Ray charles
Ray Charles has the distinction of being both a national treasure and an international phenomenon. He was born in Albany, Georgia on September 23, 1930. Ever since Ray was three years old, he was already trying to involve himself in music. A wonderful man named Wylie Pitman was one of the first people to encourage him in his musical career. As a young child, he would jump in the chair next to him and start banging on the piano keys while Wylie was trying to practice. Instead of being some rude old man, Wylie would show Ray the right way to hit the keys, and taught him some melodies.The first major tragedy at age five, was when Ray watched his younger & only brother drown in a huge washtub in their backyard. He wasn't sure exactly how it happened, but his brother somehow fell over the rim of the tub, and fell under the water. He started losing his sight soon after, taking two years to completely lose it, at the age of seven. Luckily, his mother prepared him for the day he'd be totally blind. That's when he started attending St. Augustine's school for the blind. Since his family had little money, he was
By the early 1960s, he had accomplished his dream. He only did two albums on Atlantic: A jazz album he did with Quincy called 'Doodling', and 'Genius of Ray Charles', Quincy wrote with Ralph Burns. Around 1950, he made a record called "Baby, Let me hold your hand", which was his first big hit on the radio. He stayed for a year working in little bands for musicians like Henry Washington, making four dollars a night. Later he went to Orlando, getting jobs with a man named Joe Anderson, who had a band there. He found The Cookies in Philadelphia in 1957, which included Margie Hendrix, Ethel McCrae and Pat Lyles, and turned them into The Raelettes. When he got there, he found out from a lady who helped his mom raise him. Without Ray Charles, Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues, and Jazz would not be where it is today. He saved up about $500, and took a bus from Tampa, Florida to Seattle, Washington, traveling for 5 days. Later on, he was able to get into the piano class. There he learned math and its correlation to music; he also learned to compose music in his head. Again, he stayed for a year, before going to Tampa to work with a couple of bands. Around that time, Ray was thinking of introducing a girl sound to his music.
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