Chart entered : 1 December 1960
Chart peak : 24
Number of hits : 17
Here's another musical giant if under-appreciated in the UK where the majority of his hits were relatively minor.
Ray was born in Georgia to a handyman and farmer in 1930 though the family shortly moved to Florida. He started going blind shortly after witnessing his brother's death in a laundry accident and his sight was gone by the age of seven. Both his parents were dead by the time he was 15. On a brighter note he was already recognised as a gifted pianist and could earn a living playing in bands.
In 1947 he moved to Seattle to start his own band and got a record deal for his Maxin Trio with G D McKee ( guitar ) and Milton Garrett ( bass ). Their first release "Confession Blues", a slow, sparse blues number impeccably sung got to number 2 on the R & B charts in 1949. By the end of the year they had been renamed the Ray Charles Trio. Their output between 1949 and 1953 straddles the line between jazz and blues including such numbers as "Sittin' On Top Of The World" , "Ain't That Fine" and "See See Rider". Nat King Cole's influence is obvious in Ray's singing. "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" restored him to the R & B charts in 1951.
In 1953 his record label folded and he was signed to Atlantic. From that point on his records were released under his own name and all made the R &B charts. His first single for them was "Mess Around" written by Atlantic owner Ahmed Ertegun but based on a well-used piano riff. "It Should've Been Me" is half-spoken in a rather camp tone. "I Got A Woman" set a pattern for future releases by borrowing a gospel tune and refitting it with a blues-based rhythm and secular lyrics. "This Little Girl Of Mine" and most famously the much-covered "Hallelujah I Love Her So" from 1956. The following year he had his first crossover hit with the relatively undistinguished "Swanee River Rock" but really hit big with "What'd I Say" in 1959.
"What'd I Say" is a monster which many credit with inventing soul music. It was originally an onstage jam with Ray improvising around some simple catchy riffs on his electric piano with the aid of his female backing singers The Raelettes. By the time it got to the studio it had a rhumba rhythm and unmistakably orgasmic call and response noises between Ray and the girls underscored by blaring horns. The six and a half minute piece was split between both sides of the single and, despite many radio stations refusing to play it, reached number six on the pop chart.
This success came at just the right time for Ray as he had almost fulfilled his contract with Atlantic and was soon free to negotiate an unprecedentedly lucrative deal with ABC Paramount. The first release "My Baby" a drowsy blues duet with Margie Hendrix failed to chart. The second was "Sticks And Stones " wasn't written by Ray but returned to the proto-soul sound and got him back on track. "Them That Got" was another cover and was a jazz number. That's the paradoxical thing about Ray's chart career here; he'd largely stopped recording his own material before it got started.
"Georgia On My Mind" was his first US number one. It was originally written ( the lyrics were supplied by Stuart Gorrell ) and recorded by Hoagy Carmichael whose sister was called Georgia but the lyrics could just as well refer to the state and Ray probably took them that way. Ray's version is slow and sensuous , set to a languid jazz rhythm but lushly orchestrated with restless stirrings of strings behind Ray's sedate vocal. It's as if Ray was acknowledging the ferment of the times simultaneously while basking in golden memories of his home state.
No comments:
Post a Comment