Ray Charles

@ National Portrait Gallery

Unidentified Artist Blackglama

Description

Born Albany, GeorgiaBlind by age five, singer-composer Ray Charles learned the rudiments of his musicianship at a school for the deaf and blind in Florida. In his early performing career, he modeled his style largely on singer Nat "King" Cole. By the early 1950s, however, he was developing an original blend of blues and gospel that would lead to his first major hit recording, "I’ve Got a Woman," and ultimately make him the "father of soul music." The winner of eleven Grammy Awards and a Kennedy Center Honors award, Charles had many hits that have long since become pop music classics, including "Georgia on My Mind" and "Hit the Road, Jack." He also exercised enormous influence on other performers, and many experts number him among the most important American musicians of his time.

Type:

Image

Format:

Halftone Poster

Rights:

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

View Original At:

http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID=npg_NPG.2007.244&repo=DPLA