1910 Howlin Wolf*
1941 Harry "Cuby" Muskee*
1965 Michael "Dr. Mike" James*
1986 Fabian Brugger*
1989 Jason Barwick*
1994 Cecil Barfield+
2004 Ray Charles+
Nick Pentelow*
Happy Birthday
Michael "Dr. Mike" James *10.06.1965
The Delta Blues Museum is saddened by the loss of Michael "Dr. Mike" James. Born in Shaw, MS June 10, 1965, Michael was a longtime member of the Wesley Jefferson Southern Soul Band and and an extremely talented guitarist. He worked at the Delta Blues Museum as an instructor for the Arts & Education Program. He was very well known in the local blues community. Services will be in Shaw on April 16, 2009.
Howlin Wolf *10.06.1910
Howlin’ Wolf (* 10. Juni 1910 in White Station in der Nähe von West Point, Mississippi als Chester Arthur Burnett; † 10. Januar 1976 in Chicago, Illinois) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Musiker.Howlin' Wolf war für seinen markanten Gesangsstil und seine "reibeisende" Stimme bekannt. Er wirkt durch sie, aber auch starkes Mundharmonikaspiel auf seinen Aufnahmen nahezu omnipräsent. Er beeinflusste viele Sänger wie etwa John Fogerty, Tom Waits oder eben auch Mick Jagger[1]. Das Rolling Stone listete ihn auf Rang 31 der 100 größten Sänger aller Zeiten[2] und auf den 51. Platz der größten Musikkünstler aller Zeiten[3]. Der legendäre Plattenproduzent Sam Phillips von Sun Records (wo Wolf in den frühen 1950er-Jahren Aufnahmen machte) sagte über Howlin' Wolf: Als ich Howlin' Wolf hörte sagte ich mir, "Das ist für mich. Das ist der Ort, an dem die Seele des Menschen niemals stirbt."[4]
Howlin' Wolf war ferner neben Sonny Boy Williamson II., Little Walter und eben auch Muddy Waters einer der erfolgreichsten Musiker-Sänger des Chicago Blues, insbesondere für das Label Chess Records. Viele seiner Songs waren viel gespielte Hit-Singles (sehr oft komponiert von Willie Dixon, wie etwa Spoonful oder Evil). Viele Künstler und Bands haben - auch außerhalb des Blues - Songs von Howlin' Wolf gecovert, darunter The Rolling Stones oder Cream.
Geboren wurde Chester Arthur Burnett in White Station, seine Vornamen erhielt er nach einem amerikanischen Präsidenten des 19. Jahrhunderts.[5] Nachdem sich seine Eltern getrennt hatten, übergab ihn seine Mutter an seinen Onkel Will, über den ein Jugendfreund sagte, er sei der gemeinste Mensch zwischen hier und der Hölle gewesen.[6] Im Alter von dreizehn Jahren verließ er seinen Heimatort und ging zu seinem Vater in das Delta, der auf der Young and Morrow Plantage in der Nähe von Ruleville lebte. Bereits als Kind erhielt er den Spitznamen „Howlin’ Wolf“. Sein Vorbild war Charley Patton, von dem er ersten Gitarrenunterricht erhielt, da Patton auf der nahen Dockerey Plantage arbeitete. Den ersten Mundharmonikaunterricht erhielt er von Sonny Boy Williamson II., der seiner Stiefschwester den Hof machte.[6] Nachdem er aus der Armee entlassen wurde, ging er nach West Memphis, Arkansas. 1951 nahm er für Sam Phillips seine erste Platte auf, die sofort ein Hit wurde. Sie erreichte Platz 10 der Billboard Rhythm & Blues-Charts. Nachdem sein Plattenvertrag 1953 an Chess Records überging, zog er nach Chicago, wo er sein restliches Leben verbrachte. Er spielte unter anderem mit Willie Johnson, Hubert Sumlin und Willie Dixon.
Letztgenannter schrieb einen beträchtlichen Teil der größten Hits Howlin’ Wolfs, darunter Evil, Spoonful, I Ain’t Superstitious und Back Door Man. Einen Achtungserfolg erzielte Burnett mit seiner Komposition Smokestack Lightnin’. Bekannte Bands wie die Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream und die Doors hatten Erfolge mit Stücken von Howlin’ Wolf. Eines der herausragendsten Merkmale der Musik Howlin’ Wolfs war seine kraftvolle, oft derb wirkende Reibeisenstimme, die vielen weißen Rocksängern wie Jim Morrison, dem frühen Rod Stewart und später auch Tom Waits als Vorbild diente.
Die Blueskarriere des Howlin’ Wolf begann im Alter von 18 Jahren, als er 1928 von seinem Vater eine Gitarre geschenkt bekam und, inspiriert von Charley Patton, begann Blues zu spielen. 1935 zog er mit seinem Schwager Sonny Boy Williamson II. und Robert Lockwood Jr. durch die Südstaaten und trat in Jukebox-Kneipen auf. 1948 gründete er seine erste Bluesband gemeinsam mit Little Junior Parker, James Cotton, Matt Murphy, Pat Hare und Willie Johnson.
Die ersten Aufnahmen von Howlin’ Wolf stammen aus dem Jahr 1951. Im Sun Records Studio wurden mit dem 41-Jährigen die Titel How Many More Years und Moanin’ at Midnight aufgenommen, mit Ike Turner am Klavier und Willie Johnson an der Gitarre.[7]
Nachdem der Sänger nach Chicago gegangen war, wurde er einer der populärsten Künstler auf dem Label Chess Records. Bei Chess Records war Muddy Waters ebenfalls unter Vertrag und es entstand eine Rivalität, wer der bessere Bluesmusiker sei. Nach Aussagen von Musikern, die für beide gespielt hatten, war Howlin Wolf der bessere Bandleader, da er pünktlich zahlte und für sie eine Arbeitslosenversicherung und Sozialversicherung zahlte.[8] Ab 1956 nahm er regelmäßig Stücke auf. Zwei seiner größten Hits, Wang Dang Doodle und Back Door Man entstanden 1960. 1961 folgten Little Red Rooster und I Ain’t Superstitious. 1964 reiste Howlin’ Wolf erstmals nach Europa zum American Folk and Blues Festival.
Eines der bekanntesten Alben entstand 1967 gemeinsam mit den Blues-Musikern Muddy Waters und Bo Diddley: The Super Super Blues Band. Drei Jahre später, 1970 entstanden die London Sessions gemeinsam mit Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman und Charlie Watts. Das letzte Album The Back Door Wolf entstand 1973.
Letzter Auftritt und Tod
Seinen letzten Auftritt hatte er im November 1975 im Chicago Amphitheater, zusammen mit B.B. King, Albert King, O. V. Wright und Luther Allison. Auf dem sehr intensivem Konzert kroch er während des Stückes "Crawling King Snake" über die Bühne, am Ende erhielt er über 5 Minuten stehende Ovationen. Hinter der Bühne wartete ein mehrköpfiges Ärzteteam, um ihn nach dem Auftritt zu versorgen. Zwei Monate später starb er bei einer Herzoperation am 10. Januar 1976 in Chicago. Howlin' Wolf liegt neben seiner Frau Lillie auf dem Oak Ridge Cemetery, Hillside, Cook County, Illinois begraben. Jedes Jahr findet zur Erinnerung an ihn in West Point, Mississippi jährlich das The Howlin' Wolf Memorial Blues Festival statt.
In dem Film Cadillac Records wurde Howlin’ Wolf von dem britischen Schauspieler Eamonn Walker dargestellt.
Auszeichnungen
1980 wurde Howlin’ Wolf in die Blues Hall of Fame und 1991 in die Rock and Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen. 2004 setzte ihn das Rolling Stone Magazin auf #51 der Hundert wichtigsten Künstler aller Zeiten.[9] 2010 wurde Wolfs Song "Spoonful" in die Blues Hall of Fame der Blues Foundation aufgenommen. „This is Howlin' Wolfs New Album And He Doesn't Like It“ wurde in die Wireliste The Wire's "100 Records That Set The World On Fire (While No One Was Listening)" aufgenommen.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howlin%E2%80%99_Wolf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVIA1n5ng4Y
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), known as Howlin' Wolf, was an African American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, from Mississippi. With a booming voice and looming physical presence, he is one of the best-known Chicago blues artists. Musician and critic Cub Koda noted, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits";[1] producer Sam Phillips added "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies'".[2] Several of his songs, such as "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Back Door Man", "Killing Floor" and "Spoonful" have become blues and blues rock standards. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 51 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[3] T-Bone Burnett considers Howlin' Wolf to be the father of rock and roll, noting that his blend of blues with the electric guitar, particularly in "How Many More Years" (1951), created a sound that would later influence Elvis Presley and other rock musicians.[4]
Early life
Howlin' Wolf was born on June 10, 1910 in White Station, Mississippi, near West Point. He was named Chester Arthur Burnett, after Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President of the United States. His physique garnered him the nicknames of Big Foot Chester and Bull Cow as a young man: he was 6 feet 3 inches (191 cm) tall and often weighed close to 275 pounds (125 kg). He explained the origin of the name Howlin' Wolf: "I got that from my grandfather", who would often tell him stories about the wolves in that part of the country and warn him that if he misbehaved then the "howling wolves would get him". Paul Oliver wrote that Burnett once claimed to have been given his nickname by his idol Jimmie Rodgers.[5]
According to the documentary film The Howlin' Wolf Story, Burnett's parents broke up when he was young. His very religious mother, Gertrude, threw him out of the house while he was a child for refusing to work around the farm; he then moved in with his uncle, Will Young, who treated him badly. When he was 13, he ran away and claimed to have walked 85 miles (137 km) barefoot to join his father, where he finally found a happy home within his father's large family. During the peak of his success, he returned from Chicago to see his mother in his home town and was driven to tears when she rebuffed him: she refused to take money offered by him, saying it was from his playing of the "Devil's music".
Musical career
1930s and 1940s
In 1930, Burnett met Charlie Patton, the most popular bluesman in the Mississippi Delta at the time. He would listen to Patton play nightly from outside a nearby juke joint. There he remembered Patton playing "Pony Blues", "High Water Everywhere", "A Spoonful Blues", and "Banty Rooster Blues". The two became acquainted and soon Patton was teaching him guitar. Burnett recalled that: "The first piece I ever played in my life was ... a tune about hook up my pony and saddle up my black mare" (Patton's "Pony Blues").[6] He also learned about showmanship from Patton: "When he played his guitar, he would turn it over backwards and forwards, and throw it around over his shoulders, between his legs, throw it up in the sky".[6] Burnett could perform the guitar tricks he learned from Patton for the rest of his life. He played with Patton often in small Delta communities.[7]
Burnett was influenced by other popular blues performers of the time including the Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, Blind Blake, and Tommy Johnson. Two of the earliest songs he mastered were Jefferson's "Match Box Blues" and Leroy Carr's "How Long, How Long Blues". Country singer Jimmie Rodgers was also an influence. He tried to emulate Rodgers' "blue yodel", but found that his efforts sounded more like a growl or a howl: "I couldn't do no yodelin', so I turned to howlin'. And it's done me just fine". [8] His harmonica playing was modeled after that of Sonny Boy Williamson II, who had taught him how to play when Burnett moved to Parkin, Arkansas, in 1933.
During the 1930s, Burnett performed in the South as a solo performer and with a number of blues musicians, including Floyd Jones, Johnny Shines, Honeyboy Edwards, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Johnson, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Willie Brown, Son House and Willie Johnson. By the end of the decade, he was a fixture in clubs with a harmonica and a very early electric guitar. On April 9, 1941, he was inducted into the U.S. Army and was stationed at several bases around the country. Finding it difficult to adjust to military life, Burnett was discharged on November 3, 1943. He returned to his family, who had recently moved near to West Memphis, Arkansas, and helped with the farming while also performing as he had done in the 1930s with Floyd Jones and others. In 1948 he formed a band which included guitarists Willie Johnson and Matt "Guitar" Murphy, harmonica player Junior Parker, a pianist remembered only as "Destruction" and drummer Willie Steele. Radio station KWEM in West Memphis began broadcasting his live performances and he occasionally sat in with Williamson on KFFA in Helena.
1950s
In 1951, Sam Phillips recorded several songs by Howlin' Wolf at his Memphis Recording Service.[9] He quickly became a local celebrity and began working with a band that included guitarists Willie Johnson and Pat Hare. His first record singles were issued by two different record companies in 1951: "How Many More Years" with "Moaning at Midnight" by Chess Records and "Riding in the Moonlight" backed with "Moaning at Midnight" by RPM Records. Later, Leonard Chess was able to secure his contract and Howlin' Wolf relocated to Chicago in 1952.[9] There he assembled a new band and recruited Chicagoan Jody Williams from Memphis Slim's band as his first guitarist. Within a year he enticed guitarist Hubert Sumlin to leave Memphis and join him in Chicago; Sumlin's understated solos perfectly complemented Burnett's huge voice and surprisingly subtle phrasing. The line-up of the Howlin' Wolf band changed regularly over the years, employing many different guitarists both on recordings and in live performance including Willie Johnson, Jody Williams, Lee Cooper, L.D. McGhee, Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers, his brother Little Smokey Smothers, Jimmy Rogers, Freddie Robinson, and Buddy Guy among others. Burnett was able to attract some of the best musicians available due to his policy, somewhat unique among bandleaders, of paying his musicians well and on time, withholding unemployment insurance and even Social Security contributions.[10] With the exception of a couple of brief absences in the late 1950s, Sumlin remained a member of the band for the rest of Howlin' Wolf's career, and is the guitarist most often associated with the Chicago Howlin' Wolf sound.
In the 1950s, Howlin' Wolf had five songs appear on the Billboard national R&B charts: "Moanin' at Midnight", "How Many More Years", "Who Will Be Next", "Smokestack Lightning", and "I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)".[11] In 1959, his first LP, Moanin' in the Moonlight was released, although per standard practice in that era, it was merely a collection of previously released singles.
1960s and 1970s
In the early 1960s, Howlin' Wolf recorded several songs that became his most famous despite receiving no radio play. These include "Wang Dang Doodle", "Back Door Man", "Spoonful", "The Red Rooster" (later known as "Little Red Rooster"), "I Ain't Superstitious", "Goin' Down Slow", and "Killing Floor". Many of these songs were written by bassist and Chess arranger Willie Dixon; later, several found their way into the repertoires of British and American rock groups, who further popularized them. In 1962, his second compilation album, titled Howlin' Wolf (often called "The Rocking Chair album"), was released.
During the counterculture movement in the late 1960s, black blues musicians suddenly found a new audience among white youths and Howlin' Wolf was among the first to capitalize on it. He toured Europe in 1964 as part of the American Folk Blues Festival tour produced by German promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau. In 1965, he appeared on the popular music variety television program Shindig! at the insistence of the Rolling Stones, whose recording of "Little Red Rooster" reached number one in the UK in 1964. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Howlin' Wolf recorded albums with others, including The Super Super Blues Band with Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters, The Howlin' Wolf Album with session musicians, and The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, accompanied by British rock musicians Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and others. His last album for Chess was 1973's The Back Door Wolf.
The Howlin' Wolf Album had a somewhat controversial album cover which contained a solid white background with large black letters proclaiming "This is Howlin' Wolf's new album. He doesn't like it. He didn't like his guitar at first either." This may have contributed to poor sales of the LP and Chess co-founder Leonard Chess acknowledged that the cover was a poor idea, saying "I guess negativity isn't a good way to sell records. Who wants to hear that a musician doesn't like his own music?"
The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions proved more successful than its predecessor and, like rival bluesman Muddy Waters's album Electric Mud, proved more successful with British audiences than America's.
Personal life
Unlike many other blues musicians who had left an impoverished childhood to begin a musical career, Chester Burnett was always financially successful. Having already achieved a measure of success in Memphis, he described himself as "the onliest one to drive himself up from the Delta" to Chicago, which he did, in his own car on the Blues Highway and with $4000 in his pocket, a rare distinction for a black blues man of the time. In his early career, this was the result of his musical popularity and his ability to avoid the pitfalls of alcohol, gambling and the various dangers inherent in what are vaguely described as "loose women," to which so many of his peers succumbed. Although functionally illiterate into his 40s, Burnett eventually returned to school, first to earn a General Educational Development (GED) diploma, and later to study accounting and other business courses aimed to help his business career.
Burnett met his future wife, Lillie, when she attended one of his performances in a Chicago club. She and her family were urban and educated, and not involved in what was generally seen as the unsavory world of blues musicians. Nonetheless, immediately attracted when he saw her in the audience as Burnett says he was, he pursued her and won her over. According to those who knew them, the couple remained deeply in love until his death. Together they raised Bettye and Barbara, Lillie's two daughters from an earlier relationship.
After he married Lillie, who was able to manage his professional finances, Burnett was so financially successful that he was able to offer band members not only a decent salary, but benefits such as health insurance; this in turn enabled him to hire his pick of the available musicians, and keep his band one of the best around. According to his daughters, he was never financially extravagant, for instance driving a Pontiac station wagon rather than a more expensive and flashy car.
Burnett's health began declining in the late 1960s. He experienced several heart attacks and suffered bruised kidneys in a 1970 car accident. Concerned for his health, bandleader Eddie Shaw limited him to a mere six songs per concert.
Death
At the start of 1976, Burnett checked into the Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines, Illinois for kidney surgery, but died of complications from the procedure on January 10, 1976, and was buried in Oakridge Cemetery, outside of Chicago, in a plot in Section 18, on the east side of the road. His gravestone has an image of a guitar and harmonica etched into it.[12]
Selective awards and recognitions
Grammy Hall of Fame
A recording of Howlin' Wolf was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance".[13]
Howlin' Wolf Grammy Award History
Year Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1956 Smokestack Lightning Blues (Single) Chess 1999
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed three songs by Howlin' Wolf in the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.[14]
Year Recorded Title
1956 Smokestack Lightning
1960 Spoonful
1961 The Red Rooster
The Blues Foundation Awards
Howlin' Wolf: Blues Music Awards[15]
Year Category Title Result
2004 Historical Blues Album of the Year The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions Nominated
1995 Reissue Album of the Year Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog Nominated
1992 Vintage or Reissue Blues Album—US or Foreign The Chess Box—Howlin' Wolf Winner
1990 Vintage/Reissue (Foreign) Memphis Days Nominated
1989 Vintage/Reissue Album (US) Cadillac Daddy Nominated
1988 Vintage/Reissue Album (Foreign) Killing Floor: Masterworks Vol. 5 Winner
1987 Vintage/Reissue Album (US) Moanin' in the Moonlight Winner
1981 Vintage or Reissue Album (Foreign) More Real Folk Blues Nominated
Honors and Inductions
On September 17, 1994, the US Post Office issued a Howlin' Wolf 29-cent commemorative postage stamp.
Howlin' Wolf Inductions
Year Category Result Notes
2003 Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame Inducted
1991 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducted Early Influences
1980 Blues Hall of Fame Inducted
Howlin' Wolf Foundation
The Howlin' Wolf Foundation, a non-profit corporation organized under American tax code section 501(c)(3), has been established by Bettye Kelly to preserve and extend Howlin' Wolf's legacy. The foundation mission and goals include the preservation of the blues music genre, scholarships for students to participate in music programs, and support for blues musicians and blues programs.
Early life
Howlin' Wolf was born on June 10, 1910 in White Station, Mississippi, near West Point. He was named Chester Arthur Burnett, after Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President of the United States. His physique garnered him the nicknames of Big Foot Chester and Bull Cow as a young man: he was 6 feet 3 inches (191 cm) tall and often weighed close to 275 pounds (125 kg). He explained the origin of the name Howlin' Wolf: "I got that from my grandfather", who would often tell him stories about the wolves in that part of the country and warn him that if he misbehaved then the "howling wolves would get him". Paul Oliver wrote that Burnett once claimed to have been given his nickname by his idol Jimmie Rodgers.[5]
According to the documentary film The Howlin' Wolf Story, Burnett's parents broke up when he was young. His very religious mother, Gertrude, threw him out of the house while he was a child for refusing to work around the farm; he then moved in with his uncle, Will Young, who treated him badly. When he was 13, he ran away and claimed to have walked 85 miles (137 km) barefoot to join his father, where he finally found a happy home within his father's large family. During the peak of his success, he returned from Chicago to see his mother in his home town and was driven to tears when she rebuffed him: she refused to take money offered by him, saying it was from his playing of the "Devil's music".
Musical career
1930s and 1940s
In 1930, Burnett met Charlie Patton, the most popular bluesman in the Mississippi Delta at the time. He would listen to Patton play nightly from outside a nearby juke joint. There he remembered Patton playing "Pony Blues", "High Water Everywhere", "A Spoonful Blues", and "Banty Rooster Blues". The two became acquainted and soon Patton was teaching him guitar. Burnett recalled that: "The first piece I ever played in my life was ... a tune about hook up my pony and saddle up my black mare" (Patton's "Pony Blues").[6] He also learned about showmanship from Patton: "When he played his guitar, he would turn it over backwards and forwards, and throw it around over his shoulders, between his legs, throw it up in the sky".[6] Burnett could perform the guitar tricks he learned from Patton for the rest of his life. He played with Patton often in small Delta communities.[7]
Burnett was influenced by other popular blues performers of the time including the Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, Blind Blake, and Tommy Johnson. Two of the earliest songs he mastered were Jefferson's "Match Box Blues" and Leroy Carr's "How Long, How Long Blues". Country singer Jimmie Rodgers was also an influence. He tried to emulate Rodgers' "blue yodel", but found that his efforts sounded more like a growl or a howl: "I couldn't do no yodelin', so I turned to howlin'. And it's done me just fine". [8] His harmonica playing was modeled after that of Sonny Boy Williamson II, who had taught him how to play when Burnett moved to Parkin, Arkansas, in 1933.
During the 1930s, Burnett performed in the South as a solo performer and with a number of blues musicians, including Floyd Jones, Johnny Shines, Honeyboy Edwards, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Johnson, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Willie Brown, Son House and Willie Johnson. By the end of the decade, he was a fixture in clubs with a harmonica and a very early electric guitar. On April 9, 1941, he was inducted into the U.S. Army and was stationed at several bases around the country. Finding it difficult to adjust to military life, Burnett was discharged on November 3, 1943. He returned to his family, who had recently moved near to West Memphis, Arkansas, and helped with the farming while also performing as he had done in the 1930s with Floyd Jones and others. In 1948 he formed a band which included guitarists Willie Johnson and Matt "Guitar" Murphy, harmonica player Junior Parker, a pianist remembered only as "Destruction" and drummer Willie Steele. Radio station KWEM in West Memphis began broadcasting his live performances and he occasionally sat in with Williamson on KFFA in Helena.
1950s
In 1951, Sam Phillips recorded several songs by Howlin' Wolf at his Memphis Recording Service.[9] He quickly became a local celebrity and began working with a band that included guitarists Willie Johnson and Pat Hare. His first record singles were issued by two different record companies in 1951: "How Many More Years" with "Moaning at Midnight" by Chess Records and "Riding in the Moonlight" backed with "Moaning at Midnight" by RPM Records. Later, Leonard Chess was able to secure his contract and Howlin' Wolf relocated to Chicago in 1952.[9] There he assembled a new band and recruited Chicagoan Jody Williams from Memphis Slim's band as his first guitarist. Within a year he enticed guitarist Hubert Sumlin to leave Memphis and join him in Chicago; Sumlin's understated solos perfectly complemented Burnett's huge voice and surprisingly subtle phrasing. The line-up of the Howlin' Wolf band changed regularly over the years, employing many different guitarists both on recordings and in live performance including Willie Johnson, Jody Williams, Lee Cooper, L.D. McGhee, Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers, his brother Little Smokey Smothers, Jimmy Rogers, Freddie Robinson, and Buddy Guy among others. Burnett was able to attract some of the best musicians available due to his policy, somewhat unique among bandleaders, of paying his musicians well and on time, withholding unemployment insurance and even Social Security contributions.[10] With the exception of a couple of brief absences in the late 1950s, Sumlin remained a member of the band for the rest of Howlin' Wolf's career, and is the guitarist most often associated with the Chicago Howlin' Wolf sound.
In the 1950s, Howlin' Wolf had five songs appear on the Billboard national R&B charts: "Moanin' at Midnight", "How Many More Years", "Who Will Be Next", "Smokestack Lightning", and "I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)".[11] In 1959, his first LP, Moanin' in the Moonlight was released, although per standard practice in that era, it was merely a collection of previously released singles.
1960s and 1970s
In the early 1960s, Howlin' Wolf recorded several songs that became his most famous despite receiving no radio play. These include "Wang Dang Doodle", "Back Door Man", "Spoonful", "The Red Rooster" (later known as "Little Red Rooster"), "I Ain't Superstitious", "Goin' Down Slow", and "Killing Floor". Many of these songs were written by bassist and Chess arranger Willie Dixon; later, several found their way into the repertoires of British and American rock groups, who further popularized them. In 1962, his second compilation album, titled Howlin' Wolf (often called "The Rocking Chair album"), was released.
During the counterculture movement in the late 1960s, black blues musicians suddenly found a new audience among white youths and Howlin' Wolf was among the first to capitalize on it. He toured Europe in 1964 as part of the American Folk Blues Festival tour produced by German promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau. In 1965, he appeared on the popular music variety television program Shindig! at the insistence of the Rolling Stones, whose recording of "Little Red Rooster" reached number one in the UK in 1964. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Howlin' Wolf recorded albums with others, including The Super Super Blues Band with Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters, The Howlin' Wolf Album with session musicians, and The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, accompanied by British rock musicians Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and others. His last album for Chess was 1973's The Back Door Wolf.
The Howlin' Wolf Album had a somewhat controversial album cover which contained a solid white background with large black letters proclaiming "This is Howlin' Wolf's new album. He doesn't like it. He didn't like his guitar at first either." This may have contributed to poor sales of the LP and Chess co-founder Leonard Chess acknowledged that the cover was a poor idea, saying "I guess negativity isn't a good way to sell records. Who wants to hear that a musician doesn't like his own music?"
The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions proved more successful than its predecessor and, like rival bluesman Muddy Waters's album Electric Mud, proved more successful with British audiences than America's.
Personal life
Unlike many other blues musicians who had left an impoverished childhood to begin a musical career, Chester Burnett was always financially successful. Having already achieved a measure of success in Memphis, he described himself as "the onliest one to drive himself up from the Delta" to Chicago, which he did, in his own car on the Blues Highway and with $4000 in his pocket, a rare distinction for a black blues man of the time. In his early career, this was the result of his musical popularity and his ability to avoid the pitfalls of alcohol, gambling and the various dangers inherent in what are vaguely described as "loose women," to which so many of his peers succumbed. Although functionally illiterate into his 40s, Burnett eventually returned to school, first to earn a General Educational Development (GED) diploma, and later to study accounting and other business courses aimed to help his business career.
Burnett met his future wife, Lillie, when she attended one of his performances in a Chicago club. She and her family were urban and educated, and not involved in what was generally seen as the unsavory world of blues musicians. Nonetheless, immediately attracted when he saw her in the audience as Burnett says he was, he pursued her and won her over. According to those who knew them, the couple remained deeply in love until his death. Together they raised Bettye and Barbara, Lillie's two daughters from an earlier relationship.
After he married Lillie, who was able to manage his professional finances, Burnett was so financially successful that he was able to offer band members not only a decent salary, but benefits such as health insurance; this in turn enabled him to hire his pick of the available musicians, and keep his band one of the best around. According to his daughters, he was never financially extravagant, for instance driving a Pontiac station wagon rather than a more expensive and flashy car.
Burnett's health began declining in the late 1960s. He experienced several heart attacks and suffered bruised kidneys in a 1970 car accident. Concerned for his health, bandleader Eddie Shaw limited him to a mere six songs per concert.
Death
At the start of 1976, Burnett checked into the Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines, Illinois for kidney surgery, but died of complications from the procedure on January 10, 1976, and was buried in Oakridge Cemetery, outside of Chicago, in a plot in Section 18, on the east side of the road. His gravestone has an image of a guitar and harmonica etched into it.[12]
Selective awards and recognitions
Grammy Hall of Fame
A recording of Howlin' Wolf was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance".[13]
Howlin' Wolf Grammy Award History
Year Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1956 Smokestack Lightning Blues (Single) Chess 1999
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed three songs by Howlin' Wolf in the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.[14]
Year Recorded Title
1956 Smokestack Lightning
1960 Spoonful
1961 The Red Rooster
The Blues Foundation Awards
Howlin' Wolf: Blues Music Awards[15]
Year Category Title Result
2004 Historical Blues Album of the Year The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions Nominated
1995 Reissue Album of the Year Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog Nominated
1992 Vintage or Reissue Blues Album—US or Foreign The Chess Box—Howlin' Wolf Winner
1990 Vintage/Reissue (Foreign) Memphis Days Nominated
1989 Vintage/Reissue Album (US) Cadillac Daddy Nominated
1988 Vintage/Reissue Album (Foreign) Killing Floor: Masterworks Vol. 5 Winner
1987 Vintage/Reissue Album (US) Moanin' in the Moonlight Winner
1981 Vintage or Reissue Album (Foreign) More Real Folk Blues Nominated
Honors and Inductions
On September 17, 1994, the US Post Office issued a Howlin' Wolf 29-cent commemorative postage stamp.
Howlin' Wolf Inductions
Year Category Result Notes
2003 Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame Inducted
1991 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducted Early Influences
1980 Blues Hall of Fame Inducted
Howlin' Wolf Foundation
The Howlin' Wolf Foundation, a non-profit corporation organized under American tax code section 501(c)(3), has been established by Bettye Kelly to preserve and extend Howlin' Wolf's legacy. The foundation mission and goals include the preservation of the blues music genre, scholarships for students to participate in music programs, and support for blues musicians and blues programs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVIA1n5ng4Y
Howlin Wolf Smokestack Lightning - Live (1964)
Harry "Cuby" Muskee *10.06.1941
Harry "Cuby" Muskee (10 June 1941 – 26 September 2011) was the singer of the blues band Cuby + Blizzards, which he co-founded with Eelco Gelling. Muskee was born in Assen, and died in Rolde aged 70.Biography
Muskee was born in the Wilhelmina Hospital in Assen. Early on, he lived with his mother at his grandmother's place, because his father was captured and transported to Germany. Only after the war – when he was four years old – he saw his father for the first time. The family moved to Rotterdam, but returned to Assen after two years. His mother suffered from multiple sclerosis and could not properly care for her child. Because his father, a fire chief, was mostly away from home, his grandmother largely took care of Muskee.
At the age of ten Muskee became a member of the soccer club Achilles 1894 and at fifteen he went for his first guitar lessons. At high school he came into contact with jazz and Dixieland music. Together with the brothers Henk and Jaap Hilbrandie he founded the band The Mixtures. From this band emerged later on the 'Old Fashioned Jazz Group'. This band mostly played at school dances in Assen.
Through listening to the American Forces Network radio station – for U.S. soldiers stationed in Germany – Muskee came into contact with blues music. When he discovered the album Live at Newport by John Lee Hooker, he decided that he also wanted to make this kind of music. In 1961, when Muskee was 20 years old, his mother died, and a year later his grandmother died. Shortly afterwards, Muskee broke through with The Blizzards.
After the breakup of Cuby + Blizzards – in 1972 – he toured around with formations like Red White 'n Blue, the Harry Muskee Band, the Muskee Gang and Muskee. Ultimately, the original name Cuby + Blizzards proved to be the most catchy and under this name, assisted by the Groningen guitarist Erwin Java, Muskee toured for many years around the world. In addition, he presented music programs on Radio Drenthe. For the same channel, he made a study tour through the southern states of the United States in search of the roots of the blues. A statue of Harry Muskee was placed in Grolloo, in 1997.
Muskee died in Rolde on 26 September 2011 of cancer.
Window of my eyes - Cuby & The Blizzards (Harry Muskee)
Fabian Brugger *10.06.1986
Aufgewachsen ist Fabian mit Musik. Seit seiner frühesten Kindheit wurde er mit dem Sound von Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top, John Lee Hooker, Kool & The Gang beschallt.
Mit 10 Jahren lernte Fabian Schlagzeug und tingelte anfangs im zarten Alter von 14 mit einer Oldie Band durch Kneipen, Clubs und kleinere Festivals.
Das brachte ihm die erste Bühnenerfahrung und machte ihn süchtig nach mehr!
Anschließend gründete er eine Rock-Coverband namens „MOP“ und fing an sich nebenbei in die Gitare zu verlieben . Zum Glück gab es im Elternhaus ein alte Fernandes Telecaster aus den 80ern, die darauf wartete endlich gespielt zu werden. Somit war die Grundlage geschafen. Fabian spielte das erste Mal live Gitarre in seiner alten Schulband und fühlte sich damit wohl.
Fleißig war er und übte Riffs von Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker und hing in den Pubs und Live Clubs in Gießen, Wetzlar und Marburg herum und saugte alles an Blues und Classic Rock Musik auf, was es nur gab. Mit seiner Liebe zum Blues und das richtige Feeling für Musik fiel es Fabian leicht die Musik von Stevie Ray Vaughan zu verstehen und zu verinnerlichen. Das war es, was er machen wollte. Die gleiche Power, Dynamik und das richtige Feeling mit der Gitarre herüberzubringen.
Nach einigen Projekten wie einer Top40 Coverband als Leadgitarrist und einer Rock Coverband war die Zeit reif endlich den Blues aus ihm heraus fließen zu lassen. So gründete Fabian in 2009 die Band Electrified Soul und lebt seine Musik voll aus, was die Zuschauer bei jedem Konzert zu spüren bekommen: Ein junger Mann, der seine Gitarre sprechen lässt...
„Nüchtern betrachtet besteht der Blues aus drei Akkorden, die über 12 Takte monoton wiederholt werden und Texte begleiten, die meist von bösen, davon gelaufenen Frauen handeln. Die Einschränkung auf Technik und Texte geht jedoch genauso an der Essenz des Blues vorbei wie Elton Johns Behauptung, Keith Richards sei „ein Affe mit einer Gitarre“. Das Hauptmerkmal liegt also weniger in der Versiertheit als in der Interpretation.“ (Quelle: laut.de)
Diese nüchterne und leicht ironische Betrachtung einer der prägendsten Musikrichtungen der Geschichte können ELECTRIFIED SOUL so nicht hinnehmen. Sie wollen genau solche explosive Musik machen wie Typen namens Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, Jimi Hendrix oder Albert King.
Gesagt getan: Auf eine Zeitungsanzeige fand sich die Band um den virtuosen Gitarristen und Sänger Fabian Brugger zusammen und begann sich ihrer Liebe zum Blues hinzugeben. Wer bislang noch geglaubt hat, dass die Jungs es mit der Musik nicht wirklich ernst meinen und ihr Wunsch zu musizieren entspringe nur einem Mangel an anderen Dingen, den lehren sie eines Besseren.
Bevor sie es sich versehen, stehen ELECTRIFIED SOUL am legendären BRIANZA BLUES FESTIVAL in Monza auf der Bühne und heimsen frech und mit jugendlicher Leichtigkeit den heiß begehrten Award und ersten Preis ein. Somit eröffnen sie auch am zweiten Abend des Festivals, vor Größen wie Robben Ford und Louisiana Red, die Show. Die großen Meister des Blues sind von den Fähigkeiten der Band beeindruckt.
Diese Leichtigkeit und den richtigen Riecher zum Blues hört man ELECTRIFIED SOUL mit jeder Note und jedem Takt an. Man spürt wie die Band es versteht, sich gekonnt mit bekannten Namen zu messen. Man schwelgt in alten Zeiten, wenn man sie live sieht und hört. Ein derart frischer und purer Bluessound mit einer ordentlichen Portion Power, Feeling und Dynamik lässt auf große internationale Namen schließen und kommt jedoch aus den Tiefen des südlichsten Deutschlands.
As a matter of fact, blues only consists of three chords that monotonously repeat themselves over 12 beats and that most of the time get accompanied by texts about bad women who had ran away. The limitation on technic and texts goes past the essence of blues just like Elton John‘s statement, Keith Richards ia a „monkey with a guitar“. So the characteristic feature lays more on the interpretation as on the practice. (Quelle: laut.de)
Electrified Soul aren‘t able to accept this sober and a bit ironic view of one of the most formative music genres in history. They want to make explosive music just as guys named Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, Jimi Hendrix or Joe Bonamassa.
No sooner said than done: After an advertisement had been given up in a newspaper, a band formed itself around the virtuoso guitarist and singer Fabian Brugger and they began to become addicted to the love to blues. It‘s wrong to think that the guys don‘t see the music that serious and that their wish to make music is only a result from not having enough other things to do.
Before they knew it, Electrified Soul were on stage at the legendary BRIANZA BLUES FESTIVAL in Monza. With their cheeky type and their youthful ease, they were able to achieve the much sought-after award and were able to be the opener for the show the next day before big acts as Robben Ford und Louisiana Red. The big masters of blues were impressed of the abilities the band has.
You can hear this ease and the good nose for blues in every note and in each beat of Electrified Soul. You can feel how the band knows to compare itself with well-known acts. You debauch in the old times when you see and hear them play live. Even if such a fresh and pure bluessound with a proper amount of power, feeling and dynamics lets one think about big international acts - it comes from the deepest part of southern Germany.
Fabian Brugger Guitarist for Electrified Soul
I´m Fabian. I'm a blues guitar player from Germany and founder of the Band "Electrified Soul". Well, I startet playing guitar at the age of 14. I didn't have a teacher. I was hanging around in music bars and check out other guitar players how they play and I was listening to a lot of Blues and Rock N Roll stuff like Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top, Gary Moore, Chuck Berry, Albert King and so on... After a short time, I recognized that I get more and more into the guitar and playing that I started playing in my school band guitar. After a soul band, a rock cover band and other projects I thought it was time to fond a blues band. That was the beginning of Electrified Soul. Now, I'm really happy that I can play the Blues and the kind of music I grew up with. For all the gear sluts: I'm a big fan of Stratocasters. But I do also love my Les Paul and ES-335 and my Duesenberg. For amps I use vintage Fender Blackface amps and my Captain M18RP "Fabi signature" amp.
I´m Fabian. I'm a blues guitar player from Germany and founder of the Band "Electrified Soul". Well, I startet playing guitar at the age of 14. I didn't have a teacher. I was hanging around in music bars and check out other guitar players how they play and I was listening to a lot of Blues and Rock N Roll stuff like Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top, Gary Moore, Chuck Berry, Albert King and so on... After a short time, I recognized that I get more and more into the guitar and playing that I started playing in my school band guitar. After a soul band, a rock cover band and other projects I thought it was time to fond a blues band. That was the beginning of Electrified Soul. Now, I'm really happy that I can play the Blues and the kind of music I grew up with. For all the gear sluts: I'm a big fan of Stratocasters. But I do also love my Les Paul and ES-335 and my Duesenberg. For amps I use vintage Fender Blackface amps and my Captain M18RP "Fabi signature" amp.
Electrified Soul Live at Blues Festival Basel 2016
Jason Barwick *10.06.1989
Jason Barwick, links
The Brew ist eine britische Bluesrock-Band.
Geschichte
Die Band besteht aus dem Bassisten Tim Smith, seinem Sohn Kurtis Smith am Schlagzeug und dem Gitarristen Jason Barwick. Anfänglich steuerte Tim Smith den Gesang bei, ab 2008 übernahm das zunehmend Barwick. Das Trio aus dem nordostenglischen Grimsby spielt etwa seit 2005 zusammen, als die beiden jüngeren Mitglieder noch Teenager waren[1]. Bereits 2006 veröffentlichten sie ein Debütalbum, das wie die Band The Brew hieß. Damit und mit dem zweiten Album The Joker zwei Jahre später erregten sie europaweit Aufmerksamkeit[2].
Vor allem gründete sich ihr Erfolg aber auf ihre Livevorstellungen. Bei der Rock'n' Blues Custom Show 2006 in Derbyshire wurden sie nach einem Auftritt gleich für einen zweiten Auftritt am Folgetag auf die Hauptbühne geholt und für das Jahr darauf erneut verpflichtet. Vom Magazin It's Only Rock'n' Roll (dem Magazin des Rolling-Stones-Fanclubs) wurden sie zur besten Band 2006/07 gewählt. Beim Maasboulevard Festival in Rotterdam waren sie Headliner und traten 2007/08 ebenfalls zwei Jahre in Folge auf[3]. Von Spanien bis Polen gaben sie Konzerte und waren auf Rockfestivals in ganz Europa vertreten. Ein weiterer Höhepunkt war der für das deutsche Fernsehen aufgezeichnete Auftritt im WDR-Rockpalast im Juli 2009[2].
Ihr 2010er Album A Million Dead Stars erschien beim deutschen Label Jazzhaus Records und wurde von Chris West produziert, der schon mit The Verve, Status Quo und Uriah Heep zusammengearbeitet hatte.
The-Brew is a British Rock band consisting of Tim Smith (bass), Kurtis Smith (drums) and Jason Barwick (guitar, vocals). They were voted "best band" 2006/7 by "its only Rock & Roll" magazine (the magazine of the rolling stones fanclub [1]). The band was described by rock critic Michael Arens as "earthy, fertile, and sometimes wonderfully grainy" and creating "flawless rock" with a "touch of Psychedelic,"[1] and described by RockTimes critic Joachim 'Joe' Brookes as a "bridge between the sixties and seventies".[2]
Biography
Though often named a modern blues band, The Brew have evolved far beyond the restrictions of blues to become one of Europe's most prominent rock bands. Hailing from Grimsby (UK) the band draws inspiration from a wide range of influences, from the experimental psychedelic tunes of the '60s, to more contemporary artists on the rock scene.
The band's extensive European tours have resulted in a massive underground following, which is just beginning to break into the mainstream as their fan-base rapidly increases. Appearances across national television and radio stations in Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands have confirmed the band as one of Britain’s better known musical exports.
In early July 2007, The Brew headlined the Maasboulevard Festival in Schiedam, the Netherlands and were invited back to perform in 2008. They were described there at the end of the gig by their Dutch hosts as ‘The father, the son and holy spirit!’ for their sensational performance. In 2006, The Brew were such a success at The Rock ‘n’ Blues Custom Show at Pentrich, Derbyshire, they were asked not only to do a second gig by the organisers on the following day on the Centre Stage, something not heard of in this events 25-year history, they were then booked to return in 2007. Pentrich, Rock ’n’ Blues regularly attracts some 45,000 people every year and Saturday, July 28, 2007, The Brew headlined on the Cross Piston Stage and were an outstanding success, taking a double encore from the audience. The Brew, in August 2007, performed on The British Stage at the UK’s biggest R’n’B festival in Colne, and once again on the day were the only band to receive double encores. In 2008 they headlined the festival on the Sunday, on the British stage. They have played alongside some of the world's leading Rock bands past and present and continue to tour extensively across the world.
Recently The Brew completed a 2hour Live Set for the national Belgium Radio Station, Classic 21 and were filmed by the national television France 2, for their performance at this year's Festival in France, Le Blues Autour Du Zinc. They have performed at the National Classic 21 Radio Station, RTBF Showcase Festival in Brussels,one Belgium’s Premier festivals. Reaching number two in the USA iTunes Blues Download Chart in August 2007 provided even more evidence that the world is ready for the band. Recently, the latest album, "The Joker" reached number 16 in the Popular Album Charts in Poland and number 15 in The blues Album Charts in the same country.
In 2009 The Brew received national recognition throughout Germany when their performance at Rockpalast Festival was broadcast across the country and beyond, on WDR TV and they performed again on Rockpalast in 2012.
A MILLION DEAD STARS
In 2009 The Brew returned to the recording studio and the result, A Million Dead Stars, was released January 2010. The album was produced by legendary British producer Chris West and released by Jazzhaus Records. Since its release the trio have toured the breadth of Europe extensively and headlined dozens of festivals across the continent.
Band lineup
The Brew
Jason Barwick - Lead guitar, vocals (born in 1989)
Tim Smith - Bass guitar, vocals. Father of Kurtis.
Kurtis Smith - Drums, vocals (born in 1988)
Biography
Though often named a modern blues band, The Brew have evolved far beyond the restrictions of blues to become one of Europe's most prominent rock bands. Hailing from Grimsby (UK) the band draws inspiration from a wide range of influences, from the experimental psychedelic tunes of the '60s, to more contemporary artists on the rock scene.
The band's extensive European tours have resulted in a massive underground following, which is just beginning to break into the mainstream as their fan-base rapidly increases. Appearances across national television and radio stations in Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands have confirmed the band as one of Britain’s better known musical exports.
In early July 2007, The Brew headlined the Maasboulevard Festival in Schiedam, the Netherlands and were invited back to perform in 2008. They were described there at the end of the gig by their Dutch hosts as ‘The father, the son and holy spirit!’ for their sensational performance. In 2006, The Brew were such a success at The Rock ‘n’ Blues Custom Show at Pentrich, Derbyshire, they were asked not only to do a second gig by the organisers on the following day on the Centre Stage, something not heard of in this events 25-year history, they were then booked to return in 2007. Pentrich, Rock ’n’ Blues regularly attracts some 45,000 people every year and Saturday, July 28, 2007, The Brew headlined on the Cross Piston Stage and were an outstanding success, taking a double encore from the audience. The Brew, in August 2007, performed on The British Stage at the UK’s biggest R’n’B festival in Colne, and once again on the day were the only band to receive double encores. In 2008 they headlined the festival on the Sunday, on the British stage. They have played alongside some of the world's leading Rock bands past and present and continue to tour extensively across the world.
Recently The Brew completed a 2hour Live Set for the national Belgium Radio Station, Classic 21 and were filmed by the national television France 2, for their performance at this year's Festival in France, Le Blues Autour Du Zinc. They have performed at the National Classic 21 Radio Station, RTBF Showcase Festival in Brussels,one Belgium’s Premier festivals. Reaching number two in the USA iTunes Blues Download Chart in August 2007 provided even more evidence that the world is ready for the band. Recently, the latest album, "The Joker" reached number 16 in the Popular Album Charts in Poland and number 15 in The blues Album Charts in the same country.
In 2009 The Brew received national recognition throughout Germany when their performance at Rockpalast Festival was broadcast across the country and beyond, on WDR TV and they performed again on Rockpalast in 2012.
A MILLION DEAD STARS
In 2009 The Brew returned to the recording studio and the result, A Million Dead Stars, was released January 2010. The album was produced by legendary British producer Chris West and released by Jazzhaus Records. Since its release the trio have toured the breadth of Europe extensively and headlined dozens of festivals across the continent.
Band lineup
The Brew
Jason Barwick - Lead guitar, vocals (born in 1989)
Tim Smith - Bass guitar, vocals. Father of Kurtis.
Kurtis Smith - Drums, vocals (born in 1988)
The Brew Live At Rockpalast Crossroads Festival, Harmonie, Bonn 03 24 2012
Setlist:
01 Six Dead
02 Sirens Of War
03 Every Gig Has A Neighbour
04 Postcode Hero
05 Reached The Sky
06 Ode To Eugene
07 Master And The Pupeteer
08 The Third Floor
09 Imogen Molly
10 Kam
11 A Smile To Lift The Doubt
12 Piper Of Greed
Band:
Jason Barwick - Vocals, Guitar
Tim Smith - Bass, Backing Vocals
Kurtis Smith - Drums
01 Six Dead
02 Sirens Of War
03 Every Gig Has A Neighbour
04 Postcode Hero
05 Reached The Sky
06 Ode To Eugene
07 Master And The Pupeteer
08 The Third Floor
09 Imogen Molly
10 Kam
11 A Smile To Lift The Doubt
12 Piper Of Greed
Band:
Jason Barwick - Vocals, Guitar
Tim Smith - Bass, Backing Vocals
Kurtis Smith - Drums
The Brew - Kam (live at WDR Rockpalast)
Nick Pentelow *10.06.
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Prolific horn player, you can find him in many albums, especially blues albums. He was born on June 10, 1951 in Guildford, but he soon moved to Birmingham.
At the beginning of his career, he played with a band called Gypsies Kiss, based at Cannon Hill ArtS Centre in Birmingham:
Mark Bristow (guitar)
John Terry (bass)
Steve Bolger (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Terry ? (flugelhorn)
John Ellidge (drums)
Occasionally, Charlie Grima (later in Wizard with Nick) would jam with the band.
Later, Nick and Mark Bristow went to play with a combo called Scratch Band:
Brian Calloway (vocals, harmonica)
Stuart Scott (guitar)
Mark Bristow (guitar)
Noel Tadman (bass)
Richard Jones (bass)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Pete Webb (drums)
Alan Moore (drums)
In 1972, he rejoins Stuart Scott in another band, Pendulum:
Stuart Scott (guitar)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Alan Moore (drums)
+ a vocalist and a keyboardist
In July 1972, he joins genius Roy Wood (just leaving his own creature, ELO) who was to form his next band, Wizzard:
Roy Wood (guitar, vocals)
Rick Price (bass, vocals)
Bill Hunt (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Mike Burney (sax)
Hugh McDowell (cello)
Charlie Grima (drums)
Keith Smart (drums)
They released the album called Wizzard Brew in 1973.
Soon after, Hugh McDowell rejoins ELO again, thus leaving Wizzard:
Roy Wood (guitar, vocals)
Rick Price (bass, vocals)
Bill Hunt (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Mike Burney (sax)
Charlie Grima (drums)
Keith Smart (drums)
Later same year, in November 1973, there is another change in lineup. Bill Hunt leaves:
Roy Wood (guitar, vocals)
Rick Price (bass, vocals)
Bob Brady (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Mike Burney (sax)
Charlie Grima (drums)
Keith Smart (drums)
They released a 2nd album called Eddy & The Falcons.
After a 3rd album, See my baby jive, in February 1975, Roy Wood changes to a different project (The Wizzo Band), and Nick goes to play in Steve Gibbons Band. The lineups were changing all the time, as many friends of Steve Gibbons came to play with them when they were available.
As far as I know, Nick Pentelow recorded 3 albums with Steve Gibbons. Down in the bunker was released in 1978, Saints and sinners in 1979. A new album is released in 1980, with this lineup:
Steve Gibbons (vocals, guitar)
Robbie Blunt (guitar)
Trevor Burton (bass, guitar, vocals)
Bill Paul (sax)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Harry Rix (drums)
The album was called Street parade. There are two different editions, as the German release hasn't the same tracks as the British release.
A big gap here! Help with info, please!!
In 1981, he's a member of the band Juice on the Loose:
Ron Kavana (guitar, vocals)
Alam 'Bam' King (guitar)
Charlie Hart (bass)
Nick Pentelow (tenor sax)
Fran Byrne (drums)
They released a self-titled album with this lineup.
Another big gap again! Help with info, please!!
In April 1990, the lineup for Gary Moore band is:
Gary Moore (guitar, vocals)
Andy Pyle (bass)
Don Airey (keyboards)
Frank Mead (alto sax, harmonica)
Nick Pentelow (tenor sax)
Nick Payn (baritone sax)
Martin Drover (trumpet)
Graham Walker (drums)
For some concerts, they were joined by the late Albert Collins, who appeared as a guest in Gary's blues albums. The tour finished in September 1990.
During 1991 and 1992, he tours as part of the live horn section for the great band Blodwyn Pig:
Mick Abrahams (guitar, vocals)
Jim Leverton (bass)
Dave Lennox (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Gordon Murphy (sax)
Clive Bunker (drums)
Next lineup for Gary Moore Band was in March 1992:
Gary Moore (guitar, vocals)
Andy Pyle (bass)
Tommy Eyre (keyboards)
Martin Drover (trumpet)
Frank Mead (alto sax, harmonica)
Nick Pentelow (tenor sax)
Nick Payn (baritone sax)
Candy MacKenzie (backing vocals)
Carol Thompson (backing vocals)
Graham Walker (drums)
In April 1995, after some adventures with Jack Bruce, Gary Moore resurrects his Midnight Blues Band, with his friends:
Gary Moore (guitar, vocals)
Andy Pyle (bass)
Tommy Eyre (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (tenor sax)
Nick Payn (baritone sax)
Graham Walker (drums)
Gary's next album is a full tribute to Peter Green, including Peter Green's original songs as well as a version that Peter played with Fleetwood Mac, the beautiful 'Need your love so bad'. Its title is Blues for Greeny.
There was also released a live video from the subsequent tour. Called Blues for Greeny live (1996, Warner), it was recorded on April 27, 1995.
But Gary Moore's next step was another great change. He leaves the blues direction, turning into a more poppy style, and Nick doesn't stay in his band.
In 1995, Bernie Marsden assembles a superb band to release a tribute to Peter Green, later released as Green & blues. The band was:
Bernie Marsden (guitar, vocals)
Micky Moody (guitar)
John Gordon (bass)
Josh Phillips (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Nick Payn (sax)
Steve Dixon (drums)
In the late 90s, Nick has been playing in studio albums by Japanese trio Dreams Come True. But when they needed a horn section for live concerts in July 1996, they used these same musicians as in the studio albums:
Miwa Yoshida (vocals)
Masato Nakamura (bass)
Takahiro Nishikawa (keyboards)
+
Jiro Takada (guitar)
Paul Dunne (guitar)
Koh Ohtani (keyboards)
Yoshio Kishida (drums)
Rin Urashima (backing vocals)
+ the horn section, named "Dynamite UK":
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Raul D'Oliveira (trumpet)
Martin Drover (trumpet)
Peter Thoms (trombone)
As every year, Gary Brooker assembles a band to play some charity gigs in December 1998. Impressive lineup:
Gary Brooker (vocals, keyboards)
Paul Carrack (vocals)
Beverley Skeete (vocals, percussion)
Geoff Whitehorn (guitar)
Mick Abrahams (guitar, vocals)
Andy Fairweather-Low (guitar, vocals)
Dave Bronze (bass)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Josh Phillips (keyboards)
Henry Spinetti (drums)
In September 1999, Nick Pentelow returns to Roger Chapman & The Shortlist for a two months tour:
Roger Chapman (vocals)
Steve Simpson (guitar, violin)
Laurie Wisefield (guitar)
Gary Twigg (bass)
Ian Gibbons (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
John Lingwood (drums)
Helen Hardy (backing vocals)
Prolific horn player, you can find him in many albums, especially blues albums. He was born on June 10, 1951 in Guildford, but he soon moved to Birmingham.
At the beginning of his career, he played with a band called Gypsies Kiss, based at Cannon Hill ArtS Centre in Birmingham:
Mark Bristow (guitar)
John Terry (bass)
Steve Bolger (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Terry ? (flugelhorn)
John Ellidge (drums)
Occasionally, Charlie Grima (later in Wizard with Nick) would jam with the band.
Later, Nick and Mark Bristow went to play with a combo called Scratch Band:
Brian Calloway (vocals, harmonica)
Stuart Scott (guitar)
Mark Bristow (guitar)
Noel Tadman (bass)
Richard Jones (bass)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Pete Webb (drums)
Alan Moore (drums)
In 1972, he rejoins Stuart Scott in another band, Pendulum:
Stuart Scott (guitar)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Alan Moore (drums)
+ a vocalist and a keyboardist
In July 1972, he joins genius Roy Wood (just leaving his own creature, ELO) who was to form his next band, Wizzard:
Roy Wood (guitar, vocals)
Rick Price (bass, vocals)
Bill Hunt (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Mike Burney (sax)
Hugh McDowell (cello)
Charlie Grima (drums)
Keith Smart (drums)
They released the album called Wizzard Brew in 1973.
Soon after, Hugh McDowell rejoins ELO again, thus leaving Wizzard:
Roy Wood (guitar, vocals)
Rick Price (bass, vocals)
Bill Hunt (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Mike Burney (sax)
Charlie Grima (drums)
Keith Smart (drums)
Later same year, in November 1973, there is another change in lineup. Bill Hunt leaves:
Roy Wood (guitar, vocals)
Rick Price (bass, vocals)
Bob Brady (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Mike Burney (sax)
Charlie Grima (drums)
Keith Smart (drums)
They released a 2nd album called Eddy & The Falcons.
After a 3rd album, See my baby jive, in February 1975, Roy Wood changes to a different project (The Wizzo Band), and Nick goes to play in Steve Gibbons Band. The lineups were changing all the time, as many friends of Steve Gibbons came to play with them when they were available.
As far as I know, Nick Pentelow recorded 3 albums with Steve Gibbons. Down in the bunker was released in 1978, Saints and sinners in 1979. A new album is released in 1980, with this lineup:
Steve Gibbons (vocals, guitar)
Robbie Blunt (guitar)
Trevor Burton (bass, guitar, vocals)
Bill Paul (sax)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Harry Rix (drums)
The album was called Street parade. There are two different editions, as the German release hasn't the same tracks as the British release.
A big gap here! Help with info, please!!
In 1981, he's a member of the band Juice on the Loose:
Ron Kavana (guitar, vocals)
Alam 'Bam' King (guitar)
Charlie Hart (bass)
Nick Pentelow (tenor sax)
Fran Byrne (drums)
They released a self-titled album with this lineup.
Another big gap again! Help with info, please!!
In April 1990, the lineup for Gary Moore band is:
Gary Moore (guitar, vocals)
Andy Pyle (bass)
Don Airey (keyboards)
Frank Mead (alto sax, harmonica)
Nick Pentelow (tenor sax)
Nick Payn (baritone sax)
Martin Drover (trumpet)
Graham Walker (drums)
For some concerts, they were joined by the late Albert Collins, who appeared as a guest in Gary's blues albums. The tour finished in September 1990.
During 1991 and 1992, he tours as part of the live horn section for the great band Blodwyn Pig:
Mick Abrahams (guitar, vocals)
Jim Leverton (bass)
Dave Lennox (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Gordon Murphy (sax)
Clive Bunker (drums)
Next lineup for Gary Moore Band was in March 1992:
Gary Moore (guitar, vocals)
Andy Pyle (bass)
Tommy Eyre (keyboards)
Martin Drover (trumpet)
Frank Mead (alto sax, harmonica)
Nick Pentelow (tenor sax)
Nick Payn (baritone sax)
Candy MacKenzie (backing vocals)
Carol Thompson (backing vocals)
Graham Walker (drums)
In April 1995, after some adventures with Jack Bruce, Gary Moore resurrects his Midnight Blues Band, with his friends:
Gary Moore (guitar, vocals)
Andy Pyle (bass)
Tommy Eyre (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (tenor sax)
Nick Payn (baritone sax)
Graham Walker (drums)
Gary's next album is a full tribute to Peter Green, including Peter Green's original songs as well as a version that Peter played with Fleetwood Mac, the beautiful 'Need your love so bad'. Its title is Blues for Greeny.
There was also released a live video from the subsequent tour. Called Blues for Greeny live (1996, Warner), it was recorded on April 27, 1995.
But Gary Moore's next step was another great change. He leaves the blues direction, turning into a more poppy style, and Nick doesn't stay in his band.
In 1995, Bernie Marsden assembles a superb band to release a tribute to Peter Green, later released as Green & blues. The band was:
Bernie Marsden (guitar, vocals)
Micky Moody (guitar)
John Gordon (bass)
Josh Phillips (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Nick Payn (sax)
Steve Dixon (drums)
In the late 90s, Nick has been playing in studio albums by Japanese trio Dreams Come True. But when they needed a horn section for live concerts in July 1996, they used these same musicians as in the studio albums:
Miwa Yoshida (vocals)
Masato Nakamura (bass)
Takahiro Nishikawa (keyboards)
+
Jiro Takada (guitar)
Paul Dunne (guitar)
Koh Ohtani (keyboards)
Yoshio Kishida (drums)
Rin Urashima (backing vocals)
+ the horn section, named "Dynamite UK":
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Raul D'Oliveira (trumpet)
Martin Drover (trumpet)
Peter Thoms (trombone)
As every year, Gary Brooker assembles a band to play some charity gigs in December 1998. Impressive lineup:
Gary Brooker (vocals, keyboards)
Paul Carrack (vocals)
Beverley Skeete (vocals, percussion)
Geoff Whitehorn (guitar)
Mick Abrahams (guitar, vocals)
Andy Fairweather-Low (guitar, vocals)
Dave Bronze (bass)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
Josh Phillips (keyboards)
Henry Spinetti (drums)
In September 1999, Nick Pentelow returns to Roger Chapman & The Shortlist for a two months tour:
Roger Chapman (vocals)
Steve Simpson (guitar, violin)
Laurie Wisefield (guitar)
Gary Twigg (bass)
Ian Gibbons (keyboards)
Nick Pentelow (sax)
John Lingwood (drums)
Helen Hardy (backing vocals)
Andy Fairweather Low - Gin House Blues (live 2011)
The Low Riders are:
Paul Beavis (drums)
Dave Bronze (Bass & Vocals)
Nick Pentelow (Sax)
Andy Fairweather Low (Guitars & Vocals)
Paul Beavis (drums)
Dave Bronze (Bass & Vocals)
Nick Pentelow (Sax)
Andy Fairweather Low (Guitars & Vocals)
R.I.P.
Ray Charles +10.06.2004
http://www.raycharles.com/
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Ray Charles (* 23. September 1930 als Raymond Charles Robinson in Albany, Georgia; † 10. Juni 2004 in Beverly Hills, Kalifornien) war ein US-amerikanischer Musiker. Sein Einfluss war stilprägend für die Entwicklung von Rhythm and Blues, Blues, Country und Soul. Insgesamt hat er ca. 90 Millionen Tonträger verkauft.Ray Charles Robinson, der zur Zeit der Rassentrennung in Armut aufwuchs, erblindete im Alter von sieben Jahren an einem Glaukom. Neun Monate zuvor hatte er mit ansehen müssen, wie sein Bruder in einem Waschzuber ertrank. In einem Hinterhof in der Nähe seiner Wohnsiedlung erlernte er das Klavierspielen. Er besuchte die St.-Augustine-Schule für Gehörlose und Blinde. Seine Mutter, die ihn alleine großgezogen hatte, starb im Mai 1945, als Ray Charles 14 Jahre alt war.
Karriere
Ray Charles begann als Musiker in Florida und zog 1947 nach Seattle. Dort nahm er im November 1948 als Mitglied des Maxin Trios mit Gosady D. McKee, Gitarre, und Milton S. Garred, Bass, seine ersten Schallplatten auf. Die erste Single Confession Blues / I Love You I Love You erschien im Februar 1949 bei dem kleinen Label Down Beat Records in Los Angeles. Der Titel erzielte mit Platz 2 der Rhythm & Blues-Hitparade einen beachtlichen Erstlingserfolg. Seine frühen Aufnahmen gehörten zum Rhythm & Blues und adaptierten Charles Brown oder Nat King Cole. Im selben Jahr wurde die Band in Ray Charles Trio umbenannt, Mitglieder waren außer ihm (Gesang/Piano) nun Gosady McKee (Gitarre), Mitchell „Tiny“ Webb (Gitarre) und Ralph Hamilton (Bass). Mittlerweile hatte sich Down Beat Records in SwingTime Records umbenannt, wo die Single How Long Blues/Blues Before Sunrise (#178) noch im Jahr 1949 veröffentlicht wurde. Nach insgesamt sechs Singles hatte Charles ein größeres Orchester um sich versammelt, bestehend aus Teddy Buckner (Trompete), Marshall Royal (Altsaxophon), Jack McVea (Tenorsaxophon), Charles Waller (Baritonsaxophon), Louis Speiginer (Gitarre), Billy Hadnott (Bass) und Clifton „Rudy“ Pitts (Schlagzeug). Unter dem Namen Ray Charles Orchestra entstanden am 25. Mai 1950 vier Aufnahmen, die auf zwei SwingTime-Singles verteilt wurden. Bei jenem Label blieb er bis September 1952 und wurde für eine Ablösesumme von $ 5000 vom großen Rhythm & Blues-Label Atlantic Records unter Vertrag genommen.[4]
Erst bei Atlantic Records (1952–1959) wurde seine Musik in mehrfacher Hinsicht (Gesang, Instrumentalstil, Komposition, Arrangement) unverwechselbar, da er Gospel- und Jazzeinflüsse betonte. Mit der Verbindung von Rhythm & Blues und Gospel wurde Charles zu einem der wichtigsten Wegbereiter und Musiker des Soul, unterstützt durch seinen Produzenten Jerry Wexler. Sein erster Erfolg war Mess Around, das auf C. C. Davenports Cow Cow Blues zurückgeht und dessen Text auf dem Boogie-Klassiker Pinetop's Boogie Woogie (1929) von Clarence Smith basiert. Es dauerte bis zum 17. Mai 1953, dass aus sieben Titeln dieser Aufnahmesession It Should Have Been Me ausgewählt wurde, das den fünften Rang der R&B-Charts erreichte. Mit seiner sechsten Atlantic-Single I’ve Got a Woman, aufgenommen am 18. November 1954 in Atlanta, gelang ihm sein erster Nummer-eins-Hit in den R&B-Charts. Die Top-Platzierung schaffte er noch dreimal, wobei die am 27. Juni 1959 veröffentlichte Single What’d I Say zu seinem größten Hit bei Atlantic Records wurde. Nach insgesamt 28 Singles, von denen 13 die Top-10 der R&B-Charts erreichten, wechselte Ray Charles am 1. November 1959 zu ABC-Paramount.
Während Charles die Hitparaden stürmte, verfiel er dem Heroin, das seine Karriere mehrmals an einen kritischen Punkt brachte. 1965 wurde er wegen Heroinbesitzes zu fünf Jahren Gefängnis auf Bewährung verurteilt, woraufhin er sich einer Entziehungskur unterzog. Ende der 1970er Jahre begab sich Ray Charles erneut in Behandlung und verbrachte nach deren Abschluss den Rest seines Lebens ohne Drogen.
Beim neuen Label ABC-Paramount feierte er unter dem Produzenten Sid Feller auch kommerzielle Erfolge. Mit Georgia on My Mind (veröffentlicht am 19. August 1960) griff er einen Jazzstandard auf und landete damit den zweiten Millionenseller. Erstmals konnte er sogar die Spitzenposition auch in den Pop-Charts belegen. Die Blues-intensiven Sounds bei Atlantic Records waren bei ABC Records von Geigen untermalten Pop-Arrangements gewichen. Hit the Road, Jack kam am 21. August 1961 auf den Markt und setzte ebenfalls über eine Million Exemplare um. Sein größter Hit erschien am 23. April 1962 mit I Can’t Stop Loving You, einem Country-Klassiker, der über zwei Millionen Mal verkauft wurde.[5] Als Hintergrundchor diente weiterhin die Girlgroup The Raelettes, die seine Karriere bis in die 70er Jahre begleitete.
Der zuletzt genannte Titel stammte aus dem im April 1962 veröffentlichten epochalen, in über 500.000 Exemplaren abgesetzten Album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Aus diesem wurden zudem Born to Lose, You Don't Know Me und Careless Love ausgekoppelt. Danach folgten Hits wie Crying Time, Busted und Take These Chains From My Heart. 1966 produzierte er Lets Go Get Stoned von Ashford & Simpson. Einen weiteren Erfolg hatte er mit seiner Version von America the Beautiful im Juni 1972.
Ray Charles hatte auch zahlreiche Duettpartner. So sang er unter anderem mit George Jones, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson und Merle Haggard. Auch wenn seine Chart-Erfolge schwanden, war die Begeisterung über seine intensiven Live-Auftritte ungebrochen. Der auch finanziell erfolgreichste schwarze Entertainer seiner Generation wird von zahlreichen Musikern als wichtige Einflussquelle genannt.
Privatleben und Tod
Charles war zweimal verheiratet: zunächst mit Eileen Williams (1951–1952), später mit Della Beatrice Howard (1955–1977), mit der er drei Kinder hatte. Außerdem hatte er einige Beziehungen neben und nach seinen Ehen, aus denen weitere neun Kinder hervorgingen.[6][7] Seine Langzeitfreundin bis zum Zeitpunkt seines Todes war Norma Pinella.
Ray Charles starb am 10. Juni 2004 im Alter von 73 Jahren an Leberkrebs. Er wurde auf dem Inglewood Park Cemetery im Los Angeles County beigesetzt.[9]
Auszeichnungen
Ray Charles zählt zur Rock and Roll Hall of Fame und ist Mitglied der Blues Hall of Fame, der Songwriters Hall of Fame, der Grammy Hall of Fame, der Jazz Hall of Fame, der Georgia Music Hall of Fame und der Florida Artists Hall of Fame. Im Jahr 1993 erhielt er den National Medal of Arts des US-Kongresses. 1998 erhielt er den begehrten Polar Music Prize gemeinsam mit Ravi Shankar. Nach seinem Tod wurde ihm 2005 die Grammy-Award-Show gewidmet. „The Spirit of Christmas“ wurde in die Wireliste The Wire’s “100 Records That Set The World On Fire (While No One Was Listening)” aufgenommen.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), professionally known as Ray Charles, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and composer, who is sometimes referred to as "The Genius".[2][3]
He pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records.[4][5][6] He also contributed to the racial integration of country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his two Modern Sounds albums.[7][8][9] While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company.[5]
Charles was blind from the age of seven. Charles cited Nat King Cole as a primary influence, but his music was also influenced by jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and country artists of the day, including Art Tatum, Louis Jordan, Charles Brown and Louis Armstrong.[10] Charles' playing reflected influences from country blues, barrelhouse and stride piano styles. He had strong ties to Quincy Jones, who often cared for him and showed him the ropes of the "music club industry."
Frank Sinatra called him "the only true genius in show business", although Charles downplayed this notion.[11]
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Charles at number ten on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time",[2] and number two on their November 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".[12] Billy Joel observed: "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley".[13]
Life and career
Early years (1930–45)
Ray Charles Robinson was the son of Aretha (née William) Robinson,[14] a sharecropper, and Bailey Robinson, a railroad repair man, mechanic, and handyman.[15] When Charles was an infant, his family moved from his birthplace in Albany, Georgia back to his mother's hometown of Greenville, Florida.
Charles did not see much of his father growing up, and it is unclear whether his mother and father were ever married. Charles was raised by his biological mother Aretha, as well as his father’s first wife, a woman named Mary Jane. Growing up, he referred to Aretha as "Mama", and Mary Jane as "mother".[10] Aretha was a devout Christian, and the family attended the New Shiloh Baptist Church.[14]
In his early years, Charles showed a curiosity for mechanical objects, and would often watch his neighbors working on their cars and farm machinery. His musical curiosity was sparked at Mr. Wylie Pitman's Red Wing Cafe, when Pitman played boogie woogie on an old upright piano; Pitman subsequently taught Charles how to play piano himself. Charles and his mother were always welcome at the Red Wing Cafe, and even lived there when they were experiencing financial difficulties.[10] Pitman would also care for Ray's brother George, to take the burden off Aretha. George drowned in Aretha's laundry tub when he was four years old, and Ray was five.[10][15] Charles started to lose his sight at the age of four[3] or five,[16] and was completely blind by the age of seven, apparently as a result of glaucoma.[17] Broke, uneducated and still mourning the loss of Charles' brother George, Aretha used her connections in the local community to find a school that would accept blind African American students. Despite his initial protest, Charles would attend school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine from 1937 to 1945.[18]
Charles began to develop his musical talent at school,[17] and was taught to play the classical piano music of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. His teacher Mrs. Lawrence taught him how to read music using braille, a difficult process that requires learning the left hand movements by reading braille with the right hand and learning the right hand movements by reading braille with the left hand, and then synthesizing the two parts. While Charles was happy to play the piano, he was more interested in the jazz and blues music he heard on the family radio than classical music.[18] On Fridays, the South Campus Literary Society held assemblies where Charles would play piano and sing popular songs. On Halloween and Washington's birthday, the black Department of the school had socials where Charles would play. It was here he established "RC Robinson and the Shop Boys" and sang his own arrangement of "Jingle Bell Boogie". During this time, he performed on WFOY radio in St. Augustine.[18]
Aretha died in the spring of 1945, when Charles was 14 years old. Her death came as a shock to Ray, who would later consider the deaths of his brother and mother to be "the two great tragedies" of his life. Charles returned to school after the funeral, but was then expelled in October for playing a prank on his teacher.[18]
Life in Florida, Los Angeles, Seattle and first hits (1945–52)
After leaving school, Charles moved to Jacksonville with a couple who were friends of his mother. He played the piano for bands at the Ritz Theatre in LaVilla for over a year, earning $4 a night. He also joined the musicians’ union in the hope that it would help him get work. He befriended many union members, but others were less kind to him because he would monopolize the union hall’s piano, since he did not have one at home. He started to build a reputation as a talented musician in Jacksonville, but the jobs did not come fast enough for him to construct a strong identity. He decided to leave Jacksonville and move to a bigger city with more opportunities.[19]
At age 16, Charles moved to Orlando, where he lived in borderline poverty and went without food for days. It was an extremely difficult time for musicians to find work, as since World War II had ended there were no “G.I. Joes” left to entertain. Charles eventually started to write arrangements for a pop music band, and in the summer of 1947 he unsuccessfully auditioned to play piano for Lucky Millinder and his sixteen-piece band.[18]
In 1947, Charles moved to Tampa, where he had two jobs: one as a pianist for Charlie Brantley's Honeydippers, a seven-piece band; and another as a member of a white country band called The Florida Playboys (though there is no historical trace of Charles' involvement in The Florida Playboys besides Charles' own testimony). This is where he began his habit of always wearing sunglasses, made by designer Billy Stickles. Ray Charles Robinson dropped his last name to avoid confusion with the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, and in his early career modelled himself on Nat "King" Cole. His first four recordings — "Wondering and Wondering", "Walking and Talking", "Why Did You Go?" and "I Found My Baby There" — were supposedly made in Tampa, although some discographies also claim he recorded them in Miami in 1951, or Los Angeles in 1952.[18]
Charles had always played piano for other people, but he was keen to have his own band. He decided to leave Florida for a large city, and, considering Chicago and New York City too big, followed his friend Gossie McKee to Seattle, Washington in March 1948, knowing that the biggest radio hits came from northern cities.[17][20] Here he met and befriended, under the tutelage of Robert Blackwell, a 15-year-old Quincy Jones.[21]
He started playing the one-to-five A.M. shift at the Rocking Chair with his band McSon Trio, which featured McKee on guitar and Milton Garrett on bass. Publicity photos of the trio are some of the earliest recorded photographs of Ray Charles. In April 1949, Charles and his band recorded "Confession Blues", which became his first national hit, soaring to the second spot on the Billboard R&B chart.[20] While still working at the Rocking Chair, he also arranged songs for other artists, including Cole Porter's "Ghost of a Chance" and Dizzy Gillespie's "Emanon".[19] After the success of his first two singles, Charles moved to Los Angeles in 1950, and spent the next few years touring with blues artist Lowell Fulson as his musical director.[3]
In 1950, his performance in a Miami hotel would impress Henry Stone, who went on to record a Ray Charles Rockin' record (which never became particular popular). During his stay in Miami, Charles was required to stay in the segregated but thriving black community of Overtown. Stone later helped Jerry Wexler find Charles in St. Petersburg.[22]
After joining Swing Time Records, he recorded two more R&B hits under the name "Ray Charles": "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" (1951), which reached number five; and "Kissa Me Baby"(1952), which reached number eight. Swing Time folded the following year, and Ahmet Ertegün signed him to Atlantic Records.[17]
Signing with Atlantic Records (1952–59)
Charles' first recording session with Atlantic ("The Midnight Hour"/"Roll With my Baby") took place in September 1952, although his last Swingtime release ("Misery in my Heart"/"The Snow is Falling") would not appear until February 1953. He began recording jump blues and boogie-woogie style recordings as well as slower blues ballads, where he continued to show the vocal influences of Nat "King" Cole and Charles Brown. "Mess Around" became Charles' first Atlantic hit in 1953; the following year he had hits with "It Should Have Been Me" and "Don't You Know". He also recorded the songs "Midnight Hour" and "Sinner's Prayer". Some elements of his own vocal style were evident in "Sinner's Prayer", "Mess Around" and "Don't You Know".
Late in 1954, Charles recorded his own composition "I Got a Woman"; the song became Charles' first number-one R&B hit in 1955, bringing him to national prominence.[23] "I Got a Woman" included a mixture of gospel, jazz and blues elements that would later prove to be seminal in the development of rock 'n' roll and soul music. He continued through to 1958 with records such as "This Little Girl of Mine", "Drown in My Own Tears", "Lonely Avenue", "A Fool For You" and "The Night Time (Is the Right Time)".
Parallel to his R&B career, Charles also recorded instrumental jazz albums such as 1957's The Great Ray Charles. During this time, Charles also worked with jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson, releasing Soul Brothers in 1958 and Soul Meeting in 1961. By 1958, Charles was not only headlining black venues such as The Apollo Theater and The Uptown Theater, but also bigger venues such as The Newport Jazz Festival (where he would cut his first live album). In 1956, Charles recruited a young all-female singing group named the Cookies, and reshaped them as The Raelettes. Up to this point, Charles had used his wife and other musicians to back him on recordings such as "This Little Girl of Mine" and "Drown In My Own Tears". The Raelettes' first recording session with Charles was on the bluesy-gospel inflected "Leave My Woman Alone".
Crossover success (1959–67)
Charles reached the pinnacle of his success at Atlantic with the release of "What'd I Say", a complex song that combined gospel, jazz, blues and Latin music, which Charles would later claim he had composed spontaneously as he was performing in clubs and dances with his small band. Despite some radio stations banning the song because of its sexually suggestive lyrics, the song became Charles' first ever crossover top ten pop record.[24] Later in 1959, he released his first country song (a cover of Hank Snow's "Movin' On"), as well as recording three more albums for the label: a jazz record (later released in 1961 as The Genius After Hours); a blues record (released in 1961 as The Genius Sings the Blues); and a traditional pop/big band record (The Genius of Ray Charles). The Genius of Ray Charles provided his first top 40 album entry, where it peaked at No. 17, and was later held as a landmark record in Charles' career.
Charles' Atlantic contract expired in the fall of 1959, with several big labels offered him record deals; choosing not to renegotiate his contract with Atlantic, Ray Charles signed with ABC-Paramount Records in November 1959.[25] He obtained a much more liberal contract than other artists had at the time, with ABC offering him a $50,000 annual advance, higher royalties than before and eventual ownership of his masters — a very valuable and lucrative deal at the time.[26] During his Atlantic years, Charles had been heralded for his own inventive compositions, but by the time of the release of the instrumental jazz LP Genius + Soul = Jazz (1960) for ABC's subsidiary label Impulse!, he had virtually given up on writing original material, instead following his eclectic impulses as an interpreter.[24]
With "Georgia on My Mind", his first hit single for ABC-Paramount in 1960, Charles received national acclaim and a Grammy Award. Originally written by composers Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael, the song was Charles' first work with Sid Feller, who produced, arranged and conducted the recording.[24][27] Charles earned another Grammy for the follow-up "Hit the Road Jack", written by R&B singer Percy Mayfield.[28]
By late 1961, Charles had expanded his small road ensemble to a full-scale big band, partly as a response to increasing royalties and touring fees, becoming one of the few black artists to crossover into mainstream pop with such a level of creative control.[24][29] This success, however, came to a momentary halt during a concert tour in November 1961, when a police search of Charles' hotel room in Indianapolis, Indiana, led to the discovery of heroin in his medicine cabinet. The case was eventually dropped, as the search lacked a proper warrant by the police, and Charles soon returned to music.[29]
In the early 1960s, whilst on the way from Louisiana to Oklahoma City, Charles faced a near-death experience when the pilot of his plane lost visibility, as snow and his failure to use defroster caused the windshield of the plane to become completely covered in ice. The pilot made a few circles in the air before he was finally able to see through a small part of the windshield and land the plane. Charles placed a spiritual interpretation on the event, claiming that "something or someone which instruments cannot detect" was responsible for creating the small opening in the ice on the windshield which enabled the pilot to land the plane safely.[10]
The 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, and its sequel Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 2, helped to bring country into the musical mainstream. Charles' version of the Don Gibson song I Can't Stop Loving You topped the Pop chart for five weeks, stayed at No. 1 in the R&B chart for ten weeks, and also gave him his only number one record in the UK. In 1962, he founded his own record label, Tangerine Records, which ABC-Paramount promoted and distributed.[30][31] He had major pop hits in 1963 with "Busted" (US No. 4) and Take These Chains From My Heart (US No. 8).
In 1965, Charles' career was halted once more after being arrested for a third time for heroin use. He agreed to go to rehab to avoid jail time, and eventually kicked his habit at a clinic in Los Angeles. After spending a year on parole, Charles reappeared in the charts in 1966 with a series of hits composed with the fledgling team of Ashford & Simpson, including the dance number "I Don't Need No Doctor", and "Let's Go Get Stoned", which became his first No. 1 R&B hit in several years. His cover of country artist Buck Owens' "Crying Time" reached No. 6 on the pop chart and helped Charles win a Grammy Award the following March. In 1967, he had a top twenty hit with another ballad, "Here We Go Again".[32]
Commercial decline (1967–81)
Charles' renewed chart success, however, proved to be short lived, and by the late 1960s his music was rarely played on radio stations. The rise of psychedelic rock and harder forms of rock and R&B music had reduced Charles' radio appeal, as did his choosing to record pop standards and covers of contemporary rock and soul hits, since his earnings from owning his own masters had taken away the motivation to write new material. Charles nonetheless continued to have an active recording career, although most of his recordings between 1968 and 1973 evoked strong reactions: people either liked them a lot, or strongly disliked them.[17] His 1972 album, A Message from the People, included his unique gospel-influenced version of "America the Beautiful", as well as a number of protest songs about poverty and civil rights. Charles was often criticized for his version of "America the Beautiful" because it was very drastically changed from the songs original version. The common argument against this is that the words are scattered and changed, but the music in the background remains beautiful and untouched. Many people believed that this was a perfect representation of the freedom Americans are given, free to do what they want, so long as they follow the laws (music) that we are given.[33]
In 1974, Charles left ABC Records and recorded several albums on his own Crossover Records label. A 1975 recording of Stevie Wonder's hit "Living for the City" later helped Charles win another Grammy. In 1977, he reunited with Ahmet Ertegün and re-signed to Atlantic Records, where he recorded the album True to Life, remaining with his old label until 1980. However, the label had now begun to focus on rock acts, and some of their prominent soul artists such as Aretha Franklin were starting to be neglected. In November 1977 he appeared as the host of NBC's Saturday Night Live.[34] In April 1979, Charles' version of "Georgia On My Mind" was proclaimed the state song of Georgia, and an emotional Charles performed the song on the floor of the state legislature.[17] Although he had notably supported the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s, in 1981 Charles was criticized for performing at South Africa's Sun City resort during an international boycott of its apartheid policy.[17]
Later years (1983–2004)
In 1983, Charles signed a contract with Columbia Records. He recorded a string of country albums, as well as having single hits with duet singers such as George Jones, Chet Atkins, B.J. Thomas, Mickey Gilley, Hank Williams, Jr. and lifelong friend Willie Nelson, with whom he recorded the No. 1 country duet "Seven Spanish Angels".
Prior to the release of his first Warner release, Would You Believe, Charles made a return to the R&B charts with a cover of The Brothers Johnson's "I'll Be Good to You", a duet with his lifelong friend Quincy Jones and singer Chaka Khan which hit number-one on the R&B charts in 1990 and won Charles and Khan a Grammy for their dual work. Prior to this, Charles returned to the pop charts in another duet, with singer Billy Joel on the song "Baby Grand". In 1989, he recorded a cover of the Southern All Stars' "Itoshi no Ellie" for a Japanese TV advert for the Suntory brand, releasing it in Japan as "Ellie My Love" where it reached No. 3 on its Oricon chart.[35]
Charles' 1993 album, My World, became his first album in some time to reach the Billboard 200, whilst his cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" would give him a hit on the adult contemporary chart as well as his twelfth and final Grammy. By the beginning of the 1980s, Charles was reaching younger audiences with appearances in various films and TV shows. In 1980, he appeared in the film The Blues Brothers. Charles' version of "Night Time is the Right Time" was played during the popular Cosby Show episode "Happy Anniversary", although he never appeared on the show in person. In 1985, he appeared alongside a slew of other popular musicians in the USA for Africa charity recording "We Are the World". Charles' popularity increased among younger audiences in 1991 after he appeared in a series of Diet Pepsi commercials, where he popularized the catchphrase "You Got the Right One, Baby".
In the late 1980s/early 1990s, he made appearances on the Super Dave Osbourne television show, featuring in a series of vignettes where he was somehow driving a car, often as Super Dave's chauffeur. During the sixth season of Designing Women, Charles himself sang "Georgia on My Mind" in place of the instrumental cover version which had featured in the previous five seasons. He also appeared in 4 episodes of the popular TV comedy The Nanny, playing Sammy in Seasons 4 & 5 during 1997-98. From 2001-2002, Charles appeared in commercials for the New Jersey Lottery to promote its "For every dream, there's a jackpot" campaign.
Charles appeared at two separate Presidential inaugurations, performing for Ronald Reagan's second inauguration in 1985, and for Bill Clinton's first in 1993.[36] On October 28, 2001, several weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, Charles appeared during Game 2 of the World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees and performed "America the Beautiful". In 2003, Charles headlined the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, DC, attended by the President, First Lady, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.
Also in 2003, Charles presented one of his greatest admirers, Van Morrison, with his award upon being inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the two sang Morrison's song "Crazy Love" (the performance appears on Morrison's 2007 album The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3). In 2003, Charles performed "Georgia On My Mind" and "America the Beautiful" at a televised annual electronic media journalist banquet held in Washington, D.C. His final public appearance came on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his music studio as a historic landmark in Los Angeles.[17]
Personal life
Marriages and children
Ray Charles was married twice, and had twelve children with ten different women. Charles' first child Evelyn was born in 1949 to his then girlfriend, Louise Flowers. Charles' first marriage was to Eileen Williams, and lasted from July 31, 1951 to 1952.
Charles' second marriage to Della Beatrice Howard Robinson (called "B" by Charles) began on April 5, 1955, and lasted 12 or 13 years. Their first child together, Ray Jr., was born in 1955. Charles was not in town for the birth as he was playing a show in Texas; at first, he was afraid to hold his son because he was so small, but he got over his fear after a few months. The couple had two further children, David (1958) and Robert (1960). During their marriage, Charles felt that his heroin addiction took a toll on Della.[10]
Charles had a six-year-long affair with Margie Hendricks, one of the original Raelettes, and in 1959 the pair had a son together, Charles Wayne. His affair with Mae Mosely Lyles resulted in another daughter, Raenee, born in 1961. In 1963, Charles had a daughter, Sheila Raye Charles Robinson, with Sandra Jean Betts. In 1966, Charles' daughter Alicia was born to a woman who remains unidentified, and another daughter, Alexandra, was also born to Chantal Bertrand. Charles divorced from Della Howard in 1977, and later that year Charles had a son, Vincent, with Arlette Kotchounian. A daughter, Robyn, was born a year later to Gloria Moffett. Charles' youngest child, son Ryan Corey, was born in 1987 to Mary Anne den Bok. Charles' long-term girlfriend and partner at the time of his death was Norma Pinella.
Substance abuse and legal issues
Charles first tried drugs when he played in McSon Trio, and was eager to try them as he thought they helped musicians create music and tap into their creativity. He experimented first with marijuana, and later became addicted to heroin, which he struggled with for sixteen years. He was first arrested in the 1950s, when he and his bandmates were caught backstage with loose marijuana and drug paraphernalia, including a burnt spoon, syringe and needle. The arrest did not deter Charles' drug use, which only escalated as he became more successful and made more money.[20]
Charles was arrested again on a narcotics charge on November 14, 1961, whilst waiting in an Indiana hotel room before a performance. The detectives seized heroin, marijuana and other items. Charles, then 31, stated that he had been a drug addict since the age of 16. The case was dismissed because of the manner in which the evidence was obtained,[37] but Charles's situation did not improve until a few years later. Individuals such as Quincy Jones and Reverend Henry Griffin felt that those around Charles were responsible for his drug use.[citation needed]
In 1964, Charles was arrested for possession of marijuana and heroin.[20] Following a self-imposed stay[37] at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, California, Charles received five years' probation. Charles responded to the saga of his drug use and reform with the songs "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Let's Go Get Stoned", and the release of Crying Time, his first album since having kicked his heroin addiction in 1966.[38][39]
Other interests
Charles liked to play chess, using a special board with raised squares and holes for the pieces.[40] In a 1991 concert, he referred to Willie Nelson as "my chess partner".[41] In 2002, he played and lost to American Grandmaster and former U.S. Champion Larry Evans.[42]
In 2001, Morehouse College honored Charles with the Candle Award for Lifetime Achievement in Arts and Entertainment, and later that same year granted him an honorary doctor of humane letters. Charles and his longtime business manager, Joe Adams, also gave a gift of $1 million to Morehouse, where Charles had approved plans for the building of the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center.[43]
Death
In 2003, Charles had successful hip replacement surgery and was originally planning to go back on tour, until he began suffering from other ailments. Charles died at his home in Beverly Hills, California on June 10, 2004, surrounded by family and friends,[44][45] as a result of acute liver disease.[3] He was 73 years old. His funeral took place on June 18, 2004, at the First AME Church in Los Angeles, with musical peers such as Little Richard in attendance.[46] B.B. King, Glen Campbell, Stevie Wonder and Wynton Marsalis each played a tribute at Charles' funeral.[47] Charles was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery.
Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6777 Hollywood Blvd
His final album, Genius Loves Company, was released two months after his death, and consists of duets with various admirers and contemporaries: B.B. King, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Norah Jones and Johnny Mathis. The album won eight Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Here We Go Again" with Norah Jones, and Best Gospel Performance for "Heaven Help Us All" with Gladys Knight; he also received nods for his duets with Elton John and B.B. King. The album included a version of Harold Arlen's "Over the Rainbow" sung as a duet with Johnny Mathis, which was played at Charles' memorial service.[47]
Two more posthumous albums were released: Genius & Friends (2005), a selection of duets recorded from 1997 to 2004 with artists of Charles' choice, including "Big Bad Love" with Diana Ross; and Ray Sings, Basie Swings (2006), which combined archive Ray Charles live vocal performances from the mid-1970s recorded from the concert mixing board with new instrumental tracks specially recorded by the contemporary Count Basie Orchestra and other musicians, to create a "fantasy concert" recording.
Legacy
Influence on music industry
Charles possessed one of the most recognizable voices in American music. In the words of musicologist Henry Pleasants (music critic):
Sinatra, and Bing Crosby before him, had been masters of words. Ray Charles is a master of sounds. His records disclose an extraordinary assortment of slurs, glides, turns, shrieks, wails, breaks, shouts, screams and hollers, all wonderfully controlled, disciplined by inspired musicianship, and harnessed to ingenious subtleties of harmony, dynamics and rhythm... It is either the singing of a man whose vocabulary is inadequate to express what is in his heart and mind or of one whose feelings are too intense for satisfactory verbal or conventionally melodic articulation. He can’t tell it to you. He can’t even sing it to you. He has to cry out to you, or shout to you, in tones eloquent of despair — or exaltation. The voice alone, with little assistance from the text or the notated music, conveys the message.[48]
His style and success in the genres of rhythm and blues and jazz had an influence on a number of highly successful artists, including Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison and Billy Joel. According to Joe Levy, a music editor for Rolling Stone, "The hit records he made for Atlantic in the mid-50's mapped out everything that would happen to rock 'n' roll and soul music in the years that followed".[49] Charles was also an inspiration to former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters, who told the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet: "I was about 15. In the middle of the night with friends, we were listening to jazz. It was "Georgia on My Mind", Ray Charles's version. Then I thought 'One day, if I make some people feel only one twentieth of what I am feeling now, it will be quite enough for me.'"[50]
Ray, a biopic portraying his life and career between 1930 and 1979, was released in October 2004, starring Jamie Foxx as Charles. Foxx won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor for the role. On December 7, 2007, the Ray Charles Plaza was opened in his hometown of Albany, Georgia, featuring a revolving, lighted bronze sculpture of Charles seated at a piano. The plaza's dedication was attended by his daughter Sheila Raye Charles.
Awards and Honors
In 1979, Charles was one of the first musicians born in the state to be inducted into the Georgia State Music Hall of Fame.[51] Charles' version of "Georgia On My Mind" was also made the official state song for Georgia.[52]
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.[53] He also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986.[54] In 1987, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1991, he was inducted to the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, and was presented with the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement during the 1991 UCLA Spring Sing.[55]
In 1993, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[56] In 1998 he was awarded the Polar Music Prize together with Ravi Shankar in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2004 he was inducted to the National Black Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame.[57] The Grammy Awards of 2005 were dedicated to Charles.
In 2003, Charles was awarded an honorary degree by Dillard University, and upon his death he endowed a professorship of African-American culinary history at the school, the first such chair in the nation.[58] A $20 million performing arts center at Morehouse College was named after Charles and was dedicated in September 2010.[59]
The United States Postal Service issued a forever stamp honoring Ray Charles as part of it Musical Icons series on September 23, 2013.
Contributions to Civil Rights Movement
On March 15, 1961, shortly after the release of the hit song "Georgia on My Mind" (1960), Charles (who was born in Albany, Georgia) was scheduled to perform at a dance at Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia, but cancelled the show after learning from students of Paine College that the larger auditorium dance floor would be restricted to whites, while blacks would be obligated to sit in the Music Hall balcony. Charles left town immediately after letting the public know why he wouldn't be performing, but the promoter went on to sue Charles for breach of contract, and Charles was fined $757 in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on June 14, 1962. The following year, Charles did perform at a desegregated Bell Auditorium concert together with his backup group the Raelettes on October 23, 1963,[60][61][62] and was not banned from performing thereafter in Georgia as depicted in the 2004 film, Ray.[63] On December 7, 2007, Ray Charles Plaza was opened in Albany, Georgia, with a revolving, lighted bronze sculpture of Charles seated at a piano.[55]
The Ray Charles Foundation
Founded in 1986, the Ray Charles Foundation maintains the mission statement of financially supporting institutions and organizations in the research of hearing disorders.[64] Originally known as "The Robinson Foundation for Hearing Disorders", it was renamed in 2006, and has since provided financial donations to numerous institutions involved in hearing loss research and education.[65] Specifically, the purpose of the Foundation has been "to administer funds for scientific, educational and charitable purposes; to encourage, promote and educate, through grants to institutions and organizations, as to the causes and cures for diseases and disabilities of the hearing impaired and to assist organizations and institutions in their social educational and academic advancement of programs for the youth, and carry on other charitable and educational activities associated with these goals as allowed by law".[66] The organization's philanthropic views stem from Charles' own views on giving, as the musician often contributed cochlear implant donations to those who could not afford the procedure. Charles was recorded as saying that the reason he has given so much more time and money to the hearing compared, rather than the visually impaired, was that music saved his life, and he wouldn't know what to do if he couldn't experience it.[citation needed]
Recipients of donations include Benedict College, Morehouse College and numerous other universities.[67] The foundation has previously taken action against donation recipients who do not use funds in accordance to its mission statement, such as the Albany State University which was made to return its $3 Million donation after not using its funds for over a decade.[68] The foundation currently houses its executive offices at the historic RPM International Building, originally the home of Ray Charles Enterprises, Inc, and now also home to the Ray Charles Memorial Library on the first floor, which was founded on September 23, 2010 (what would have been Charles' 80th birthday). The library was founded to "provide an avenue for young children to experience music and art in a way that will inspire their creativity and imagination", and is not open to the public without reservation, as the main goal is to educate mass groups of underprivileged youth and provide art and history to those without access to such documents.
Cecil Barfield was a truly unique country bluesman with a primitive but extremely rewarding style. Born in 1922, he started playing music when he was five years old and until he was recorded by George Mitchell in 1976 he played exclusively for for his friends and relatives. Cecil was extremely superstitious and when an LP was released of some of his recordings they were issued under the assumed name of William Robertson and he wouldn't allow a photo of him to be used since someone could turn it face down and he would die. He is an intense and unique vocalist with an odd strangulated style which may take some getting used to but is remarkably effective. He was also a fine propulsive guitarist that sounds more Mississippi than Georgia. His material is a mix of original songs and covers of blues records that he makes very much his own. Some of the material has a loose free form style that brings to mind Robert Pete Williams particularly in the wonderful semi spoken Root Blues. Presumably his fears wouldn't have allowed him to travel so only a handful of people outside his community had a chance to see him perform which is a real shame as he was a major discovery.
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), professionally known as Ray Charles, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and composer, who is sometimes referred to as "The Genius".[2][3]He pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records.[4][5][6] He also contributed to the racial integration of country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his two Modern Sounds albums.[7][8][9] While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company.[5]
Charles was blind from the age of seven. Charles cited Nat King Cole as a primary influence, but his music was also influenced by jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and country artists of the day, including Art Tatum, Louis Jordan, Charles Brown and Louis Armstrong.[10] Charles' playing reflected influences from country blues, barrelhouse and stride piano styles. He had strong ties to Quincy Jones, who often cared for him and showed him the ropes of the "music club industry."
Frank Sinatra called him "the only true genius in show business", although Charles downplayed this notion.[11]
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Charles at number ten on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time",[2] and number two on their November 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".[12] Billy Joel observed: "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley".[13]
Life and career
Early years (1930–45)
Ray Charles Robinson was the son of Aretha (née William) Robinson,[14] a sharecropper, and Bailey Robinson, a railroad repair man, mechanic, and handyman.[15] When Charles was an infant, his family moved from his birthplace in Albany, Georgia back to his mother's hometown of Greenville, Florida.
Charles did not see much of his father growing up, and it is unclear whether his mother and father were ever married. Charles was raised by his biological mother Aretha, as well as his father’s first wife, a woman named Mary Jane. Growing up, he referred to Aretha as "Mama", and Mary Jane as "mother".[10] Aretha was a devout Christian, and the family attended the New Shiloh Baptist Church.[14]
In his early years, Charles showed a curiosity for mechanical objects, and would often watch his neighbors working on their cars and farm machinery. His musical curiosity was sparked at Mr. Wylie Pitman's Red Wing Cafe, when Pitman played boogie woogie on an old upright piano; Pitman subsequently taught Charles how to play piano himself. Charles and his mother were always welcome at the Red Wing Cafe, and even lived there when they were experiencing financial difficulties.[10] Pitman would also care for Ray's brother George, to take the burden off Aretha. George drowned in Aretha's laundry tub when he was four years old, and Ray was five.[10][15] Charles started to lose his sight at the age of four[3] or five,[16] and was completely blind by the age of seven, apparently as a result of glaucoma.[17] Broke, uneducated and still mourning the loss of Charles' brother George, Aretha used her connections in the local community to find a school that would accept blind African American students. Despite his initial protest, Charles would attend school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine from 1937 to 1945.[18]
Charles began to develop his musical talent at school,[17] and was taught to play the classical piano music of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. His teacher Mrs. Lawrence taught him how to read music using braille, a difficult process that requires learning the left hand movements by reading braille with the right hand and learning the right hand movements by reading braille with the left hand, and then synthesizing the two parts. While Charles was happy to play the piano, he was more interested in the jazz and blues music he heard on the family radio than classical music.[18] On Fridays, the South Campus Literary Society held assemblies where Charles would play piano and sing popular songs. On Halloween and Washington's birthday, the black Department of the school had socials where Charles would play. It was here he established "RC Robinson and the Shop Boys" and sang his own arrangement of "Jingle Bell Boogie". During this time, he performed on WFOY radio in St. Augustine.[18]
Aretha died in the spring of 1945, when Charles was 14 years old. Her death came as a shock to Ray, who would later consider the deaths of his brother and mother to be "the two great tragedies" of his life. Charles returned to school after the funeral, but was then expelled in October for playing a prank on his teacher.[18]
Life in Florida, Los Angeles, Seattle and first hits (1945–52)
After leaving school, Charles moved to Jacksonville with a couple who were friends of his mother. He played the piano for bands at the Ritz Theatre in LaVilla for over a year, earning $4 a night. He also joined the musicians’ union in the hope that it would help him get work. He befriended many union members, but others were less kind to him because he would monopolize the union hall’s piano, since he did not have one at home. He started to build a reputation as a talented musician in Jacksonville, but the jobs did not come fast enough for him to construct a strong identity. He decided to leave Jacksonville and move to a bigger city with more opportunities.[19]
At age 16, Charles moved to Orlando, where he lived in borderline poverty and went without food for days. It was an extremely difficult time for musicians to find work, as since World War II had ended there were no “G.I. Joes” left to entertain. Charles eventually started to write arrangements for a pop music band, and in the summer of 1947 he unsuccessfully auditioned to play piano for Lucky Millinder and his sixteen-piece band.[18]
In 1947, Charles moved to Tampa, where he had two jobs: one as a pianist for Charlie Brantley's Honeydippers, a seven-piece band; and another as a member of a white country band called The Florida Playboys (though there is no historical trace of Charles' involvement in The Florida Playboys besides Charles' own testimony). This is where he began his habit of always wearing sunglasses, made by designer Billy Stickles. Ray Charles Robinson dropped his last name to avoid confusion with the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, and in his early career modelled himself on Nat "King" Cole. His first four recordings — "Wondering and Wondering", "Walking and Talking", "Why Did You Go?" and "I Found My Baby There" — were supposedly made in Tampa, although some discographies also claim he recorded them in Miami in 1951, or Los Angeles in 1952.[18]
Charles had always played piano for other people, but he was keen to have his own band. He decided to leave Florida for a large city, and, considering Chicago and New York City too big, followed his friend Gossie McKee to Seattle, Washington in March 1948, knowing that the biggest radio hits came from northern cities.[17][20] Here he met and befriended, under the tutelage of Robert Blackwell, a 15-year-old Quincy Jones.[21]
He started playing the one-to-five A.M. shift at the Rocking Chair with his band McSon Trio, which featured McKee on guitar and Milton Garrett on bass. Publicity photos of the trio are some of the earliest recorded photographs of Ray Charles. In April 1949, Charles and his band recorded "Confession Blues", which became his first national hit, soaring to the second spot on the Billboard R&B chart.[20] While still working at the Rocking Chair, he also arranged songs for other artists, including Cole Porter's "Ghost of a Chance" and Dizzy Gillespie's "Emanon".[19] After the success of his first two singles, Charles moved to Los Angeles in 1950, and spent the next few years touring with blues artist Lowell Fulson as his musical director.[3]
In 1950, his performance in a Miami hotel would impress Henry Stone, who went on to record a Ray Charles Rockin' record (which never became particular popular). During his stay in Miami, Charles was required to stay in the segregated but thriving black community of Overtown. Stone later helped Jerry Wexler find Charles in St. Petersburg.[22]
After joining Swing Time Records, he recorded two more R&B hits under the name "Ray Charles": "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" (1951), which reached number five; and "Kissa Me Baby"(1952), which reached number eight. Swing Time folded the following year, and Ahmet Ertegün signed him to Atlantic Records.[17]
Signing with Atlantic Records (1952–59)
Charles' first recording session with Atlantic ("The Midnight Hour"/"Roll With my Baby") took place in September 1952, although his last Swingtime release ("Misery in my Heart"/"The Snow is Falling") would not appear until February 1953. He began recording jump blues and boogie-woogie style recordings as well as slower blues ballads, where he continued to show the vocal influences of Nat "King" Cole and Charles Brown. "Mess Around" became Charles' first Atlantic hit in 1953; the following year he had hits with "It Should Have Been Me" and "Don't You Know". He also recorded the songs "Midnight Hour" and "Sinner's Prayer". Some elements of his own vocal style were evident in "Sinner's Prayer", "Mess Around" and "Don't You Know".
Late in 1954, Charles recorded his own composition "I Got a Woman"; the song became Charles' first number-one R&B hit in 1955, bringing him to national prominence.[23] "I Got a Woman" included a mixture of gospel, jazz and blues elements that would later prove to be seminal in the development of rock 'n' roll and soul music. He continued through to 1958 with records such as "This Little Girl of Mine", "Drown in My Own Tears", "Lonely Avenue", "A Fool For You" and "The Night Time (Is the Right Time)".
Parallel to his R&B career, Charles also recorded instrumental jazz albums such as 1957's The Great Ray Charles. During this time, Charles also worked with jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson, releasing Soul Brothers in 1958 and Soul Meeting in 1961. By 1958, Charles was not only headlining black venues such as The Apollo Theater and The Uptown Theater, but also bigger venues such as The Newport Jazz Festival (where he would cut his first live album). In 1956, Charles recruited a young all-female singing group named the Cookies, and reshaped them as The Raelettes. Up to this point, Charles had used his wife and other musicians to back him on recordings such as "This Little Girl of Mine" and "Drown In My Own Tears". The Raelettes' first recording session with Charles was on the bluesy-gospel inflected "Leave My Woman Alone".
Crossover success (1959–67)
Charles reached the pinnacle of his success at Atlantic with the release of "What'd I Say", a complex song that combined gospel, jazz, blues and Latin music, which Charles would later claim he had composed spontaneously as he was performing in clubs and dances with his small band. Despite some radio stations banning the song because of its sexually suggestive lyrics, the song became Charles' first ever crossover top ten pop record.[24] Later in 1959, he released his first country song (a cover of Hank Snow's "Movin' On"), as well as recording three more albums for the label: a jazz record (later released in 1961 as The Genius After Hours); a blues record (released in 1961 as The Genius Sings the Blues); and a traditional pop/big band record (The Genius of Ray Charles). The Genius of Ray Charles provided his first top 40 album entry, where it peaked at No. 17, and was later held as a landmark record in Charles' career.
Charles' Atlantic contract expired in the fall of 1959, with several big labels offered him record deals; choosing not to renegotiate his contract with Atlantic, Ray Charles signed with ABC-Paramount Records in November 1959.[25] He obtained a much more liberal contract than other artists had at the time, with ABC offering him a $50,000 annual advance, higher royalties than before and eventual ownership of his masters — a very valuable and lucrative deal at the time.[26] During his Atlantic years, Charles had been heralded for his own inventive compositions, but by the time of the release of the instrumental jazz LP Genius + Soul = Jazz (1960) for ABC's subsidiary label Impulse!, he had virtually given up on writing original material, instead following his eclectic impulses as an interpreter.[24]
With "Georgia on My Mind", his first hit single for ABC-Paramount in 1960, Charles received national acclaim and a Grammy Award. Originally written by composers Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael, the song was Charles' first work with Sid Feller, who produced, arranged and conducted the recording.[24][27] Charles earned another Grammy for the follow-up "Hit the Road Jack", written by R&B singer Percy Mayfield.[28]
By late 1961, Charles had expanded his small road ensemble to a full-scale big band, partly as a response to increasing royalties and touring fees, becoming one of the few black artists to crossover into mainstream pop with such a level of creative control.[24][29] This success, however, came to a momentary halt during a concert tour in November 1961, when a police search of Charles' hotel room in Indianapolis, Indiana, led to the discovery of heroin in his medicine cabinet. The case was eventually dropped, as the search lacked a proper warrant by the police, and Charles soon returned to music.[29]
In the early 1960s, whilst on the way from Louisiana to Oklahoma City, Charles faced a near-death experience when the pilot of his plane lost visibility, as snow and his failure to use defroster caused the windshield of the plane to become completely covered in ice. The pilot made a few circles in the air before he was finally able to see through a small part of the windshield and land the plane. Charles placed a spiritual interpretation on the event, claiming that "something or someone which instruments cannot detect" was responsible for creating the small opening in the ice on the windshield which enabled the pilot to land the plane safely.[10]
The 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, and its sequel Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 2, helped to bring country into the musical mainstream. Charles' version of the Don Gibson song I Can't Stop Loving You topped the Pop chart for five weeks, stayed at No. 1 in the R&B chart for ten weeks, and also gave him his only number one record in the UK. In 1962, he founded his own record label, Tangerine Records, which ABC-Paramount promoted and distributed.[30][31] He had major pop hits in 1963 with "Busted" (US No. 4) and Take These Chains From My Heart (US No. 8).
In 1965, Charles' career was halted once more after being arrested for a third time for heroin use. He agreed to go to rehab to avoid jail time, and eventually kicked his habit at a clinic in Los Angeles. After spending a year on parole, Charles reappeared in the charts in 1966 with a series of hits composed with the fledgling team of Ashford & Simpson, including the dance number "I Don't Need No Doctor", and "Let's Go Get Stoned", which became his first No. 1 R&B hit in several years. His cover of country artist Buck Owens' "Crying Time" reached No. 6 on the pop chart and helped Charles win a Grammy Award the following March. In 1967, he had a top twenty hit with another ballad, "Here We Go Again".[32]
Commercial decline (1967–81)
Charles' renewed chart success, however, proved to be short lived, and by the late 1960s his music was rarely played on radio stations. The rise of psychedelic rock and harder forms of rock and R&B music had reduced Charles' radio appeal, as did his choosing to record pop standards and covers of contemporary rock and soul hits, since his earnings from owning his own masters had taken away the motivation to write new material. Charles nonetheless continued to have an active recording career, although most of his recordings between 1968 and 1973 evoked strong reactions: people either liked them a lot, or strongly disliked them.[17] His 1972 album, A Message from the People, included his unique gospel-influenced version of "America the Beautiful", as well as a number of protest songs about poverty and civil rights. Charles was often criticized for his version of "America the Beautiful" because it was very drastically changed from the songs original version. The common argument against this is that the words are scattered and changed, but the music in the background remains beautiful and untouched. Many people believed that this was a perfect representation of the freedom Americans are given, free to do what they want, so long as they follow the laws (music) that we are given.[33]
In 1974, Charles left ABC Records and recorded several albums on his own Crossover Records label. A 1975 recording of Stevie Wonder's hit "Living for the City" later helped Charles win another Grammy. In 1977, he reunited with Ahmet Ertegün and re-signed to Atlantic Records, where he recorded the album True to Life, remaining with his old label until 1980. However, the label had now begun to focus on rock acts, and some of their prominent soul artists such as Aretha Franklin were starting to be neglected. In November 1977 he appeared as the host of NBC's Saturday Night Live.[34] In April 1979, Charles' version of "Georgia On My Mind" was proclaimed the state song of Georgia, and an emotional Charles performed the song on the floor of the state legislature.[17] Although he had notably supported the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s, in 1981 Charles was criticized for performing at South Africa's Sun City resort during an international boycott of its apartheid policy.[17]
Later years (1983–2004)
In 1983, Charles signed a contract with Columbia Records. He recorded a string of country albums, as well as having single hits with duet singers such as George Jones, Chet Atkins, B.J. Thomas, Mickey Gilley, Hank Williams, Jr. and lifelong friend Willie Nelson, with whom he recorded the No. 1 country duet "Seven Spanish Angels".
Prior to the release of his first Warner release, Would You Believe, Charles made a return to the R&B charts with a cover of The Brothers Johnson's "I'll Be Good to You", a duet with his lifelong friend Quincy Jones and singer Chaka Khan which hit number-one on the R&B charts in 1990 and won Charles and Khan a Grammy for their dual work. Prior to this, Charles returned to the pop charts in another duet, with singer Billy Joel on the song "Baby Grand". In 1989, he recorded a cover of the Southern All Stars' "Itoshi no Ellie" for a Japanese TV advert for the Suntory brand, releasing it in Japan as "Ellie My Love" where it reached No. 3 on its Oricon chart.[35]
Charles' 1993 album, My World, became his first album in some time to reach the Billboard 200, whilst his cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" would give him a hit on the adult contemporary chart as well as his twelfth and final Grammy. By the beginning of the 1980s, Charles was reaching younger audiences with appearances in various films and TV shows. In 1980, he appeared in the film The Blues Brothers. Charles' version of "Night Time is the Right Time" was played during the popular Cosby Show episode "Happy Anniversary", although he never appeared on the show in person. In 1985, he appeared alongside a slew of other popular musicians in the USA for Africa charity recording "We Are the World". Charles' popularity increased among younger audiences in 1991 after he appeared in a series of Diet Pepsi commercials, where he popularized the catchphrase "You Got the Right One, Baby".
In the late 1980s/early 1990s, he made appearances on the Super Dave Osbourne television show, featuring in a series of vignettes where he was somehow driving a car, often as Super Dave's chauffeur. During the sixth season of Designing Women, Charles himself sang "Georgia on My Mind" in place of the instrumental cover version which had featured in the previous five seasons. He also appeared in 4 episodes of the popular TV comedy The Nanny, playing Sammy in Seasons 4 & 5 during 1997-98. From 2001-2002, Charles appeared in commercials for the New Jersey Lottery to promote its "For every dream, there's a jackpot" campaign.
Charles appeared at two separate Presidential inaugurations, performing for Ronald Reagan's second inauguration in 1985, and for Bill Clinton's first in 1993.[36] On October 28, 2001, several weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, Charles appeared during Game 2 of the World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees and performed "America the Beautiful". In 2003, Charles headlined the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, DC, attended by the President, First Lady, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.
Also in 2003, Charles presented one of his greatest admirers, Van Morrison, with his award upon being inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the two sang Morrison's song "Crazy Love" (the performance appears on Morrison's 2007 album The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3). In 2003, Charles performed "Georgia On My Mind" and "America the Beautiful" at a televised annual electronic media journalist banquet held in Washington, D.C. His final public appearance came on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his music studio as a historic landmark in Los Angeles.[17]
Personal life
Marriages and children
Ray Charles was married twice, and had twelve children with ten different women. Charles' first child Evelyn was born in 1949 to his then girlfriend, Louise Flowers. Charles' first marriage was to Eileen Williams, and lasted from July 31, 1951 to 1952.
Charles' second marriage to Della Beatrice Howard Robinson (called "B" by Charles) began on April 5, 1955, and lasted 12 or 13 years. Their first child together, Ray Jr., was born in 1955. Charles was not in town for the birth as he was playing a show in Texas; at first, he was afraid to hold his son because he was so small, but he got over his fear after a few months. The couple had two further children, David (1958) and Robert (1960). During their marriage, Charles felt that his heroin addiction took a toll on Della.[10]
Charles had a six-year-long affair with Margie Hendricks, one of the original Raelettes, and in 1959 the pair had a son together, Charles Wayne. His affair with Mae Mosely Lyles resulted in another daughter, Raenee, born in 1961. In 1963, Charles had a daughter, Sheila Raye Charles Robinson, with Sandra Jean Betts. In 1966, Charles' daughter Alicia was born to a woman who remains unidentified, and another daughter, Alexandra, was also born to Chantal Bertrand. Charles divorced from Della Howard in 1977, and later that year Charles had a son, Vincent, with Arlette Kotchounian. A daughter, Robyn, was born a year later to Gloria Moffett. Charles' youngest child, son Ryan Corey, was born in 1987 to Mary Anne den Bok. Charles' long-term girlfriend and partner at the time of his death was Norma Pinella.
Substance abuse and legal issues
Charles first tried drugs when he played in McSon Trio, and was eager to try them as he thought they helped musicians create music and tap into their creativity. He experimented first with marijuana, and later became addicted to heroin, which he struggled with for sixteen years. He was first arrested in the 1950s, when he and his bandmates were caught backstage with loose marijuana and drug paraphernalia, including a burnt spoon, syringe and needle. The arrest did not deter Charles' drug use, which only escalated as he became more successful and made more money.[20]
Charles was arrested again on a narcotics charge on November 14, 1961, whilst waiting in an Indiana hotel room before a performance. The detectives seized heroin, marijuana and other items. Charles, then 31, stated that he had been a drug addict since the age of 16. The case was dismissed because of the manner in which the evidence was obtained,[37] but Charles's situation did not improve until a few years later. Individuals such as Quincy Jones and Reverend Henry Griffin felt that those around Charles were responsible for his drug use.[citation needed]
In 1964, Charles was arrested for possession of marijuana and heroin.[20] Following a self-imposed stay[37] at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, California, Charles received five years' probation. Charles responded to the saga of his drug use and reform with the songs "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Let's Go Get Stoned", and the release of Crying Time, his first album since having kicked his heroin addiction in 1966.[38][39]
Other interests
Charles liked to play chess, using a special board with raised squares and holes for the pieces.[40] In a 1991 concert, he referred to Willie Nelson as "my chess partner".[41] In 2002, he played and lost to American Grandmaster and former U.S. Champion Larry Evans.[42]
In 2001, Morehouse College honored Charles with the Candle Award for Lifetime Achievement in Arts and Entertainment, and later that same year granted him an honorary doctor of humane letters. Charles and his longtime business manager, Joe Adams, also gave a gift of $1 million to Morehouse, where Charles had approved plans for the building of the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center.[43]
Death
In 2003, Charles had successful hip replacement surgery and was originally planning to go back on tour, until he began suffering from other ailments. Charles died at his home in Beverly Hills, California on June 10, 2004, surrounded by family and friends,[44][45] as a result of acute liver disease.[3] He was 73 years old. His funeral took place on June 18, 2004, at the First AME Church in Los Angeles, with musical peers such as Little Richard in attendance.[46] B.B. King, Glen Campbell, Stevie Wonder and Wynton Marsalis each played a tribute at Charles' funeral.[47] Charles was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery.
Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6777 Hollywood Blvd
His final album, Genius Loves Company, was released two months after his death, and consists of duets with various admirers and contemporaries: B.B. King, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Norah Jones and Johnny Mathis. The album won eight Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Here We Go Again" with Norah Jones, and Best Gospel Performance for "Heaven Help Us All" with Gladys Knight; he also received nods for his duets with Elton John and B.B. King. The album included a version of Harold Arlen's "Over the Rainbow" sung as a duet with Johnny Mathis, which was played at Charles' memorial service.[47]
Two more posthumous albums were released: Genius & Friends (2005), a selection of duets recorded from 1997 to 2004 with artists of Charles' choice, including "Big Bad Love" with Diana Ross; and Ray Sings, Basie Swings (2006), which combined archive Ray Charles live vocal performances from the mid-1970s recorded from the concert mixing board with new instrumental tracks specially recorded by the contemporary Count Basie Orchestra and other musicians, to create a "fantasy concert" recording.
Legacy
Influence on music industry
Charles possessed one of the most recognizable voices in American music. In the words of musicologist Henry Pleasants (music critic):
Sinatra, and Bing Crosby before him, had been masters of words. Ray Charles is a master of sounds. His records disclose an extraordinary assortment of slurs, glides, turns, shrieks, wails, breaks, shouts, screams and hollers, all wonderfully controlled, disciplined by inspired musicianship, and harnessed to ingenious subtleties of harmony, dynamics and rhythm... It is either the singing of a man whose vocabulary is inadequate to express what is in his heart and mind or of one whose feelings are too intense for satisfactory verbal or conventionally melodic articulation. He can’t tell it to you. He can’t even sing it to you. He has to cry out to you, or shout to you, in tones eloquent of despair — or exaltation. The voice alone, with little assistance from the text or the notated music, conveys the message.[48]
His style and success in the genres of rhythm and blues and jazz had an influence on a number of highly successful artists, including Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison and Billy Joel. According to Joe Levy, a music editor for Rolling Stone, "The hit records he made for Atlantic in the mid-50's mapped out everything that would happen to rock 'n' roll and soul music in the years that followed".[49] Charles was also an inspiration to former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters, who told the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet: "I was about 15. In the middle of the night with friends, we were listening to jazz. It was "Georgia on My Mind", Ray Charles's version. Then I thought 'One day, if I make some people feel only one twentieth of what I am feeling now, it will be quite enough for me.'"[50]
Ray, a biopic portraying his life and career between 1930 and 1979, was released in October 2004, starring Jamie Foxx as Charles. Foxx won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor for the role. On December 7, 2007, the Ray Charles Plaza was opened in his hometown of Albany, Georgia, featuring a revolving, lighted bronze sculpture of Charles seated at a piano. The plaza's dedication was attended by his daughter Sheila Raye Charles.
Awards and Honors
In 1979, Charles was one of the first musicians born in the state to be inducted into the Georgia State Music Hall of Fame.[51] Charles' version of "Georgia On My Mind" was also made the official state song for Georgia.[52]
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.[53] He also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986.[54] In 1987, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1991, he was inducted to the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, and was presented with the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement during the 1991 UCLA Spring Sing.[55]
In 1993, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[56] In 1998 he was awarded the Polar Music Prize together with Ravi Shankar in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2004 he was inducted to the National Black Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame.[57] The Grammy Awards of 2005 were dedicated to Charles.
In 2003, Charles was awarded an honorary degree by Dillard University, and upon his death he endowed a professorship of African-American culinary history at the school, the first such chair in the nation.[58] A $20 million performing arts center at Morehouse College was named after Charles and was dedicated in September 2010.[59]
The United States Postal Service issued a forever stamp honoring Ray Charles as part of it Musical Icons series on September 23, 2013.
Contributions to Civil Rights Movement
On March 15, 1961, shortly after the release of the hit song "Georgia on My Mind" (1960), Charles (who was born in Albany, Georgia) was scheduled to perform at a dance at Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia, but cancelled the show after learning from students of Paine College that the larger auditorium dance floor would be restricted to whites, while blacks would be obligated to sit in the Music Hall balcony. Charles left town immediately after letting the public know why he wouldn't be performing, but the promoter went on to sue Charles for breach of contract, and Charles was fined $757 in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on June 14, 1962. The following year, Charles did perform at a desegregated Bell Auditorium concert together with his backup group the Raelettes on October 23, 1963,[60][61][62] and was not banned from performing thereafter in Georgia as depicted in the 2004 film, Ray.[63] On December 7, 2007, Ray Charles Plaza was opened in Albany, Georgia, with a revolving, lighted bronze sculpture of Charles seated at a piano.[55]
The Ray Charles Foundation
Founded in 1986, the Ray Charles Foundation maintains the mission statement of financially supporting institutions and organizations in the research of hearing disorders.[64] Originally known as "The Robinson Foundation for Hearing Disorders", it was renamed in 2006, and has since provided financial donations to numerous institutions involved in hearing loss research and education.[65] Specifically, the purpose of the Foundation has been "to administer funds for scientific, educational and charitable purposes; to encourage, promote and educate, through grants to institutions and organizations, as to the causes and cures for diseases and disabilities of the hearing impaired and to assist organizations and institutions in their social educational and academic advancement of programs for the youth, and carry on other charitable and educational activities associated with these goals as allowed by law".[66] The organization's philanthropic views stem from Charles' own views on giving, as the musician often contributed cochlear implant donations to those who could not afford the procedure. Charles was recorded as saying that the reason he has given so much more time and money to the hearing compared, rather than the visually impaired, was that music saved his life, and he wouldn't know what to do if he couldn't experience it.[citation needed]
Recipients of donations include Benedict College, Morehouse College and numerous other universities.[67] The foundation has previously taken action against donation recipients who do not use funds in accordance to its mission statement, such as the Albany State University which was made to return its $3 Million donation after not using its funds for over a decade.[68] The foundation currently houses its executive offices at the historic RPM International Building, originally the home of Ray Charles Enterprises, Inc, and now also home to the Ray Charles Memorial Library on the first floor, which was founded on September 23, 2010 (what would have been Charles' 80th birthday). The library was founded to "provide an avenue for young children to experience music and art in a way that will inspire their creativity and imagination", and is not open to the public without reservation, as the main goal is to educate mass groups of underprivileged youth and provide art and history to those without access to such documents.
Cecil Barfield aka 'William Robertson' +10.06.1994
Cecil Barfield was a truly unique country bluesman with a primitive but extremely rewarding style. Born in 1922, he started playing music when he was five years old and until he was recorded by George Mitchell in 1976 he played exclusively for for his friends and relatives. Cecil was extremely superstitious and when an LP was released of some of his recordings they were issued under the assumed name of William Robertson and he wouldn't allow a photo of him to be used since someone could turn it face down and he would die. He is an intense and unique vocalist with an odd strangulated style which may take some getting used to but is remarkably effective. He was also a fine propulsive guitarist that sounds more Mississippi than Georgia. His material is a mix of original songs and covers of blues records that he makes very much his own. Some of the material has a loose free form style that brings to mind Robert Pete Williams particularly in the wonderful semi spoken Root Blues. Presumably his fears wouldn't have allowed him to travel so only a handful of people outside his community had a chance to see him perform which is a real shame as he was a major discovery.
Cecil Barfield (William Robertson) - Love Blues
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