Ray Charles Robinson: September 23, 1930--June 10, 2004
The Man.
When I was a kid The Ray Charles Singers had a godawful, Montovaniesque hit with "Love Me With All Your Heart", and I was seriously confused (and a little disturbed). Why did Ray Charles have a group of easy listening chorale singers? Why would anybody listen to them without Ray? It was many years before I learned it was a different Ray Charles, who was in fact the musical director for Perry Como. Ray Charles did "Drown in My Own Tears". The Ray Charles Singers did the theme song to Three's Company. Only the names are confusing.
It's the set up to a classic musicians' joke:
First horn player: I've got a session with Ray Charles tomorrow.
Second horn player: Which one? The one who can't see, or the one who can't hear?
I think I may have mentioned this before, but it was once my secret desire to be a Raylette.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know that being the Whitest Woman in America would have made that difficult. It was just a dream.