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.
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