lune 16. 2004
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Page A 3
Remembering the Great Ray Charles
Grammy
winning R&B
star was a
crowd pleaser
(A P )— Ray Charles, the Grammy -
w inning cro o n er w ho blended g o s
pel and b lu e s in su ch c ro w d -
pleasers as "W h a l'd I S ay” and
ballads like “G eo rg iao n My M ind,”
died T hursday, a spokesm an said.
He w as 73.
C harles d ied at his B everly Hills
hom e surrounded by fam ily and
frie n d s, sa id s p o k e s m a n Je rry
D igney.
C harles last public appearance
w as alongside C lint E astw ood on
A pril 30, w hen the city o f L os A n
geles designated the sin g er's stu
dios, built 4 0 years ago in central
Los A ngeles, as a historic land
mark.
Blind by age 7 and an orphan at
15, C harles spent his life shattering
any notion o f m usical boundaries
and defy in g easy d efin itio n . A
gifted pianist and saxophonist, he
dabbled in country, jazz , big band
regated South.
“H is sound w as stunning — it
w as the blues, it w as R & B , it w as
gospel, it w as sw ing — it w as all the
stu ff I w as listening to before that
but rolled in to o n e am azing, soulful
thing,” singer Van M orrison told
Rolling Stone m agazine in April.
C h arles w on n in e o f h is 12
G ram m y A wards between 1960 and
1966, including the best R & B re
cording three co n secu tiv e years
(“ Hit the R oad Jack ,” “I C a n ’t Stop
L oving Y ou" and "B usted").
H is versions o f oth er songs are
also well know n, including "M akin'
W hoopee” and a stirring “A m erica
the B eautiful." H oagy C arm ichael
and S tuart G orrell w rote “G eorgia
on My M ind” in 1931 but it d id n ’t
b ecom e G e o rg ia ’s o fficial state
song until 1979, long after C harles
turned it into an A m erican stan
dard.
“I w as bom w ith m usic inside
me. T h at’s the only explanation 1
know of,” C harles said in his 1978
au to b io g ra p h y , “ B ro th e r R ay .”
“M usic was one o f my p a rts ... Like
my blood. It w as a force already
with m e when Iarriv ed o n the scene.
It w as a necessity for me, like food
Ray Charles sings “Oh What a Beautiful M orning" at the March 3, 1 9 9 6 Easter Seal fundraiser in
Pasadena, Calif. Despite being blind since age 7, Charles was a gifted pianist and saxophonist
and dabbled in country, jazz, big band and blues. (AP photo)
ences in South A frica. But politics
d id n ’t take.
He w as happiest playing m usic,
sm iling and sw aying behind the
p iano as his legs w aved in
rhythm ic jo y . H is appeal
spanned generations: He
team ed w ith such d ispar
ate m usicians as W illie
N elson, C h ak a K han and
EricC lapton, andappeared
in m ovies including “The
Blues B rothers.”
C harles w as no angel.
He could be m ercurial and
his w om anizing w as leg
endary. H e also struggled
with a heroin addiction for
n early 2 0 y ears before
q u ittin g co ld tu rk ey in
1965 after an arrest at the
B oston airport. Yet there
w as a sen se o f h u m o r
f
about even that — he re
leased both "I D o n ’t Need
No D octor” and “L e t’s G o G et
S to n ed ” in 1966.
He later becam e reluctant to talk
about the drug use, fearing it w ould
I was born
with music
inside me.
That 5
the only
■
r
explanation
■x I know of.
Grammy-winner Ray Charles early in
his m usical career.
and blues, and put his stam p on it
all w ith a deep, w arm voice ro u g h
e n e d by h e a r tb r e a k fro m a
hardscrabble child h o o d in the seg-
o r w ater.”
C h a r le s c o n s id e r e d M a rtin
L uther K ing Jr. a friend and once
refused to play to segregated au d i
taint how people thought o f his
work.
“I ’ve know n tim es w here I’ve
felt terrible, but once I get to the
stage and the band starts w ith the
m usic, I d o n ’t know w hy but it's like
you have pain and take an aspirin,
and you d o n ’t feel it no m ore,” he
once said.
Ray C harles R obinson w as bom
Sept. 23, 1930, in A lbany, G a. His
lather, Bailey R obinson, w as a m e
chanic and a handym an, and his
m other, A retha, stacked boards in
a saw m ill. His fam ily m oved to
G ainesville, Fla., when C harles was
an infant.
“T alk about poor," C harles once
said. "W e w ere on the bottom o f the
ladder."
C harles saw his brotherdrow n in
the tub his m other used to do laun
dry w hen he w as about 5 as the
tam ily struggled through poverty
at the height o f the D epression. His
continued
yf
on page AS
S cheduled F lights
TO
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j
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We re one of the few places around where you can still find fresh,
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trx
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This Saturday we’ll be sampling from the dozens of sausages in our repertoire.
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Brewers from Full Sail Brewing in Hood River and representatives from
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