Brother Ray Ray Charles' Own Story

by Ritz, David; Charles, Ray

• ISBN13: 9780306814310
• ISBN10: 0306814315
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-27
• Publisher: Da Capo

Summary

Ray Charles has led one of the most extraordinary lives of any popular musician. Overcoming poverty, blindness, the loss of his parents, and the prevailing racism of the time, by the age of thirty-two Ray Charles was acclaimed worldwide as a genius. By combining the influences of gospel, jazz, blues, and even country music, he invented, almost single-handed, what became know as soul. And over a career spanning close to fifty years, Ray Charles has remained in complete control over his life and music, allowing nobody to tell him what to do.

Author Biography

David Ritz is the author of Faith in Time: The Life of Jimmy Scott, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, and many other books with or about Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and B.B. King. He is a three-time winner of the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award. He lives in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Introduction to the 2003 Edition	p. viii
Introduction	p. xii
Home	p. 3
Going Blind	p. 15
First Year at School	p. 20
Summertime in Greensville	p. 27
Back to School	p. 34
Summers in Tallahassee	p. 46
Making Out	p. 52
Suffering	p. 58
Scuffling in Jacksonville	p. 66
Hungry in Orlando	p. 75
Floppin' Round Tampa	p. 84
Moving Cross-Country	p. 94
Fooling with Drugs	p. 108
Down to L.A.	p. 114
The Road	p. 118
Struggling as a Single	p. 134
Texas	p. 145
Roughing It	p. 153
Family Dreams	p. 158
Leading	p. 162
The Girls	p. 167
Fooling, Drowning, Hallelujahing	p. 173
Whiskey and Watermelon	p. 180
Widening the Range	p. 189
Busted Again	p. 198
Keeping Track of the Change	p. 204
Too Close for Comfort	p. 213
Back to the Country	p. 219
For the Love of Women	p. 230
Loosening Up	p. 239
Wising Up	p. 246
The Bad Bust	p. 252
Kicking	p. 256
Sentencing	p. 262
Coming Back	p. 267
Following a Leader	p. 271
The Scene Abroad	p. 277
B and Me	p. 283
Working on the Building	p. 286
Living and Dying	p. 295
Nothing New	p. 303
Little Bit of Soul	p. 307
Afterword	p. 310
Epilogue	p. 318
Discography and Notes	p. 322
Pre-Atlantic	p. 322
Atlantic	p. 326
ABC	p. 333
Tangerine/Crossover and Miscellaneous	p. 340
1978-1991	p. 344
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