Died On This Date (June 10, 2004) Ray Charles / Pop Music Icon
themusicsover Ray Charles (Born Ray Robinson)
September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004
Ray Charles was one of America’s greatest voices. He was called “the only true genius in the business” by none other than Frank Sinatra. The son of a share cropper, Charles lost his sight at the age of five. While attending a school for the deaf and blind, Charles was taught classical piano, but after his mother died, he left the school and changed his focus to the music he loved and would forever be associated with. By the time he was 17, he was making records for Swing Time Records, scoring his first R&B hit, “Confession Blues” in 1949. In 1951, Ahmet Ertegun signed him to Atlantic Records, starting him down the road that would eventually lead him to the status of American icon. Ray Charles died of liver cancer on June 10, 2004.
What You Should Own
At 105 years old, Huey Long was the last surviving member of Doo Wop legends, the Ink Spots. Long’s career began back in 1925 as a banjoist for one of Houston’s most popular Dixieland bands of the ’20s, Frank Davis’ Louisiana Jazz Band. He later moved to Chicago and switched to the more popular guitar. In 1944, he was asked to join the Ink Spots with whom he stayed for the next 40 years. Long passed away of natural causes on June 10, 2009.
Although he was probably the most important figure from the country-soul scene of the ’60s and ’70s, Arthur Alexander was by no means a house hold name. But as a songwriter, he DID have some heavy weight fans in the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, being the only artist to have songs covered by all three. Alexander’s songs have also been recorded or performed live by George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, the Hollies, 