Ray Charles interviewed by Andrew Salkey for BBC radio, 1966. Chosenman95 · CC0
Albany · Greenville · St Augustine · Seattle · Los Angeles
Ray Charles
Tuned to 1966: London, on BBC radio with Andrew Salkey.
He lost his sight at about seven and learned to read music with his fingertips. Read his places the same way: a line of dots at a time.
Greenville, Florida · 1931–1937
A house with no lights. A school that taught his hands.
The rebuilt childhood home, Greenville, 2014. Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0
The childhood home, Greenville
His mother brought him to Greenville, a small north Florida town, early in 1931. The house is a reconstruction of the home where he lived; the original, probably from the 1920s, had no electricity or indoor plumbing. He had his first piano lessons nearby.
He starts to lose his sight, probably from glaucoma; the same year his younger brother drowns.
A small house museum, open by appointment with the town; the marker and the front can be seen from the street. Facing demolition, the house was bought by the town in 2006 and rebuilt by 2008 with a state preservation grant.
Sources
Write a cell
A Braille cell is six dots in two columns. The school taught him to read music in Braille, and to write and arrange it that way too.
·
Your line of Braille
Press the dots for “r”: 1, 2, 3, 5.
The entrance to the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, St Augustine, 2018. Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0
Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind · St Augustine
He began losing his sight around 1935, probably from glaucoma; at about seven he was declared legally blind and sent to the school. He was there from 1937 to 1945, the school’s most famous student.
He learned piano, saxophone, organ, trumpet and clarinet there.
He played Chopin, Beethoven and Strauss, and came to love the jazz pianist Art Tatum. His mother died in 1945, and at 15 he left to become a professional musician.
A working school: the grounds are not open to visitors, but you can see the entrance gates from the road.
Sources
The guide, embossed
Read the dots. Nine lines, nine towns.
Each line is a town where he lived, played or rests, spelled in Braille letters. Run your fingertip along a line and the town comes up, with its places.
Nothing read yet. Choose a line.
Seattle · 1948–1950
As far from home as he could get. A new name, then a wrong one.
Ray CharlesRobinson
McGee + Robinson Trio
· · ·Seattle · 1949
Three steps: drop the surname, join two names, press the record.
He chose Seattle in 1948, and dropped his surname so nobody would confuse him with the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.
Within days he had a gig at the Black Elks Club at 662 Jackson Street, in a trio with his friend McGee on guitar. They called it the McSon Trio: the “Mc” from McGee, the “son” from Robinson.
Quincy Jones first saw him here, and remembered him tearing the place up.
A public street in the Chinatown–International District, free to walk.
At the Rocking Chair, on 14th just off Yesler, the producer Jack Lauderdale heard the trio and offered them a record deal. The first record came out in 1949, with the band named on it as the Maxin Trio.
He left Seattle in 1950 to tour with the blues guitarist Lowell Fulson. He lived in a small apartment on 20th Avenue.
A public corner in the Central District, free to visit.
Sources
Augusta, Georgia · 15 March 1961
The rope across the hall. He would not play over it.
STAGE
The plan for the night: floor and balcony kept apart by a rope.
On 15 March 1961 he cancelled his show here when he learned the hall meant to seat white and Black fans apart.
The promoter sued him and won, and he was fined for breach of contract. Two years later he came back and played to an integrated audience.
A working 2,690-seat concert hall: see it from Telfair Street, or go in with a ticket to a show. Restored in 1989, the 2,690-seat theatre is now part of the James Brown Arena.
Sources
The Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta, 2016. DXR · CC BY-SA 4.0
Atlanta · 7 March 1979
Eighteen years later, the state sang along.
“Georgia on My Mind” becomes his first number-one pop hit.
On 7 March 1979 he played and sang “Georgia on My Mind” for the Georgia General Assembly. The song became Georgia’s official state song that year.
In 1979 he became the first performer in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
Monday to Friday, 8am–5pm; free, with self-guided visits and walk-in guided tours on most weekdays. Closed on weekends and state holidays.
Sources
Georgia Capitol Museum (UGA Libraries)
Georgia State Capitol tours
Atlanta · Mon–Fri 8am–5pm · free
Self-guided or walk-in guided tours of the building where he sang to the General Assembly in 1979.
Ray Charles at the piano in the Hamburg Musikhalle, September 1971. Heinrich Klaffs · CC BY-SA 2.0
2107 West Washington Boulevard · 1965
A studio of his own. The first of its kind.
Between 1954 and 1959 he records a run of R&B hits for Atlantic Records.
He had the two-storey building put up in 1964 as his creative home, designed with his manager Joe Adams.
RPM opened in 1965, the first studio owned by a major recording artist.
Country & Western Meets Rhythm & Blues was the first album recorded at his new studio. In 2004 the city made it a cultural and historic landmark and named the spot Ray Charles Square; he told the ceremony he loved the place.
The RPM International building, now the Ray Charles Memorial Library, 2013. Harvardheightshpoz · CC BY-SA 3.0
The library opened on 23 September 2010, what would have been his 80th birthday. Its exhibits include his GRAMMY awards, stage costumes, his own piano and saxophone, and letters from Johnny Cash.
Closed for maintenance for now. Tours are normally by appointment, in groups of 25–30, and photography is not allowed inside.
Sources
The Ray Charles Foundation
Ray Charles Memorial Library
Los Angeles · By appointment · currently closed
His studio building on Washington Boulevard. Closed for maintenance at the moment; tours are normally by appointment for groups of 25–30.
14 keys between you and the statue. Step on the first.
The plaque lines appear as you walk.
Sources
Free and open-air, in Riverfront Park beside the Flint River.
The statue at Ray Charles Plaza, Albany, 2018. Ireana Medlin · CC BY-SA 4.0The keyboard walkway at Ray Charles Plaza, 2014. Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0
Hilton
Hilton Garden Inn Albany
Albany, Georgia
Downtown on Front Street; Visit Albany notes that Riverfront Park and Ray Charles Plaza are directly across the street. Pictured: the plaza’s keyboard walkway.
The carving over the door of the Mausoleum of the Golden West, 2009. GeorgeLouis · CC BY-SA 3.0
He died at his home in Beverly Hills on 10 June 2004. His crypt is in the Mausoleum of the Golden West, in the Sanctuary of Eternal Love.
A working cemetery: visit quietly. His crypt is inside the Mausoleum of the Golden West.
Sources
The Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, Morehouse College, 2016. Thomson200 · CC0
Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, Morehouse College
Morehouse gave him an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 2001. The $24-million, 76,000-square-foot centre opened in 2010, the largest building given in his honour.
On the Morehouse College campus; check the college’s events before you go.
Sources
Where it is now
11 places you can visit, from Albany to Inglewood. The St Augustine school is a working school: see it from the gates.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Free and open-air, in Riverfront Park beside the Flint River.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working 2,690-seat concert hall: see it from Telfair Street, or go in with a ticket to a show.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Monday to Friday, 8am–5pm; free, with self-guided visits and walk-in guided tours on most weekdays. Closed on weekends and state holidays.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. On the Morehouse College campus; check the college’s events before you go.
1The statue at Ray Charles Plaza, Albany, 2018. Ireana Medlin · CC BY-SA 4.0
Riverfront Park, Front Street, Albany, Georgia
Ray Charles Plaza, Albany
Ray Charles Robinson was born in Albany on 23 September 1930.
Free and open-air, in Riverfront Park beside the Flint River.
On 15 March 1961 he cancelled his show here when he learned the hall meant to seat white and Black fans apart.
A working 2,690-seat concert hall: see it from Telfair Street, or go in with a ticket to a show.
Sources
3The Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta, 2016. DXR · CC BY-SA 4.0
206 Washington Street SW, Atlanta
Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta
On 7 March 1979 he played and sang “Georgia on My Mind” for the Georgia General Assembly.
Monday to Friday, 8am–5pm; free, with self-guided visits and walk-in guided tours on most weekdays. Closed on weekends and state holidays.
Sources
4The Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, Morehouse College, 2016. Thomson200 · CC0
Morehouse College, Atlanta University Center, Atlanta
Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, Morehouse College
Morehouse gave him an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 2001.
On the Morehouse College campus; check the college’s events before you go.
Sources
Stay
Sleep by the river.
A downtown Albany hotel across the street from the plaza.
Hilton
Hilton Garden Inn Albany
Albany, Georgia
Downtown on Front Street; Visit Albany notes that Riverfront Park and Ray Charles Plaza are directly across the street. Pictured: the plaza’s keyboard walkway.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
The full record
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
11 of 11 places · 22 of 22 Moments
Ray Charles Plaza, Albany
Riverfront Park, Front Street, Albany, Georgia
Albany
Ray Charles Robinson is born in Albany, Georgia.
The plaza
Albany opens Ray Charles Plaza on the Flint River, with a statue that turns.
The childhood home, Greenville
443 SW Ray Charles Avenue, Greenville, Florida
Greenville
His mother takes him to Greenville, a small town in north Florida.
The light goes
He starts to lose his sight, probably from glaucoma; the same year his younger brother drowns.
Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind
St Augustine, Florida
St Augustine
Declared legally blind at about seven, he is sent to the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind.
Music by touch
He learns to read, write and arrange music in Braille, and to play five instruments.
Fifteen
His mother dies; at 15 he leaves school to play for a living.
Museum of Florida History, Tallahassee
R.A. Gray Building, 500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee
The Elks Club, Jackson Street
662 South Jackson Street, Seattle
Seattle
He moves to Seattle, drops Robinson, and within days is playing the Elks Club with the McSon Trio.
The Rocking Chair, 14th and Yesler
14th Avenue, just off Yesler Way, Seattle
The Maxin Trio
Jack Lauderdale hears the trio at the Rocking Chair; the first record comes out under the wrong name.
Los Angeles
He leaves Seattle to tour with Lowell Fulson; Los Angeles becomes his home for good.
Bell Auditorium, Augusta
712 Telfair Street, Augusta, Georgia
Augusta
He cancels his Bell Auditorium show rather than play to a segregated house, and is sued.
Back to Augusta
He returns to Augusta and plays to an integrated audience.
Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta
206 Washington Street SW, Atlanta
Georgia on his mind
“Georgia on My Mind” becomes his first number-one pop hit.
The state song
He sings “Georgia on My Mind” for the General Assembly; it becomes the state song.
Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, Morehouse College
Morehouse College, Atlanta University Center, Atlanta
Morehouse
Morehouse College makes him an honorary doctor.
The centre
The Ray Charles Performing Arts Center opens at Morehouse.
RPM International, now the Ray Charles Memorial Library
2107 West Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles
Atlantic
Between 1954 and 1959 he records a run of R&B hits for Atlantic Records.
His own studio
RPM International opens on Washington Boulevard, the first studio owned by a major recording artist.
Country, at home
Country & Western Meets Rhythm & Blues is the first album made in his own studio.
Ray Charles Square
Los Angeles makes the RPM building a landmark and names the spot Ray Charles Square.
The library
The Ray Charles Memorial Library opens in the RPM building on his 80th birthday.
Inglewood Park Cemetery
Inglewood, California
Inglewood
He dies at home in Beverly Hills and is laid in the Mausoleum of the Golden West.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
_op_Schiphol,_Bestanddeelnr_921-7410.jpg){kind=link}
