Ray Charles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Ray Charles was the stage name of Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004). He was a pioneering American pianist and soul musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues. He brought a soulful sound to country music, pop standards, and a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of the song, an American anthem — a classic, just as the man who sang it.
"When I was about thirteen, I finally got a chance to do something I'd wanted to do for years. I was very much into RnB from an early age. The first thing I started to do on the piano was play blues just from ear, just by listening and understanding that and reproducing that. When I heard Ray Charles, I was just blown away. He had a tenor sax player called David 'Fathead' Newman, and when I heard Fathead, I said 'Man, I gotta make that sound. I gotta do that.' But I was already playing French horn and the band leader in the elementary school didn't want to have any part in giving me anything else because French horn players are real hard to find."
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Ray Charles
