Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson, known professionally as Ray Charles, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He was sometimes referred to as "The Genius", and was also nicknamed "The High Priest of Soul"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSoul Singer
Date of Birth23 September 1930
CityAlbany, GA
CountryUnited States of America
spiritual religious singing
When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.
practice hell be-good
I really feel that if you're gonna be good, you gotta practice... Practice whatever the hell you do.
birthday romantic dream
Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you.
goodbye mean gone
Goodbye don't mean gone.
music memories play
Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.
like-something prerogative ifs
If somebody don't like something that I do, that's his or her prerogative. Just like it's mine.
years honor music-is-my-life
Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.
rain sadness heart
Absence makes the heart grow fonder and tears are only rain to make love grow.
music roots childhood
My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.
paper printed meant-to-be
Drunken talk isn’t meant to be printed in the paper.
sadness contentment too-much
There's such a thing as too much happiness and sadness. What I'm after is contentment.
dream sometimes
Sometimes my dreams are so deep that I dream that I'm dreaming.
born explanation knows
I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of
night way feels
I sing what I sing true. Each night I sing it the way I feel that night.