It was a very sad day for me when Ray Charles passed away seven years ago today.
After you reach a certain age, such events don’t sneak up on you or surprise you anymore. When you know that you are living during an era that includes the likes of a Ray Charles, you see them getting older, you reflect on the life they lived, and you begin preparing yourself for the fact that someday, we won’t have them amongst us anymore. I have also found that I will miss certain music artists, like Ray, long after they are gone, almost the same way I miss a relative or close friend. I feel so blessed to be able to look back over the course of my life and connect so many magical moments to so much beautiful music that I have loved - created by people like Ray Charles.
His music is so sincere, so pure, and so powerful that you really couldn’t ignore it even if you tried. I mean really, do you actually know anyone with even the slightest amount of musical maturity who would say that they simply don’t like Ray Charles? And if you do know someone like that, I’ll bet you would find that they probably don’t like chocolate ice cream or little babies, either.
Thanks, Ray. It was a privilege to have grown up with you. You provided such a major part of the musical score that has been the backdrop to the story of my life. Right on, Brother Ray.
Check out this once in a lifetime video of Ray Charles performing Living for the City with Stevie Wonder. People toss the term “musical genius” around way too often. Watch this video and learn the true meaning.
Okay, let’s get to the quiz!
1) What is Ray’s original birth name?
2) Where was Ray Charles born?
3) True or False: Ray Charles was not born blind. He lost his sight as a young boy.
4) Ray performed in what major movie box-office smash that made its debut in 1980?
5) True or False: Ray Charles had no formal musical training.
Interesting Facts About Ray Charles –
a) Ray moved to Seattle in 1947 (where he first met and befriended a 14 year old Quincy Jones and soon recorded his first hit, "Confession Blues" in 1949. The song soared to #2 on the R&B charts.
b) After his mother died in 1945, Charles was 15 years old when he was living in Jacksonville, Florida with a couple who were friends of his mother. For over a year, he played the piano for bands at the Ritz Theatre in LaVilla, earning $4 a night.
c) In 1979, Charles was one of the first of the Georgia State Music Hall of Fame to be recognized as a musician born in the state. Ray's version of "Georgia On My Mind" was made the official state song for Georgia.
d) In 1981, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was one of the first inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural ceremony in 1986.
QUIZ ANSWERS:
Okay, let’s see how you did!
1) Ray Charles Robinson – Early on in his career, he began going by “Ray Charles” so that he would not be confused with Sugar Ray Robinson.
2) Ray was born in Albany, Georgia. However, most of his younger years were spent in Greenville, Florida.
3) True. Ray Charles began losing his sight at age 5. By age 7, he had lost all of his vision due to glaucoma. During those days, there was no treatment for this disease. Since then, there has been significant progress in slowing its degenerative effects, but there is still no cure for glaucoma, and there has still been no conclusion drawn as to what causes it.
4) The Blues Brothers. (If you didn’t get that one then I am banning you from my page for one day).
5) False. As a boy, Ray Charles was trained to play only classical music. He attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine from 1937 to 1945, where he developed his musical talent.
So you got them all right, huh? Congratulations!
(But honestly, don’t get all full of yourself. This one really wasn’t that hard).
G.
All information gathered courtesy Wikipedia
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