Ray Charles.

Glaucoma struck Ray Charles at age five, leaving him blind by seven. He was born Raymond Charles Robinson on September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia, and moved with his family to Greenville, Florida as an infant. His father abandoned them, and his younger brother, George, drowned in a washtub accident. At age five, Ray developed glaucoma and within two years lost his sight completely. He began singing in a Baptist choir and showed a natural talent for music, studying at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, where he learned piano, clarinet, and other instruments. Orphaned by his early teens, he left school at 16 to join a country band called The Florida Playboys.

In 1948, Ray Charles moved to Seattle and formed the McSon Trio with guitarist Gossady McGee, playing jazz and bebop. He signed with Swing Time Records, becoming the pianist for Lowell Fulson’s band. His first R&B hit, Confession Blues, came in 1949. After moving to Atlantic Records in 1952, he scored breakthrough hits like Mess Around 1953, I’ve Got a Woman 1954, and What’d I Say 1959, which pushed gospel and R&B to a wider audience. In 1960, he signed with ABC-Paramount and released signature songs such as Georgia On My Mind 1960, Hit the Road Jack 1961, and I Can’t Stop Loving You 1962. His 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music transformed country music with soulful interpretations. Charles also appeared in films like The Blues Brothers 1980 and won 8 posthumous Grammys for Genius Loves Company 2004.

Ray Charles married twice: first to Eileen Williams from July 31, 1951 to 1952, and then to Della Beatrice Howard from April 5, 1955 until their divorce in 1977. He had 12 children with various women, including his backup singer Margie Hendricks, who gave birth to Charles Wayne Hendricks. Charles struggled with a heroin addiction for nearly two decades; he quit cold turkey in 1965 after an arrest at Boston’s airport. A chess enthusiast, he famously drove a car without assistance in a Death Valley commercial. Despite his blindness, he was a longtime supporter of Israel and performed at presidential inaugurations for Ronald Reagan 1985 and Bill Clinton 1993.

Ray Charles fundamentally changed American music by blending rhythm and blues with gospel, creating soul music. He inspired countless musicians, including Ronnie Milsap and Terri Gibbs, who followed as blind performers. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its inaugural class 1986, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987 and a National Medal of Arts in 1993. His 2004 collaboration Genius Loves Company won eight Grammys, including Album of the Year. Rolling Stone ranked him the second greatest singer of the rock era in 2008 and the 10th greatest rock artist. He is remembered as a fearless innovator who refused to be limited by race or blindness.