His early successes included songs such as his first R&B charting tune, "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" his debut single with Atlantic, "Roll With Me Baby" and "It Should Have Been Me," which made it to #7 on the R&B charts. Though he had originally modeled his style after Nat "King" Cole, Charles eventually found his own voice. Throughout the '40s and early '50s, Charles began developing his unique genre-blending style in clubs throughout the Northwest. After gigging in clubs throughout Florida for several years, Charles moved to Seattle and started his own trio. There, he also began his professional music career, playing with local blues musicians. He studied classically there, but he enjoyed sneaking jazz and blues licks into his practicing.Īfter the devastating death of his mother when he was 15, Charles went to stay with friends of his mother in Jacksonville. Augustine's School for the Deaf and Blind, where he began formal piano lessons. He slowly began to lose his eyesight as a child by age 7, he was blind. His unique style drew on a wide variety of influences that can be traced back to the music he heard as a kid growing up in the rural South: the blues music played by the men in his town, the gospel music he heard at church, country music on Saturday-night broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry, and the big-band music of Ellington and Basie that he heard late at night on the radio.Ĭharles was born Ray Charles Robinson on Sept. Singer, pianist and composer Ray Charles is one of the most legendary musicians of the 20th century. "Ray and Marian's Blues" (Charles, McPartland)."Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" (Rodgers, Hammerstein)."Blues" (Charles, McPartland) & Things Ain't What They Used to Be (Ellington).It may not be weighty enough to be a career-capping masterpiece, but it's sweet enough to be an appropriate final album - which is far more than can be said of Strong Love Affair, or any of the other albums he cut in the '80s or '90s for that matter. The end result is modest, friendly, laid-back, and pleasing, one that remains faithful to Charles' music while sounding relatively fresh. King, Johnny Mathis, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, and the ubiquitous Willie Nelson (who has never sounded older than he does here on "It Was a Very Good Year") - but they're also reliable, never overshadowing Ray yet never shrinking in his shadow either in short, it sounds more like a real duets album than most superstar duet records. In other words, apart from the glistening production, it's not far removed from any of Charles' crossover records from the '60s, and he's also given a strong set of songs, largely familiar pop classics, from "Fever" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" and "Crazy Love." His duet partners are fairly predictable - classy newcomers like Norah Jones and Diana Krall, but also old stalwarts like Elton John, B.B. Instead of trying to put Charles in a modern setting, producers John Burk and Phil Ramone ( Burk helmed seven of the album's tracks, Ramone is responsible for the other five, and their work fits together seamlessly) go for a clean retro setting with a few guitars, synths, and a rhythm section, occasionally dressing it with an orchestra or some strings. As the title acknowledges with a wink, this is a duets album, which may be a little commonplace as far as latter-day superstar albums go but is still a step up from his previous studio album since it puts Ray Charles in a comfortable, relaxed situation that plays to his strengths. Charles left Warner and, years later, signed with Concord, who released Genius Loves Company, which had a decidedly different approach than the all-modern Strong Love Affair. It was not one of his most distinctive efforts, even when judged against his latter-day albums, and it disappeared not long after its release. Prior to this, the last studio album he released was Strong Love Affair in 1996, which was a stab at modern pop, filled with new songs and given an adult contemporary sheen. Genius Loves Company is the last studio album Ray Charles completed before his death in June 2004.
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