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Ray Charles Research Paper

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Music Assignment Term 3 2015
Ray Charles

Many look at Jazz Musician Ray Chaeles as being the ‘Father of Soul’, as he virtually created Soul music. By bring together the genera’s of gospel, blues, country, and jazz, Charles was able to create a groundbreaking style of music that had not yet been heard of in the music industry.

Born Ray Charles Robinson on the 23rd of September 1930 in Albany, Georgia, Charles was raised by his two parents. Charles had witnessed the droning death of his younger brother, which had left him traumatised, and soon after this, at the age of 6, he contracted glaucoma, which was left untreated, and eventually left him completely blind. Charles attended the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida, where he learned to read, write and compose music in Braille. But his love for music started way before attending school, as he had learnt to play the piano before the age of five. …show more content…

After this Charles dropped out of school to focus on his music career and work in dance bands, as by this time he had learnt to play the alto saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, and organ. Dropping his last name so as to avoid confusion between him and a pro boxer with the same last name, Ray Charles moved to Seattle with just $600, and started to record for several independent record labels, releasing his first single ‘Confession Blues’ in 1949. Although this song done well on the R&B charts, more success on the charts followed in 1951 when Charles released his song ‘Baby Let Me Hold Your

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