Ray Charles: the 100 most inspiring musicians of all time
Ray Charles Robinson (b. Sept. 23, 1930, Albany, Ga., U.S.—d. June 10, 2004, Beverly Hills, Calif.) was an American pianist, singer, composer, and bandleader.
Ray Charles was a leading entertainer, often billed as “the Genius.” Charles was credited with the early development of soul music, a style based on a melding of gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz music.
When Ray Charles was an infant, his family moved to Greenville, Florida, and he began his musical career at age five on a piano in a neighbourhood café. He began to go blind at six, possibly from glaucoma, completely losing his sight by age seven. He attended the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind, where he concentrated on musical studies, but left school at age 15 to play the piano professionally after his mother died from cancer (his father had died when the boy was 10).
Ray Charles built a remarkable career based on the immediacy of emotion in his performances. After emerging as a blues and jazz pianist indebted to Nat King Cole’s style in the late 1940s, Charles recorded the boogie-woogie classic “Mess Around” and the novelty song “It Should’ve Been Me” in 1952–53. His arrangement for Guitar Slim’s “The Things That I Used to Do” became a blues million-seller in 1953.
By 1954 Charles had created a successful combination of blues and gospel influences and signed on with Atlantic Records. Propelled by Charles’s distinctive raspy voice, “I’ve Got a Woman” and “Hallelujah I Love You So” became hit records. “What’d I Say” led the rhythm-and-blues sales
charts in 1959 and was Charles’s own first million-seller.
Ray Charles’s rhythmic piano playing and band arranging revived the “funky” quality of jazz, but he also recorded in many other musical genres. He entered the pop market with the bestsellers “Georgia on My Mind” (1960) and “Hit the Road, Jack” (1961). His album Modern Sounds in
Country and Western Music (1962) sold more than one million copies, as did its single, “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” Thereafter, his music emphasized jazz standards and renditions of pop and show tunes.
Browse in the Library:
Artist or Composer / Score name | Cover | List of Contents |
---|---|---|
Waltz For Debby – Bill Evans (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Waltz From The Balet ‘coppelia’ (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Waltz In A Minor F. Chopin (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Waltz In E Minor Op. 39 No. 4 – Johannes Brahms (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Ward-Jackson’s Gymnastics For The Fingers And Wrist – based On Anatomical Principles (By Edwin Ward-Jackson) 1874 | ||
Watermark (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Watermelon Man (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Waters of Irrawaddy (Hans Zimmer) from the movie Beyond Rangoon | ||
Wave – Vou Te Contar Jobim (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Wayne Shorter – Ana Maria | ||
Wayne Shorter Artist Transcriptions The New Best of | Wayne Shorter Artist Transcriptions The New Best of | |
Wayward Sisters – Nocturnal Animals OST (Abel Korzeniowski) | ||
We are the champions (Queen) | ||
We Are The World Songbook | we are the world | |
We Shall Overcome Essays on a Great American Song (Book) by Victor B.Bobetsky | ||
We Wish You A Merry Christmas | ||
We Wish You A Merry Christmas – Anonymous (Guitar arr. sheet music with TABs) | We Wish You A Merry Christmas – Anonymous (Guitar arr. sheet music with TABs) | |
We Wish You A Merry Christmas – Guitar TABlature | ||
We Wish You A Merry Christmas (piano solo sheet music) | ||
We Wish You A Merry Christmas Trad. English Christmas carol | ||
We Wish You A Merry Christmas Trad. English Christmas carol.mscz | ||
Weather Report – A Remark You Made (Guitar TABS) | Weather Report – A Remark You Made (Guitar TABS) | |
Weather Report – The best of Weather Report (Full score) | Weather Report – The best of Weather Report (Full score) | |
Weather Report Best Of Weather Report Band Score Book | Best Of Weather Report Us Book | |
Weber – Der Freischütz (Ouvertüre) Piano Solo arr | ||
Weber – Der Freischütz (Ouvertüre) Piano Solo arr.mscz | ||
Weber – Der Freischutz Overture piano solo arr. | ||
Weber op 65 Invitation to the Dance (Invitation to the Waltz) | ||
Weber’s Last Thought – C.M. von Weber | ||
Wedding Collection for Piano Solo | Wedding Collection for Piano Solo | |
Wednesday Morning 3 A M – Simon & Garfunkel (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Weight Of The World – Nier Automata Piano Collections (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Weissenberg En Avril A Paris (April In Paris) Charles Trenet | ||
Well Tempered Praise – Mark Hayes piano | Well Tempered Praise – Mark Hayes piano | |
Well Tempered Praise II by Mark Hayes | Well Tempered Praise II by Mark Hayes | |
Well Tempered Praise III – Mark Hayes piano | Well Tempered Praise III – Mark Hayes piano | |
Well Tempered Praise Vol 4 Gospel Classics by Mark Hayes | Well Tempered Praise Vol 4 Gospel Classics by Mark Hayes | |
Well-Known Piano Solos – How To Play Them (By Charles W Wilkinson) (1915) | ||
Wes Montgomery Wine And Roses By Henry Mancini Solo Guitar | ||
Wes Montgomery – Unit 7 Solo Transcription | Wes Montgomery – Unit 7 Solo Transcription | |
Wes Montgomery – Artist Transcriptions for guitar by fred Sokolow | Wes Montgomery – Artist Transcriptions for guitar by fred Sokolow | |
Wes Montgomery – Au Privave transcription | ||
Wes Montgomery – Days of wine and roses transcription | ||
Wes Montgomery – Take The A Train transcription | ||
Wes Montgomery Essential Jazz Lines (Mel Bay) | Wes Montgomery Essential Jazz Lines (Mel Bay) | |
Wes Montgomery Jazz Guitar Artistry arr. by Zafar Soood with TABs | Wes Montgomery Jazz Guitar Artistry arr. by Zafar Soood | |
Wes Montgomery Jazz No Blues Guitar | ||
Wes Montgomery The Early Years (Mel Bay) Jazz Guitar Solos Tablature | Wes Montgomery The Early Years (Mel Bay) Jazz Guitar Solos Tablature | |
Wes Montgomery The End Of A Love Affair Guitar Tabs | ||
West Side Story – Somewhere (Voice and Piano) Leonard Bernstein | West Side Story – Somewhere | |
West Side Story (The Musical) Vocal Score Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim | West Side Story Vocal Score – Leonard Bernstein | |
Westlife – Cant Lose What You Never Had | ||
Westlife – Flying Without Wings | ||
Westlife – If I Let You Go | ||
Westlife – Mandy | ||
Westlife – You Raise Me Up Guitar arr. with TABs | Westlife – You Raise Me Up Guitar arr. with TABs | |
Westlife Unbreakable Greatest Hits | ||
Wet Wet Wet – Love Is All Around | ||
Wexford Carol (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Wham , George Michael And Me By Andrew Ridgeley (Book) | ||
Wham Make It Big Piano Vocal Guitar Chords | Wham Make It Big Piano Vocal Guitar Chords | |
What a Wonderful World – Thiele & Weiss | ||
What a wonderful world – Louis Armstrong.mscz | ||
What A Wonderful World (Lead Sheet With Lyrics ) Musescore File.mscz | ||
What a Wonderful World (lead sheet) – Thiele & Weiss | What a Wonderful World (lead sheet) – Thiele & Weiss | |
What A Wonderful World (Musescore File).mscz | ||
What a wonderfull World (Jazz Standard) Guitar Tablature TABs | What a wonderfull World (Jazz Standard) Guitar Tablature TABs | |
What A Wonderlful World (Lead Sheet) (Musescore File).mscz | ||
What You’re Made Of – Même Si (Lucie Silvas – Grégory Lemarchal | ||
What’s That Sound An Introduction To Rock And Its History By John Covach And Andrew Flory (Book) | ||
When A Man Loves A Woman Calvin Lewis & Andrew Wright | ||
When Almonds Blossomed – Giya Kancheli | When Almonds Blossomed – Giya Kancheli-1 | |
When Almonds Blossomed (Musescore File).mscz | ||
When I Fall In Love – Victor Young (Bill Evans Ver.) (Musescore File).mscz | ||
When I fall in love Bill Evans version | When I fall in love Bill Evans version | |
When I’m Sixty-Four (Beatles) | ||
When Lights Are Low (Benny Carter) As Played By Miles Davis (Musescore File).mscz | ||
When The Saints Go Marchin In – Gospel Traditional Folk song (Piano solo with Lyrics) | When The Saints Go Marchin In – Gospel Traditional Folk song (Piano solo with Lyrics) SAMPLE | |
When The Saints Go Marching In – Fun piano arrangement | When The Saints Go Marching In – Fun piano arrangement | |
When you told me you loved me (Jessica Simpson) | ||
When You Wish Upon A Star (Musescore File).mscz | ||
When You Wish Upon A Star (From The Film Pinocchio) Easy Piano Solo Arr. Sheet Music (Musescore File).mscz | ||
When You Wish Upon A Star (Leigh Harline and Ned Washington) from Pinocchio Jazz Piano Solo arr. sheet music | When You Wish Upon A Star (Leigh Harline and Ned Washington) from Pinocchio Jazz Piano Solo arr. sheet music | |
When You Wish Upon A Star (Solo Piano Arr ) David Dinh | ||
When You’re Gone (Avril Lavigne) | ||
When You’re Smilling (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Where have all the-flowers gone (guitar & voice) | Where-have-all-the-flowers-gone (guitar & voice) | |
While your lips are still red (Nightwish) | ||
Whistling away the dark (Darling Lili OST) Henry Mancini | ||
White Album 2 Ending 3 Sayonara No Koto | ||
White Christmas -Irving Berlin – Piano sheet music | ||
White Christmas Irving Berlin (Musescore File).mscz | ||
White Christmas Medley (Liberace) | ||
White skin like the moon (Jane Eyre 2011 OST) Dario Marianelli | ||
Whitesnake – Here I Go Again | ||
Whitesnake Guitar Collection with TABs | Whitesnake Guitar Collection with TABs | |
Whitesnake Is This Love Piano Vocal Guitar Chords | Whitesnake Is This Love Piano Vocal Guitar Chords | |
Whitney Houston – Jesus Loves Me Sheet Music | ||
Whitney Houston The Best Of | Whitney Houston, The Best Of | |
Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You | ||
Whitney Houston – It’s Easy To Play Whitney Houston | Whitney Houston – It’s Easy To Play Whitney Houston | |
Whitney Houston – Saving All My Love For You | ||
Whitney Houston – The Greatest Hits | Whitney – The Greatest Hits | |
Whitney Houston – The Greatest Love Of All | ||
Whitney Houston I will always love you | Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You | |
Whitney Houston My Love Is Your Love | Whitney Houston My Love Is Your Love | |
Who wants to live forever (Queen) | ||
Whole New World Sheet Music, A – Alan Menken | ||
Why Jazz? A Concise Guide – Kevin Whitehead (book) | ||
Wicked The Musical Sheet Music Full song Book Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz | Wicked the musical contents — Wicked The Musical Sheet Music Full Book | |
Wieck – Piano Studies | ||
Wiklund Adolf Fran Mitt Fonster (From my Window) Piano Solo | ||
Wild – Fantasy On Gershwin’s Porgy And Bess | Wild Fantasy On Gershwin’s Porgy And Bess | |
Wild Gershwin Seven Virtuoso Etudes | Wild Gershwin Seven Virtuoso Etudes | |
Wild, Earl – Gershwin Étude No. 4 based on Embraceable You Piano | Wild, Earl – Gershwin Etude No. 4 based on Embraceable You Piano | |
Wilde Theme (Debbie Wiseman) | ||
Wilhelm Kempff Musik Des Barock Und Rokoko – Nr. 13 Menuett G-Moll G.F. Händel (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Will B. Morrison – Melody in F (Syncopated Waltz) sheet music | ||
Will Young – Anything Is Possible | ||
William Best I Love You For Sentimental Reasons (Jazz Standard) | William Best I Love You For Sentimental Reasons (Jazz Standard) |
From 1955, Ray Charles toured extensively in the United States and elsewhere with his own big band and a gospelstyle female backup quartet called The Raeletts. He also appeared on television and worked in films such as Ballad in Blue (1964) and The Blues Brothers (1980) as a featured act and soundtrack composer. He formed his own custom recording labels, Tangerine in 1962 and Crossover Records n 1973.
The recipient of many national and international awards, he received 13 Grammy Awards, including a lifetime achievement award in 1987. In 1986 Charles was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Kennedy Center Honor. He published an autobiography, Brother Ray, Ray Charles’ Own Story (1978), written with David Ritz.
Download Ray Charles’ sheet music from our Library.
Ray Charles in Copenhagen 1973
Track List:
0:00 Intro 5:29 Hallelujah I Love Her So (Ray Charles) 9:08 Georgia On My Mind (Hoagy Carmichael & Stuart Gorrell) 15:09 You Made Me Love You (James V. Monaco & Joseph McCarthy) 18:12 Yesterday (Paul McCartney) 23:43 Feel So Bad (J. Johnson) 30:05 Goin’ Down Slow (“St. Louis” Jimmy Oden) 37:27 Goin’ Down Slow (Bis) 39:45 Intro Raelettes 44:16 Rocksteady (Aretha Franklin)
48:55 I Can’t Stop Loving You (Don Gibson) 54:48 Look What They Have Done To My Song, Ma (The New Seekers) 59:58 Indian Love Call (Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald) 1:14:40 Eleanor Rigby (Paul McCartney & John Lennon) 1:18:47 Introduction John Henderson 1:23:10 Shake (Ray Charles) 1:27:35 Ray introducing Raelettes by name; in call and response improv) 1:39:20 Leave My Man Alone (Vernita Moss) 1:42:54 Introduction band 1:43:41 So Soon (John Henderson) 1:48:30 What’d I Say (Ray Charles)