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Ray Charles

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Ray Charles Biography

source: WikiPedia

This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. If you find the biography content factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia.

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American musician known as Ray Charles (to avoid confusion with champion boxer Sugar Ray Robinson). He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records. He also helped racially integrate country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his ''Modern Sounds'' albums. While with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be given artistic control by a mainstream record company. Frank Sinatra called Charles “the only true genius in show business,” although Charles downplayed this notion. The influences upon his music were mainly jazz, blues, rhythm and blues and country artists of the day such as Art Tatum, Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan, Charles Brown, Louis Armstrong. His playing reflected influences from country blues, barrelhouse and stride piano styles. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Charles number ten on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" in 2004, and number two on their November 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". In honoring Charles, Billy Joel noted: "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley.

Wikipedia This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. If you find the biography content factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia.
Biography

Ray Charles Albums

source: MusicBrainz

Links & information come from MusicBrainz. You can add or edit information about Ray Charles.

The Very Best of Ray Charles Compilation 2013-01-10 itunes amazon
Greatest Hits Compilation 2010 itunes amazon
Modern Sounds in Country and Western… Compilation 2009-06-16 itunes amazon
Genius: The Ultimate Collection Compilation 2009-04-07 itunes amazon
The Genius Hits the Road Album 2009 itunes amazon
Black Jack Compilation 2008 itunes amazon
Golden Hit Collection Compilation 2008 itunes amazon
Ray Charles Collection Compilation 2008 itunes amazon
40 Greatest Hits: The Very Best of… Compilation 2007-07-17 itunes amazon
Best Of Compilation 2007-04-24 itunes amazon
The Definitive Anthology Compilation 2007 itunes amazon
Ray Charles Compilation 2007 itunes amazon
Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival… Live 2006-06-12 itunes amazon
Just Ray Other 2006 itunes amazon
A Ray Charles Christmas Compilation 2006 itunes amazon
MusicBrainzLinks & information come from MusicBrainz. You can add or edit information about Ray Charles at musicbrainz.org.
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