Ray Charles
...t. Augustine’s school for the blind. Since his family had little money, he was accepted as a charity student. There he learned math and its correlation to music; he also learned to compose music in his head. He began playing the clarinet in school since the piano class was full. Later on, he was able to get into the piano class. As a student he would play music written by other people, but he wanted to right his own music. When Ray was 12 years old, he was able to write an arrangement, and have musicians play it back to him. Music had always been in Ray’s life – his first love of music was blues, church gospel music, and country and western; where he heard in the community. Ray was only 14 when his mother died. One day at school, he was called into the principal’s office to be sent home. When he got there, he found out from a lady who helped his mom raise him. From that moment on, he couldn’t eat or sleep. Ray moved in with a married couple in Jacksonville, FL who knew his mother really well. He stayed for a year working in little bands for musicians like Henry Washington, making four dollars a night. Later he went to Orlando, getting jobs with a man named Joe Anderson, who had a band there. Again, he stayed for a year, before going to Tampa to work with a couple of bands. Eventually he got tired of Florida, and wanted to go as far as he could. He saved up about $500, and took a bus from Tampa, Florida to Seattle, Washington, traveling for 5 days. After performing at a talent show he was told to form a trio. This is how the McSon Trio was formed. During his time in Seattle, he met many musicians who later made names for themselves such as Bumps Blackwell, Quincy Jones, and Jack Lauderdale. Jack was the first person Ray signed with. He recorded Ray in Seattle, and then flew his group to L.A. to record. Around 1950, he made a record called “Baby, Let me hold your hand”, which was his first big hit on the radio. From 1952 to 1959, Ray was with Atlantic and had control of what he was recording. If he made any bad recordings or decisions, it’d be...