by André Depienne

Ray Charles was born in Albany, Georgia. According to a common thought he was born blind, but that is not correct! Only at the age of 5 years the problems started, and by the age of 7 he turned completely blind. He grew up poor, in a little town called Greenville, Florida. In a neighbors bar, little Ray listened to Boogie Woogie & Blues, and sometimes he was allowed to play the piano. But it only was at blind-school that he learned to play the cla- rinet, the piano and Altsaxophon. After his mother died in May 1945, Ray moved to Jack- sonville, Florida, and there he started to earn his life as a musician. Later on he moved to Los Angeles and to New York, where he signed his first contract with “Atlantic Records”. The first songs he recorded were “Mess around” and “It should have been me”. That was the moment he started to rise to stardom. Du- ring his long career he had three number 1 hits in the American single charts, received 12 Grammy Awards and also had the great ho- nor to have a star on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame”. Another highlight in his career was when his classic song “Georgia on my mind” got called the official state song of the state of “Georgia” on April 24, 1979.The biopic “Ray” was released in 2004 starring Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles. Foxx was also nominated and won an Oscar for the best male actor.