[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 81 (Monday, June 14, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1107]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         PAYING TRIBUTE TO ``RAY CHARLES--A NATIONAL TREASURE''

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                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 14, 2004

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, tonight I pay tribute to the 
angel of soul in music Mr. Ray Charles the piano man with the soulful 
voice who reshaped American music for a half century. He brought the 
essence of soul to country, jazz, rock, and every other style of music 
that you can think of he had an influence on it.
  Mr. Charles died at the age of 73 of an acute liver disease at his 
Beverly Hills home at 11:35 a.m. on Thursday, June 10, 2004 surrounded 
by family and friends. As a singer, pianist and composer, Charles broke 
racial and musical barriers as an African American, blind by the age of 
7 and an orphan at 15, he spent the rest of his life blending rhythm 
and blues into various musical art forms that earned him 12 Grammy 
Awards and immense fame for five decades.
  Ray Charles ``The Genius'' produced many hit songs like ``What'd I 
Say?'' which featured the Raelettes, was his first million selling 
song. Next came a classic version of Hoagy Carmichael's 1930 song 
``Georgia on My Mind.'' Charles version became the official state song 
of Georgia. Due to some objections by recording executives at the label 
company, Charles made ``Modern Sounds in Country and Western music'' in 
1962, an album that produced a million-seller with songs like ``I Can't 
Stop Loving You'' and the popular hit ``Hit the Road, Jack'' and ``Let 
the Good Times Roll.'' At the 1960 Grammy Awards, he took home four 
awards across all genres, including best vocal performance by a pop 
artist (``Georgia on My Mind''), best vocal performance album (``The 
Genius of Ray Charles'') and best R&B performance (``Let the Good Times 
Roll'').
  He later won Grammy Awards for ``Busted'' in 1963 and ``Crying Time'' 
in 1966 and other songs like ``Let's Go Get Stoned.'' In all, Mr. 
Charles made more than 60 albums and his influence has resonated 
through generations of country, pop, R&B and gospel singers.
  Mr. Charles began involving himself in music at a very early age. In 
his autobiography, Charles said, ``as long as I can remember, music has 
always been something extraordinary in my life. It's always been 
something that completely captured my attention--from the time I was 
three, when Mr. Pitman was showing me these little melodies. My first 
love was the music I heard in the community: blues, church gospel 
music, and country and western. My mom would let me stay up to listen 
to the Grand Old Opry on Saturday night. That's the only time I got to 
stay up late. I heard the blues played by Muddy Waters and Blind Boy 
Philips and Tampa Red and Big Boy Crudup. And of course every night if 
you listened to the right station, you might pick up a little Duke 
Ellington or Count Basie. But the bulk of what I heard of blues in 
those days was called ``race music,'' which became rhythm and blues, 
and rhythm and blues later was called soul music.''
  Mr. Charles learned to read and write music in Braille, scored for 
big bands and played instruments like the trumpet, clarinet, organ, 
alto sax and the piano. This experience in reading Braille and playing 
by ear helped Charles develop a superb memory where he could sit at his 
desk and write a complete arrangement in his head and not touch a 
musical instrument and the music would come out exactly the way it 
sounded in his head.
  Mr. Charles thank you for being the angel of soul, you will be 
missed.

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