He was one of America’s most influential musical performers and paved the way for African Americans in the music industry – and accomplished it all while completely blind. Ray Charles, born in 1930 in Albany, Georgia is a great American songwriter who helped change the face of modern music.
Charles is credited with the early development of soul music, which blends jazz, gospel and rhythm and blues. Born with the visual condition glaucoma, Charles went completely blind by age seven. He attended a special school for the blind, but left at age 15 to pursue his self-taught passion: the piano. A talented singer and songwriter as well, young Ray Charles soon built a following at his small club performances, eventually landing a record deal with Atlantic Records, where he recorded hits such as “I’ve Got a Woman,” “Hit the Road, Jack” and “Georgia on My Mind.” Many of his albums went multi-platinum and Charles helped break down racial barriers as one of the first black musicians to hit the mainstream radio waves.
Charles died in 2004, after receiving a total of 13 Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. Never one to let his blindness stop him from succeeding, Charles quipped: “I don’t know what I’d do if I wasn’t able to hear.”