Videos
Ray Charles' First Piano Lesson
Ray Charles Rejects Jim Crow Segregation
Every Great Musical Performance—"Hit the Road Jack," "Mess Around," "What'd I Say" and more!
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Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.