Grammy-Winning Crooner Ray Charles Dies

Celebrity Obituaries Forum

Ray Charles, the Grammy-winning crooner credited with creating American soul music with a blend of gospel and blues in such crowd-pleasers as "What'd I Say" and "I Got A Woman" and heartfelt ballads like "Georgia on My Mind," died Thursday. He was 73.



Charles died at 11:35 a.m., surrounded by family and friends, said spokesman Jerry Digney.


Charles last public appearance was alongside Clint Eastwood on April 30, when the city of Los Angeles designated the singers studios an historic landmark.


Blind by age 7 and an orphan at 15, Charles spent his life shattering any notion of musical boundaries and defying easy definition. A gifted pianist and saxophonist, he dabbled in country, jazz, big band and blues, and put his stamp on it all with a deep, warm voice roughened by heartbreak from a hardscrabble childhood in the segregated South.


"His sound was stunning — it was the blues, it was R&B, it was gospel, it was swing — it was all the stuff I was listening to before that but rolled into one amazing, soulful thing," singer Van Morrison told Rolling Stone magazine in April 2004.


Charles won nine of his 12 Grammy Awards between 1960 and 1966, including the best R&B recording three consecutive years ("Hit the Road Jack," "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "Busted").

Source: AP

I didn't know he was even sick.

Although I don't own any of his albums, I enjoyed his music and respect his awesome talent. Moreover, what he overcame is tremendous. Ray Charles is an inspiration. God bless.

-HECK!

No way! I am so sad to hear of his passing. He was a wonderful musician.

wow. i didn't know he was sick either. there will only be one Ray Charles. he was just great at everything he did musically. i mean the dude could do it ALL.

man, what a stunner. i'm gonna miss the man. but his music will last forever. so in a way, he'll always be here.

That's terrible... a bit of a shock, I usually don't expect celebrity deaths to occur so close together. Poor Ray... he was an amazingly talented artist, and like HECK said - an inspiration.

Celebrity deaths always come close together though Grant. You know what they say "bad things come in threes". So I am waiting for the next one. I remmeber when Geoge Harrison died, there were two other deaths around the same time, one was I think Shirl from that Aussie band, umm, I forget the name now though and someone else who I also forget (go brain )

What did Ray Charles die from?

Sad. Will he get a big televised funeral too?

I doubt it, I mean... did they televise the other 2 guys who died around the same time as Harrison? I'm kind of bitter about Ronald Reagan dying now, cause it'll totally overshadow the real genius out of the two

Damn Ronald Reagan, he could've waited a few days?

PS: I am too young and from another country to really care about Ronald Reagan dying. I don't know anything about him or what he did apart from the fact that he was an actor before being President. At least I know Ray Charles by his music, so I care more about Ray Charles dying than I do about Reagan, but in no way do I mean any disrepect.

I cant beleive he gone

When I used to teach music lessons, I would go out to local clubs to hear bands with another teacher. He always had a Ray Charles tape playing in his car. Ray did some great music and brought us some classics that will not soon be forgotten.