Ray Charles

To tell the story of Ray Charles is to tell the story of a song genius touched, from his earliest childhood, by Grace. Like an alchemist, all melodies borrowed or created by this pianist-singer-composer-arranger turn into gold. We understand the nicknames that the American showbiz will give him, "the Genius" or " the High Priest of Soul ", but none will surpass the one that his friends musicians gave him : "Brother Ray", a nickname that tells the strength and intimacy that emerges from his voice nourished at the sources of blues and jazz.

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer-songwriter, musician and composer known as Ray Charles. 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 iconic, game changing Modern Sounds in Country And Western albums, combined into a single release for CD in the 2000s, will be restored and released individually, as originally intended. The significance of these records cannot be overlooked. They are proof that great country music is malleable, and open to interpretation. Volume 1 quickly became one of the best-selling albums recorded by a Black musician of the time, as well as one of the best-selling country albums. It topped the Billboard Pop Album Chart of a month, and spawned four hit singles, including “I Can’t Stop Loving” which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, R&B, and the Adult Contemporary Charts, was nominated for Record Of The Year, and won the GRAMMY for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording at the 5th Annual Grammy Awards in 1963. “You Don’t Know Me” met with similar success. Ray Charles remains the first and only Black performer to earn a GRAMMY Award and a #1 Billboard Pop Chart Hit with a country and western song as he did with “l Can’t Stop Loving You.” Volume 2 followed its predecessor by just six months, and is widely regarded as just as strong, if not stronger than the first - the second made with the confidence that this formula or country & soul works. With three hit singles on both the R&B and Pop charts, including the #1 hit You Are My Sunshine, both volumes changed the course of popular music and remain a testament to the genius of Ray Charles.

The iconic, game changing Modern Sounds in Country And Western albums, combined into a single release for CD in the 2000s, will be restored and released individually, as originally intended. The significance of these records cannot be overlooked. They are proof that great country music is malleable, and open to interpretation. Volume 1 quickly became one of the best-selling albums recorded by a Black musician of the time, as well as one of the best-selling country albums. It topped the Billboard Pop Album Chart of a month, and spawned four hit singles, including “I Can’t Stop Loving” which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, R&B, and the Adult Contemporary Charts, was nominated for Record Of The Year, and won the GRAMMY for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording at the 5th Annual Grammy Awards in 1963. “You Don’t Know Me” met with similar success. Ray Charles remains the first and only Black performer to earn a GRAMMY Award and a #1 Billboard Pop Chart Hit with a country and western song as he did with “l Can’t Stop Loving You.” Volume 2 followed its predecessor by just six months, and is widely regarded as just as strong, if not stronger than the first - the second made with the confidence that this formula or country & soul works. With three hit singles on both the R&B and Pop charts, including the #1 hit You Are My Sunshine, both volumes changed the course of popular music and remain a testament to the genius of Ray Charles.

The most beautiful RnB, Blues, Soul songs by Ray Charles on one compilation!

Ray Charles Robinson[a] (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist.

Genius Loves Company is the final studio album by rhythm and blues and soul musician Ray Charles, posthumously released August 31, 2004 on Concord Records. Recording sessions for the album took place between June 2003 and March 2004. The album consists of rhythm and blues, soul, country, blues, jazz and pop standards performed by Charles and several guest musicians, such as Natalie Cole, Elton John, James Taylor, Norah Jones, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Diana Krall, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt. Genius Loves Company was the last album recorded and completed by Charles before his death in June 2004.

This three-disc box from Proper Records collects 60 vintage early tracks from the incomparable Ray Charles, including his classic singles “What I Say” and “I Got a Woman,” as well as fine versions of “Rockin’ Chair Blues,” “Get on the Right Track, Baby,” “Night Time Is the Right Time,” “Mess Around,” and “Lonely Avenue,” among countless other minor masterpieces. It’s no secret that this guy could sing, but the country-gospel passion he brought to these secular songs was nothing less than the merging of Saturday night and Sunday morning, with love at the center – the very birth of soul music. Charles recorded frequently throughout his career, but if these 60 sides were all he had ever done, his legacy would still be more than assured.

The first of two DCC compilations to collect the best of Brother Ray's 1960s stint at ABC-Paramount Records, when he flew off in a dozen different stylistic directions. Included on this 20-track disc are Charles' immortal rendering of "Georgia on My Mind," and the sinuously bluesy "Unchain My Heart," the Latin-beat instrumental "One Mint Julep," personalized remakes of the country standards "Born to Lose," "Your Cheating Heart," and "Crying Time," and his exultant rendition of the soulful "Let's Go Get Stoned." - Bill Dahl, All Music Guide