Visionary virtuoso: Ray Charles' fusion of gospel and blues changed the face of American popular music.(THE OBJECT AT HAND)

Publication: Smithsonian

Publication Date: 01-MAR-06

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Smithsonian Institution

RAY CHARLES, who died at age 73 on June 10, 2004, lives on in America's collective inner ear. So much so that it's a challenge to think of anyone else who ever performed such songs as "Georgia On My Mind," "What'd I Say" and "You Don't Know Me." And if anyone other than Charles ever sang a more heartfelt, heart-stirring version of "America the Beautiful," I haven't heard it. Perhaps there is no more telling measure of the man's musical genius than that in a business where...

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