Ray Charles

On a recent family road trip to St. Augustine Florida, I learned that singer and songwriter Ray Charles went to the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. He was one of the first students to attend the school and definitely the most famous. Not only was he influential in Florida. He had an important effect in the field of music worldwide!

The start of his life was not easy. Ray, an African American, was born in the beginning of a big depression on September, 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia but he was raised in Florida since he was an infant. He came from a poor family. His father was a mechanic and his mother worked as a sharecropper. Times were tough.

Ray Charles was not born blind. In fact, it took him almost seven years for him to go blind. He had seven years to see the joy and sadness of the world. As a seven year old child, in searching for light, he stared at the sun continuously, thereby eliminating all the chances of the modern-day miracle, cornea transplants - a miracle of surgery that was unheard of in 1937. He had an eye disease called Glaucoma. That is what made him blind.

Ray began playing the piano before the age of five. He was a pianist, songwriter and composer and his career was long and very successful. A movie about his life was made starring Jamie Foxx in 2004. He won an Oscar for playing Ray Charles.

Ray was a humanitarian and helped support Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. He supported schools for the blind and formed a foundation called the Ray Charles Robinson foundation for the blind and donated $1,000,000 of his own money to the foundation!

Ray Charles is best known for songs “Georgia on My Mind”, “I got a Woman” and “Hit the Road Jack”. He was known for combining different styles of music like jazz, gospel and soul. He was given a star on Hollywood’s walk of fame along other musicians and other people from the entertainment industry. His name is in just about every hall of fame that has anything to do with music. Ray often said, “I was born with music inside me. That’s the only explanation I know.” Ray Charles died on June 10, 2004.

Whether you are young or old you will one day run into the amazing music of Ray Charles and I’m sure you will love it!