Ray Charles Robinson; Introduction

                     There are many great musicians out there in this world, but there is only one that captured everyone’s heart. Only one that was blind and could play the piano in a way that was so unique that it captured everyone’s attention and still does even to this day on April 12, 2012, eight years after his death. This man’s name was Ray Charles Robinson who is mainly known as just Ray Charles, that’s a story for later on. To this day you can still watch Ray Charles perform maybe not live but perform none the less at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG-tHlwRToI (over one hundred minutes of rare Ray Charles concert footage from the legendary 1961 Antibes Jazz Festival in France.) The newly discovered footage, featuring an 1 hour and 45 minutes of performances, show Ray Charles in his prime period with the original Raelettes and his most legendary band (including David “Fathead” Newman and Hank Crawford.)(Page 1 of 5 of the printed copy of Ray Charles from http://raycharles.com home page.) These concerts were some of Mr. Charles first performances that helped to get him as famous and great as he was and still is to this day. No one will ever forget Ray, his name and music will live on forever. His music helped many people in many ways whether it gave someone motivation or just simply made someone feel better it still helped. He was one of a kind and no one will ever be able to replace the great Ray Charles.

Rays Childhood; Category 1; Entry 1

 Rays Childhood Family

            Ray was born on September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia; his original birth name was Ray Charles Robinson. His origin was in Greenville, Florida. He was born to a woman by the name of Aretha Robinson (maiden name of Williams) whom was a sharecropper. His Father’s name was Bailey Robinson whom was a railroad repair man, mechanic, and a handyman. Aretha Williams was a devout Christian and the family attended the New Shiloh Baptist Church. While Ray was still an infant the family ended up moving from Georgia, and to the poorer black community in Greenville, Florida. When Ray was younger he had an interest in mechanics, he often would sit and watch the other people in the neighborhood working on their cars and the farm tractors and machinery. He later became interested in music when he would go down to Mr. Wiley Pits Red Wing Café and listen to Pit paying on an upright piano. Mr. Pit would care for Rays little brother George trying to take the burden off of the Williams. Although that would soon come to an end. 

Rays Childhood; Category 1; Entry 2

Georges Death

            When Ray was only five years old he helplessly watched as his four year old brother George drowned in a washtub. There isn’t much information about Rays little brother or the accident. But later on down the road Ray would feel a ton of guilt over the death of his brother. Much later down the road Rays son Ray Charles Robinson Jr. states that the legendary Ray Charles hid the pain and guilt that he felt from not being able to save his little brother that day. Ray Jr. insists that his father never recovered from watching his little brother drown in that wash tub. He also states that getting his father to talk about his little brother was almost impossible…that you could see that he still held himself responsible for Georges death: Mr. Charles Jr. States “the last thing my father remembers from that day is the sight of his mother, her face streaming with tears, carrying Georges lifeless body into a cabin.” (Page 1 of 2 printed from http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/views/w0003860.html). Even in the movie about Ray called “Ray” it shows that Ray would hallucinate or feel things that weren’t really there, like water around him and then feel his dead brother’s body.

Rays Childhood; Category 1; Entry 3

Rays Eye Sight

                Ray starts to lose his sight at the age of five years old. He went completely blind by the age of seven, apparently due to glaucoma. His mother sent him to attend the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine from 1937to1945. (Source found on page 2 of 13 printed from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles underneath Early Life: 1930-1945). It was at that school that Ray began to develop his talent for music. It was during that time that Ray performed on a radio in St. Augustine. While Ray was at the school he was only taught classical music, but his heart was in jazz and blues that he had heard on the family radio. Ray had become the schools premier musician while he remained at the school. (Source found on page 2 of 13 printed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles in Early Life: 1930-1945). On Fridays one of the campuses would hold assemblies where Ray would play the piano and sing popular songs for the school. On special occasions such as Halloween or Washington’s Birthday the colored part of the school would hold get together where Mr. Charles would play for them. It was at the colored department of the school that Ray established “RC Robinson and The Shop Boys” and would sing his own little version of “Jingle Bell Boogie”. Ray spent his first Christmas alone at the school but later on the staff would pitch in the money so that Ray could return to his hometown as he did in the summer.

Rays Childhood; Category 1; Reflection

                My thoughts about Ray Charles is that he had a hard life to begin with before he ever lost his eye sight or witnessed his younger brother’s death. Ray was born into extreme poverty, and when I say that I mean that he was at the very bottom of the list he was lower than low. I agree that Ray never recovered from watching his brother drown in that wash tub and not being able to save him, but I also think that no one would ever recover from having watched something of that nature. And yes Ray was already losing his eye sight since he was the age of five and yes it may have been from the disease that we all now call glaucoma, but I also believe that him witnessing his brother’s death put a huge toll on him and contributed to the loosing of his eyes sight.

Rays Adulthood and Career; Category 2; Entry 1

 Early Career:

                Rays mother died in the year of 1945, Ray didn’t return to school after her death. He then stayed in Jacksonville, Florida with some old friends of his mothers. For around about a year he just played the piano for a few bands over at the Ritz Theatre. He later moved to Orlando and a little later on went ahead and moved off to Tampa where he started playing with a band Called The Florida Playboys. While playing with this band he got the habit of wearing sunglasses, designed by a man by the name of Billy Stickles. He had always played in those other bands for people but he wanted to do his own thing. After awhile Ray decided to leave the band and his life in Florida so that he could move to a larger city, although he thought Chicago and New York to big. He finally decided to have a friend look at a map for him to tell him the farthest city in the U.S. that was the farthest away from Florida. (Source found on page 3 of 13 printed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles). The city that Ray ended up going to just so happened to be Seattle, the place where he would soon meet the 14 year old Mr. Quincy Jones. (Ray would soon befriend Quincy). Soon after getting to Seattle Ray would begin recording for the Down Beat label as the Maxin Trio with Mr. G.D. McKee along with a Mr. Milton Garrett. Ray achieved his first hit with “Confession Blues” in the year of 1949. The song soon made it all the way to number two on the R&B charts. Ray then joined in with Swing Time Records changing his own name to Ray Charles to avoid being confused with the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. Soon Ray had recorded two more R&B hits, “ Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand” made it to number five in 1951 than in 1952 recorded “Kissa Me Baby” which made it to number eight.

Rays Adulthood and Career; Category 2; Entry 2

Atlantic Records

                Just after Ray signed with Atlantic records he recorded “Mess Around”, which became his first hit single. He recorded a few more songs but what got him on up there in the business and got everybody’s attention was his hit “I Got a Woman”. “I Got a Woman reached the top of the R&B billboards single chart in 1955. From 1955 to 1959 Ray would end up making a ton of R&B successes. During Ray’s transition from R&B to Blues he recruited a group of young females from Philadelphia that went by the name “The Cookies”. Ray needed the young woman as his background singers; he would end up recording with them and changing their name to “The Raelettes”. In 1959 Ray would end up leaving Atlantic shortly after recording “The Genius of Ray Charles” to sign with ABC-Paramount Records when they offered him higher pays and more fame plus the ownership of his master recordings. (Source found on page 2 of 8 printed from http://www.nathanielturner.com/raycharleschronology.htm). Ray ended up getting a larger pop audience out of this transition as well. The reason for this was his very own version of Hoagy Carmichaels 1930s song “Georgia on My Mind” (one of his first songs to win him a Grammy). After his remade hit came “Hit the Road Jack.” Ray ended up expanding his group into the huge band and made and instrumental jazz album called “Genius+Soul=Jazz.

Rays Adulthood and Career; Category 2; Entry 3

 Rays Drug Habit

 In 1961 Ray was arrested on drug charges in an Indiana hotel room just before a performance. The police had found heroin and marijuana; despite finding those two drugs the case was dismissed for the simple fact the arresting officers who went into that room did not have a warrant.  (Source found on page 3 of 8 printed from http://www.nathanielturner.com/raycharleschronology.htm). The people who cared for Mr. Charles felt that the people around Ray was responsible for his drug addiction, even though Ray had admitted to being on drugs since the age of sixteen. Rays addiction ended up catching back up to him in 1964 where he was once again arrested for the possession and use of heroin and marijuana. After this arrest Ray checked himself in a rehab at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, California where he got rid of his terrible addiction. Mr. Charles received five years of probation. Rays response to his drug abuse by coming out with two hit songs, “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” and “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” with this he released his first hit album since he had rid of his drug abuse, “Crying Time.” Even after all this Ray still continued on with his musical career, and in 1962 returned to R&B with a song called “Busted” (Grammy award winning).

Rays Adulthood and Career; Category 2; Reflection

Reflection:

                                Ray may have been addicted to drugs and heading down the wrong path of life but he was still an amazing musician and no I don’t agree with drug abuse. But Mr. Charles got his act together and went to rehab on his own and got rid of his drug habit. Yes I do believe he deserved his consequences, even though he was blind he still knew right from wrong and at first he did choose wrong but then he fixed his mistake and chose to do right. People that choose to use drugs and choose the wrong path in life make me stop and question things like why someone would want to hurt themselves like that. You would think that going through all the painful and unfair things in life would make someone want something better for their life and for their kid’s life. Some people might go back and correct their mistakes or at least try to, and then there are some people that choose to keep doing wrong and to keep abusing things in life.

Rays Family Life; Category 3; Entry 1

Left to Right: Ray Charles Della  Beatrice Howard Robinson, David Robinson, Ray Charles Robinson Jr.

 Front Row: Robert Robinson

 Rays marriages:

                Ray was marries twice, once when he was twenty-five to a woman by the name of Eileen Williams. Eileen was beautician from Columbus, Ohio. Ray met Eileen through his friend, a man by the name of Billy Brooks. The two love birds got married in July the year of 1951. Their marriage ended in divorce in the year of 1952. There is no proof of records or anything stating that Ray and Eileen ever had any children together. Ray states that “Because he was on the road so much, the marriage was doomed from the start. Maybe I should have known that you can’t tell enough about a person after three weeks to decide about something as serious as marriage.” (Source from Ray himself found on page 2 of 2 printed from http://marrriage.about.com/od/enertainmen1/p/charlesray.htm). After his divorce with Eileen in 1952, about three years later Ray meets a woman by the name of Della Beatrice Howard Robinson in Houston, Texas. Ray automatically nicknamed Della “B”, Soon Ray and Della was married. Their marriage lasted for about twenty-two years; they got a divorce in the year of 1977. Ray and Della had three children together, Ray Charles Robinson Jr. who was born in 1955, David Robinson who was born around about 1958, Reverend Robert Robinson who was born around 1961. Once again Ray makes a statement about his marriage that went bad, “B and I had good twelve or thirteen years of marriage. Sometimes when I think about it, I’m surprised we managed that long. The pressure on us both was very heavy, and yet we endured them for a long spell. When we were together, we were together. I give her a great deal of credit for putting up with me and my strange ways…The other tremendous burden on her was my drug habit.” Ray also states that he blamed himself for a good eighty or eighty-five percent of the damage in his and Della’s marriage. He states “I was the one who fell into the dope and into paternity suits; I knew just what I was doing. I saw the risks, I was selfish.” Rays life might have ended, but only after he lived a long full life, and he did not die alone. Rays long term girlfriend and partner at the time of his death was Norma Pinella. (Source found on page 6 or 13 printed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles).

Rays Family Life; Category 3; Entry 2

Rays Views on Marrige:
            Ray believed that his style with women and his needs for women didn’t match up with the demands and dilemmas that marriage had put in his way. He also believed from his point of view that all marriage is the possession and ownership of a person as though they were just a material object. Ray simply did not want to feel as though he was owned by another person. Ray states,

“Marriage only got started when men wanted a way to fence off their property. So we set up these rules and started marrying gals. The gals felt like they were being protected. To them, it was their sole method of survival. Many times women weren’t allowed to learn to read or write. And they were hid back the ways the blacks had been stifled by whites. That’s how men were able to control women for so long. And that’s how our attitudes got so crazy and one-sided.”

(source found on page 2 of 2 printed from http://marriage.about.com/od/entertainmen1/p/charlesray.htm). Some biographers noted that he was indifferent to his wives, lovers, and children. Rays had a weakness for womanizing that was legendary. Ray had many affairs throughout his entire life. He also had many children by many different women.

Rays Family Life; Category 3; Entry 3

Rays Children:

                      On the day of November 5, 2004 Ray gave ten of his twelve children each one million dollars in USD. (Source found on page 2 of 2 printed from http://www.marraige.about.com/od/entertainmen1/p/charlesray.htm). Ray once stated that all of his children know him. While some people believe that Ray had nothing to do with them. Rays oldest child was born in the year of 1950 to a woman by the name of Louise Mitchell, their daughters name is Evelyn Robinson. In 1955 Ray married for the second time and had yet another child to Della Robinson, their sons name was Ray Charles Robinson Jr. Ray Jr. grew up in Los Angeles, California, he graduated from Whittier College, and he is currently a film producer. Rays next child was David Robinson, born the year of 1958 to Della Robinson. Charles Wayne Robinson born in 1959 to Margie Hendricks (one of the Raelettes). Charles Wayne Robinson was born out of the affair that Ray had with Margie while he was married to Della. In 1960 Reverend Robert Robinson was born to Della Robinson (his wife at the time). Reverend Robinson is a pastor in Los Angeles, and was the only child permitted to attend Ray’s public funeral. Although the Reverend would only read a single psalms, despite what everyone said about his father wanting him to preside over the entire thing. Ray would have several more children from affairs that he had while married to Della. Raenee Robinson was born in 1961 to Mae Mosely Lyles. Next would come Shelia Raye Charles Robinson in 1963 to Sandra Jean Betts. Shelia is now a singer like her father; she had a hard lifestyle that led her to running away from home at the age of fifteen. Shelia states,

“"All my life I wanted someone who knew what it was like being the child of a superstar who didn't have time for me, and then at his funeral I met 11 brothers and sisters who really did know. It turned out he really did love us all the same ... the best he could."

Alicia Robinson was born in 1966, there’s no information on who her mother was. Alexandra Robinson born to Chantal Bertrand in 1968, Vincent Robinson born to Arlette Kotchounian in 1977, Robyn Robinson born to Gloria Moffet in 1978. Rays last born child was Ryan Corey Robinson born to Mary Anne den Bok in 1987. All together Ray had twelve children by nine different women (six girls and six boys). When Ray pasted away in 2004 he left behind all of his children, and twenty-one grandchildren along with five great grandchildren.

Rays Family Life; Relection

                 Ray was wrong in many ways throughout his life but one thing he defiantly should have made right was his relationship with all of his children. Even with him being famous he could have still found time for his family. One of Ray’s children Sheila Raye Charles Robinson talked about how she always felt like he didn’t love her and this thought stayed in her mind and she ran away and got addicted to drugs at the age of fifteen. Writing this topic makes me question so many things like, why do people not take precautions in not having a child if they do not want to take on the responsibility to take care of that child. Even to this day you can still relate this topic to the way people do their kids only now days is ten times worse than it used to be. People abuse their children or just don’t take care of them and they are unhealthy from not being fed right or taken care of, it might be easier for a teenage to find food but what about the infants and the kids that are too young to understand what they need to do.

Ray Charles Robinson; Conclusion

                Ray was indeed a legendary man who touched the lives of many people. In 1968 Ray was named the number one male singer; in 1983 he received the NAACP, image award. Ray became inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, a Kennedy Center Honors recipient as well in the year of 1986. Charles, whose Grammy haul now totals 17, also took home the coveted Record of the Year title as well as Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Here We Go Again," featuring pianist/singer Norah Jones. She won three awards herself, two for her duet with Charles and one for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the song "Sunrise" from her sophomore release feels like Home. Ray also received a lifetime achievement award in1987. Ray also received a National Medal of Arts award in 1993, and then won another lifetime achievement award in 1994. Ray was an amazing musicians who just made some bad choices throughout his life but that still didn’t stop his music from reaching out to everyone, after all everyone makes at least one mistake throughout their life, no one is perfect. Ray died in his home on June 10, 2004; he never gave up his musical career. Ray continued to tour and make his wonderful music all the way up until his last tour in 2003 that was cut short due to illness.