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.