life, he came out on top as a very musically inclined and successful man.
He received many achievements and awards and because of that, he is considered a legend and a musical pioneer. In 1960 alone, Ray received eight awards which included Record of the Year, Best Solo Vocal Performance Male, Best Rhythm and Blues Recording, Album of the Year, Best Rhythm and Blues Performance, Best Vocal Performance Male, Best Vocal Performance Single Record or Track Male and Best Performance By a Pop/Rock Contemporary Single Artist. Ray became the first black male to win a Grammy and a number one Billboard Pop Chart Hit with a western and country song. In 1964, one of Ray's biggest achievements was that he became the first major recording artist to start his own recording studio called the RPM International Incorporate. In 1964, Ray was inducted into the Playboy Hall of fame and later on went to perform “America the Beautiful” in the white house with current president Nixon present. Even after the year he passed away in 2005, a post station was named after Ray by the United States Congress and within the same year the Grammy awards were dedicated to his
memory.
Although Ray was never a victim to slavery, he was definitely a victim of racism and heavily discriminated throughout his youth. During the beginning of rays musical career, there was still a lot of segregation in the south until it finally got abolished in 1965. When interviewed by The New York Times, Ray was asked a series of questions regarding segregation and he responded with “What I never understood to this day, was how white people could have black people cook for them, make their meals, but wouldn't let them sit at the table with them. How can you dislike someone so much and have them cook for you? Shoot, if I don't like someone you ain't cooking nothing for me, ever" (The New York Times). Even during his most successful years between 1950 and 1960 considering he was an African American, Ray had to stay in smaller scale rooming houses instead of higher scale hotels as well as making sure every public bathroom and restaurant was available to “colored” people. Ray also refused to play segregated concerts during the American Civil Rights Movement which took place during the peak of Ray's career.
Ray Charles passed away from acute liver disease on June 10, 2004 in his home in Beverly Hills, California. He was in a slow process of recovering from a hip replacement surgery until he had to completely stop because he became seriously ill. Within that year, Ray had recorded and released his last album which consisted of duets with other musical legends including B.B King, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Norah Jones and Bonnie Raitt. Ray was the age of 73 when he died and still remained consistent with his performances all up to his death.