1. Ray Charles Robinson By: John Kilbourne

2. Ray Charles Ray Charles was born September 23 rd 1930 in Albany Georgia. He moved to Greenville, Florida when he was very young.

3. Early Life Saw his younger brother drown when he was only 5 years old. By age 7 he was blind. He learned to read, write, and compose music in Braille at a deaf and blind school and St. Augustine Florida.

4. Teen Years At the age of 15 his mother died. Age 17 did his first recording with the songs Guitar Blues, Walkin’ and talkin’ and Wonderin’ and Wonderin’

5. Accomplishes In 1954 wrote and recorded “I got a women” and it became a #1 R&B song on the charts. Created his own genre called “Soul” “Hit The Road Jack” was one of his most famous songs and it won a Grammy in 1961 for Rhythm and Blues recording.

6. Influences His inspiration was Nat King Cole. When Ray started singing he tried to sound like Nat Cole and sang a couple of his songs.

7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrd14P xaUcohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrd14P xaUco

8. Cited page http://www.swingmusic.net/Ray_Charles_ Biography.htmlhttp://www.swingmusic.net/Ray_Charles_ Biography.html