Ray Charles Robinson

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Ray Charles Robinson is my hero. Ray was born on September 23, 1930 in Albany Georgia. He lost his sight at the age of six. He lost his mother at the age of 15. After he lost his parents, he went to Florida and worked as a musician. He had confidence that he could do whatever he wanted.

Ray Charles Robinson was later known as Ray Charles. Throughout his music career, he got nine Hall of Fame Awards and made 70 albums. He was honored by the NAACP Image Awards with its Hall of Fame Award in 1983. After some songs on Swing Time Records, he switched to Atlantic Records (1952) and began to develop a blues and gospel style of music. A major influence on popular black music during his early years, he influenced both white and black musicians and audiences.

"Ray Charles lived to see the day when he was so acceptable to mainstream Americans that he became the chief for promoting Pepsi-Cola and was invited to perform at many national events. In 2001, his soulful of 'America the Beautiful' was played throughout Major League ballparks during the 7th inning stretch when games resumed after 9/11. Still performing into his seventies, in 2002 he released the album Thanks for Bringing Love Around."

Ray Charles became famous all over the world. But, one thing people did not know was that Ray Charles had a deep, deep secret. Ray Charles was on drugs. The drug he did was heroin. Soon his wife caught him. He went to a rehab center. A few months later he got clean.

"In 2004 Ray Charles died of liver disease at his home in California. He was 73. His last album was Genius Loves Company. It was released in August 2004 and featured 12 songs with such artists as B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt and Elton John. The CD won Grammy awards for both album and record of year. That year the award-winning movie, 'Ray' was released, starring Jamie Foxx as the music legend." That’s the story of Ray Charles.