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Singer and Musician
Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin
Singer and Musician
Ray Charles Robinson, Singer/Composer (1930 )
A Georgia native, this singer, arranger, composer and band leader grew up in Greenville, Florida, and began playing piano at seven years of age while attending the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine. He began touring with dance bands at age fifteen. Charles recorded his first major hit, "I Got a Woman," in 1954. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1992. The world-class singer started his career in Jacksonville as a youngster, playing sideman to the jazz musicians congregating around the old Wynn Hotel on Ashely Street and other nearby nightspots. "Lots of Days, I was hungry, no place to stay, and even when you work, you might not get paid," Charles recalled. He laughs at those hard times and tells youngsters, "You gotta believe."
Ray Charles meeting with President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office at the White House |
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