Ray Charles was a famous “...American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and pianist. His style was influenced by gospel music, rhythm and blues, jazz and country." Ray Charles released many memorable hits throughout his career, such as "Hit the Road, Jack", "Georgia on My Mind" and "What'd I Say". Charles has been credited with forming a new genre of music known as "soul music". Soul music is a combination of gospel and blue styles mixed with enthusiastic passion. Thanks to this creation, he earned the title of musical "Genius" and "Father of Soul". Charles won seventeen Grammy awards, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and earned many other awards in his life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Ray Charles Robinson, "was born into a poor family on September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia." His father Bailey Robinson was a mechanic and his mother Aretha Robinson was a sharecropper and raised Charles and his brother George Robinson during the Great Depression. When Charles was still a child, his family moved to Greenville, Florida, where he grew up. Charles went blind due to an untreated case of glaucoma, a disease that damages the eye's optic nerve. “Although young Ray Charles, born Ray Charles Robinson, began losing his sight at age 5, not long after witnessing his brother's drowning, his eventual blindness was a medical issue, not a traumatic one . At the age of 7 he became completely blind when his right eye was removed due to intense pain.” Because he was blind, the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine accepted him. At this school he learned "Braille, typing, basket weaving and mathematics". Charles also became close friends with a Greenville neighbor who played the piano. Before he went blind, he spent a lot of time with this neighbor and learned to play the piano in the blues genre. When he became blind, he could no longer practice with his neighbor. Once he entered his school in Florida, “he was allowed to develop his musical skills by learning the piano, clarinet, and alto saxophone; he also developed the ability to compose and arrange music from memory.” In his school he was strictly taught only classical music, which aroused Charles' interest in jazz and blues even more. When he turned fifteen, his mother died, which prompted him to begin his career as a professional traveling musician. Shortly afterwards his father also died, leaving both him and his brother orphans. This, however, did not deter Charles from pursuing a musical career, as he had always dreamed of. He toured Florida and Washington with several bands specializing in jazz, country and blues music, and sometimes performed solos imitating famous blues singers. As he began to gain success on the West Coast, "Charles, along with bassist Milt Jarret and guitarist Gossady McGee, formed the McSon Trio, the first all-black group to have a sponsored television show in the Seattle area." This group released a song titled “Confession Blues,” which became a fantastic hit in the R&B category. The group continued to release many hits and many record companies quickly became interested in signing Ray Charles. After moving to Los Angeles, California in 1950, Charles signed his first solo contract with Atlantic Records in 1951. At this time in his life, Ray Charles Robinson changed his name to Ray Charles to avoid being confused with a famous boxer of the time, Ray Robinson. Charles could perform multiple musical genres: jazz, country and; 73 ”.