Ray Charles

Ray Charles was a blind African American who participated in a variety of genres all while being audacious enough to “stay himself”   by performing his own style of music and became an astounding musician who overcame obstacles. Throughout his life, Ray spread the thought that a person who strived to be daring and different could possibly have a better outcome then those who don’t.
Ray Charles was a very unique musician that had very distinctive qualities about him. First and foremost, Ray was mostly identified as the African American musician that was blind. In the 1940’s in the south, having a young African American musician that was successful was uncommonly known of due to the segregation that still was lingering in the southern states. In Ray’s predicament, having the disability of being blind along with the fact that he was black ascended his chances for becoming unsuccessful in the music industry. However, he overcame this obstacle society threw at him and became a very advantageous artist with the help of his musical education that he received through a special school in St. Augustine for the deaf and the blind. It was there where Ray acquired how to play instruments and compose in Braille.
Throughout his extraordinary career, Ray commonly performed a variety of genres that included swing, gospel, R&B, and Jazz. In the beginning of his career he sang those genres like his idol Nat King Cole but not the way he desired to sing them. In 1954 Ray used gospel in a way that was never done before in his song “I Got a Woman”. He exerted all of his emotion and added it to the song through hoots, hollers, and other genuinely animated articulations. By adding this new element to his songs, he said that this is the way Ray Charles sings, and ultimately broke out of his shell. He endured a lot of criticism for his style of singing at first but shortly Ray Charles started to become better known. He was finally acquiring his mother’s encouragement to “Just be... [continues]

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