Passed Away

by Graham Lees

Charles first heard the sounds of Nashville when he was a child and listened to the Grand Ole Opry. ''I felt it was the closest music, really, to the blues - they'd make them steel guitars cry and whine, and it really attracted me,'' Charles said, according to The Encyclopaedia of Country Music.

Charles played piano in a country band early on and he even recorded a version of the Hank Snow classic I'm Movin' On in 1959.

Jones recalls the duet he did with Charles for Friendship, a 1984 album that included duets with 10 country stars. ''It was We Didn't See A Thing and it went No. 1.'' Other country stars also paid tribute to Ray Charles. ''Ray Charles taught all of us how to sing with emotion, heart and passion,'' a shaken Kenny Chesney said. ''To me, he is the definition of soul.''

Kix Brooks called Charles ''a true icon of contemporary American music.'' The partner in duo Brooks & Dunn said that ''no matter where you look, no matter what you listen to, Ray Charles touched that genre.

Another duet partner was country hit-maker Travis Tritt. In 2002, Charles and Tritt paired up for a CMT Crossroads taping. In an interview published on the day of the taping, Charles told Tennessean music writer Peter Cooper that the pairing was hardly unlikely. ''I heard him. See, I listen to people and what I'm listening for is how he got my heart.''

Willie Nelson was hit hard by the news: ''I lost one of my best friends, and I will miss him a lot,'' he said in a statement. Willie Nelson and Ray Charles will be remembered for their 1985 #1 Hit duet "Seven Spanish Angels"

Ray Charles Robinson was born September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia. His father, Bailey Robinson, was a mechanic and a handyman, and his mother, Aretha, stacked boards in a sawmill. His family moved to Gainesville, Florida, when Charles was an infant. "Talk about poor," Charles once said. "We were on the bottom of the ladder." Blind by age 7 (from glaucoma) and an orphan at 15, a gifted pianist and saxophonist Ray Charles spent his life disobligingly defying being labelled in any musical category or easy definition. Charles began dabbling in music at 3, encouraged by a cafe owner who played the piano. The knowledge was basic, but he was that much more prepared for music classes when he was sent away, heartbroken, to the state-supported St. Augustine School for the Deaf and the Blind.

Charles learned to read and write music in Braille, score for big bands and play instruments -- including trumpet, clarinet, organ, alto sax and the piano. "Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory," Charles said. "I can sit at my desk and write a whole arrangement in my head and never touch the piano. There's no reason for it to come out any different than the way it sounds in my head."

His early influences were myriad: Chopin and Sibelius, country and western stars he heard on the Grand Ole Opry, the powerhouse big bands of Duke Ellington and Count Basie, jazz greats Art Tatum and Artie Shaw. By the time he was 15 his parents had died and Charles had graduated from St. Augustine. He wound up playing gigs in black dance halls…the so-called chitlin' circuit…and exposed himself to a variety of music, including hillbilly (he learned to yodel) before moving to Seattle.

He dropped his last name in deference to boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, patterned himself for a time after Nat "King" Cole and formed a group that backed rhythm 'n' blues singer Ruth Brown. It was in Seattle's red light district were he met a young Quincy Jones, showing the future producer and composer how to write music. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

Charles' music spanned gospel, R&B, soul, rock 'n' roll, country, jazz, big band and blues with appeal that bridged generations. His health had deteriorated rapidly over the past year after undergoing hip replacement surgery and being diagnosed with a failing liver. Charles kept on working. "There were a couple of times where he would say, 'I'm not feeling well today but I'll take a stab at it, and I can come back to it later.' And he never had to come back to it later," John Burk, who produced Charles' last album, the upcoming "Genius Loves Company," told The Associated Press.

Charles' last public appearance was on April 30 alongside Clint Eastwood, when the city of Los Angeles selected the singer's studio, built 40 years ago, as a historic landmark. Charles won nine of his 12 Grammys between 1960 and 1966, including the best R&B recording three consecutive years ("Hit the Road Jack," "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "Busted"). His versions of other songs are also well known, including "Makin' Whoopee" and a stirring "America the Beautiful," which he sang for the late President Reagan at his 1985 inaugural ball. "I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of," Charles said in his 1978 autobiography, "Brother Ray."

Aretha Franklin called Charles "the voice of a lifetime." "He was a fabulous man, full of humour and wit," she said in a statement. "A giant of an artist, and of course, he introduced the world to secular soul singing."

Billy Joel, a fellow piano man, said "many artists tried to emulate Charles, among them myself, Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, Steve Winwood and countless others. Ray Charles defined rhythm and blues, soul, and authentic rock 'n' roll." Ray Charles was the musician most responsible for developing soul music. Singers like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson also did a great deal to pioneer the form, but Charles did even more to devise a new form of black pop by merging '50s R&B with gospel-powered vocals, adding plenty of flavour from contemporary jazz, blues, and (in the '60s) country.

Charles remained extremely popular through the mid-'60s, although a 1965 bust for heroin slowed his momentum. This led to a year-long absence from performing, but he picked up where he left off with "Let's Go Get Stoned" in 1966. The music of Ray Charles made its mark as classic America and will continue to draw the appeal of music fans for generations yet to be born!!!