Genius Loves Company: Ray Charles :: essays research papers fc

Genus Loves Company The Life of emit CharlesMusician Ray Charles is generally considered a symphonyal genius, and is so in many fields. He has enormous success in jazz, blues, nous music, country and western, and cross everywhere pop. Acknowledged as an expert vocalist, pianist, saxophonist, and all around-entertainer, Charles first burst into hot attention in the 1950s as the virtual inventor of soul music. Ray Charles once defined soul music, soul music is when you are able to evince the meaning of a song and take on people feel it, make them think, Oh, Ray, you must have had that experience because theres no track you could have sung that song unless it happened to you. (Jet Magazine) Charles was born Ray Charles Robinson in Albany, Georgia, on September 23, 1930. His father, Bailey Robinson, was a mechanic and a handyman, and his mother, Aretha, stacked boards in a sawmill. His family moved to Greenville, Florida, when Charles was an infant. A neighbor gave Charles easy lessons after Charles taught himself to play at the age of three. This neighbor owned a small store that served as a juke joint as well. Charles not only took piano lessons in the juke joint, he also absorbed the blues, jazz, and gospel music in the juke joint. At the age of five, Charles saw his brother drown in the tub his mother used to do laundry, while his family struggled by dint of the height of the Great Depression. Two years later, at the age of seven, Charles confounded his sight to glaucoma. He stated his mother never allowed his to feel kindness for himself. In an interview with Jet Magazine, his mother told him Ok, youre blind. Now that unsloped means there are at least two ship undersideal to do everything. You just have to find the second elan whatever happens to you is up to you His mother also told him Youre blind, you aint dumb. You scattered your sight, not your mind. Studying at the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind, he analyze for nine years, learning composition and a number of instruments. Upon leaving the cultivate he worked in a number of settings with many different groups in the Florida area. (Salamone) 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 a piano Theres no reason for it to come out any different that the way it sounds in my head.