R.I.P. Ray Charles
Jun. 11th, 2004 10:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rktwhy can i not escape reagan coverage, yet i can't seem to find a ray charles tribute on the radio to save my life?
i don't even live in the land dominated by country.
Ray Charles 1930-2004
Ray Charles
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Ray Charles, a musical innovator who combined the rollicking ``bad boy'' free-spiritedness of rock 'n' roll with the pious aching of gospel and soul to create a new style in such hits as ``What'd I Say,'' ``Hit the Road Jack,'' ``Georgia on My Mind'' and ``I Can't Stop Loving You,'' has died. He was 73.
Charles died of acute liver disease at his Beverly Hills home Thursday, surrounded by family and friends, said spokesman Jerry Digney.
Blind by age 7 and an orphan at 15, the gifted pianist and saxophonist spent his life shattering any notion of musical categories and defying easy definition.
One of the first artists to record the ``blasphemous idea of taking gospel songs and putting the devil's words to them,'' as legendary producer Jerry Wexler once said, Charles' music spanned soul, rock 'n' roll, R&B, country, jazz, big band and blues.
Over the course of a 58-year career, he put his stamp on it all with a deep, warm voice roughened by heartbreak from a hardscrabble childhood in the segregated South. Smiling and swaying behind the piano, grunts and moans peppering his songs, Charles' appeal spanned generations.
The Grammy winner's last public appearance was alongside Clint Eastwood on April 30, when the city of Los Angeles designated the singer's studios, built 40 years ago, as a historic landmark.
Charles won nine of his 12 Grammy Awards between 1960 and 1966, including the best R&B recording three consecutive years (``Hit the Road Jack,'' ``I Can't Stop Loving You'' and ``Busted'').
i don't want a moment of silence. i want a day of music, damnit.
i don't even live in the land dominated by country.
Ray Charles 1930-2004
Ray Charles
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Ray Charles, a musical innovator who combined the rollicking ``bad boy'' free-spiritedness of rock 'n' roll with the pious aching of gospel and soul to create a new style in such hits as ``What'd I Say,'' ``Hit the Road Jack,'' ``Georgia on My Mind'' and ``I Can't Stop Loving You,'' has died. He was 73.
Charles died of acute liver disease at his Beverly Hills home Thursday, surrounded by family and friends, said spokesman Jerry Digney.
Blind by age 7 and an orphan at 15, the gifted pianist and saxophonist spent his life shattering any notion of musical categories and defying easy definition.
One of the first artists to record the ``blasphemous idea of taking gospel songs and putting the devil's words to them,'' as legendary producer Jerry Wexler once said, Charles' music spanned soul, rock 'n' roll, R&B, country, jazz, big band and blues.
Over the course of a 58-year career, he put his stamp on it all with a deep, warm voice roughened by heartbreak from a hardscrabble childhood in the segregated South. Smiling and swaying behind the piano, grunts and moans peppering his songs, Charles' appeal spanned generations.
The Grammy winner's last public appearance was alongside Clint Eastwood on April 30, when the city of Los Angeles designated the singer's studios, built 40 years ago, as a historic landmark.
Charles won nine of his 12 Grammy Awards between 1960 and 1966, including the best R&B recording three consecutive years (``Hit the Road Jack,'' ``I Can't Stop Loving You'' and ``Busted'').
i don't want a moment of silence. i want a day of music, damnit.
