Brother Ray

I had the pleasure of seeing Ray Charles in concert several times during his lifetime, which sadly has ended today at the age of 73. Mr. Charles' career was a miracle when you consider that he was sighted until the age of 4, when he began the gradual process of blindness.

He took music lessons at a school for the blind, became a pro as a teenager, scored his first big hit records in his mid-20's for Atlantic Records, then became a legend in 1959 upon his move to ABC-Paramount Records which yielded some of his biggest hits, among them "Hit The Road Jack", "One Mint Julep" (an instrumental), "What'd I Say" and "Busted". He also developed a gentler sound featuring strings and backup singers which endeared him to the MOR crowd and made him a fixture on country stations with such other hits as "Georgia On My Mind" and "You Don't Know Me."

Ray Charles performed for world dignitaries and the common man with the same zeal and fervor. He could even poke fun at his image, as was witnessed during a mid-1970's episode of "Saturday Night Live" in which he was given a rare artwork, which when unveiled revealed a torn-out canvas with the attached note "PLEASE DON'T TELL HIM!" (it is said the gag was the work of the late Michael O'Donoghue, and some apocryphal stories cite Stevie Wonder as the victim of the prank). He also recorded a self-effacing ditty with George Jones called "We Didn't See A Thing". And who could forget his advertising turn for Diet Pepsi in the 1980's, surrounded by gorgeous girls and warbling "You've got the right one baby uh-huh!"

In a week where the death of Ronald Reagan has put the country into a reverential mood, let's take a moment and also remember the music and joy that Ray Charles left us with. I'll be pulling out my CD's tonight and singing along as the nation mourns.

(The picture is from the last public appearance of Ray Charles on April 30. He is flanked by Cicely Tyson and Clint Eastwood.)