Quote

[On his heroin addiction:] I did it to myself. It wasn't society...it wasn't a pusher, it wasn't being blind or being black or being poor. It was all my doing.

Ray Charles

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Ray Charles
Age: 71 †
Born: 1932
Born: September 23
Died: 2004
Died: June 10
Composer
Jazz Musician
Music Arranger
Musician
Pianist
Recording Artist
Saxophonist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Soul Musician
Vocalist
Albany
Georgia
Ray Charles Robinson
Raymond Charles Robinson Peter
Wasn
Poor
Society
Black
Pusher
Heroin
Addiction
Blind

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When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.
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I don't sing a song unless I feel it. The song don't tug at my heart, I pass on it. I have to believe in what I'm doing.
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I don't think any of us really knows why we're here. But I think we're supposed to believe we're here for a purpose.
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Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice.
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It's like Duke Ellington said, there are only two kinds of music - good and bad. And you can tell when something is good.
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Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically.
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Now Listen You know I work so hard, all day long Everything I try to do, Seem to always turn out wrong That's why I wanna stop by on my way home and say Let's go get stoned
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I never said I was a genius. I never said I was a cornerstone. I've never said I'm a legend in my own time. You never heard me say nothing like that.
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You got to set your mind right and the rest will come to you naturally. No restrictions, no hang-ups, no stupid rules, no formalities, no forbidden fruit - just everyone getting and giving as much as he and she can.
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I can't help what I sound like. What I sound like is what i am. You know? I cannot be anything other that what I am.
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Goodbye don't mean gone.
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I'm not into the money thing. You can only sleep in one bed at a time. You can only eat one meal at a time, or be in one car at a time. So I don't have to have millions of dollars to be happy. All I need are clothes on my back, a decent meal, and a little loving when I feel like it. That's the bottom line.
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I cant retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. Youd have to remove the music from me surgically—like you were taking out my appendix.
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The important thing is to feel your music, really feel it and believe it.
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Sighted people, you gotta deal with them.
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Many times during auditions, I was told that I couldn't carry a note with a bucket, and that I sure couldn't play the piano.
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Before I begin, let me say right here and now that I'm a country boy. And, man, I mean the real backwoods! That's at the start of the start of the thing, and that's at the heart of the thing.
Ray Charles
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The role of the designer is basically that of a good host, anticipating the needs of the guest.
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Rhythm and blues used to be called race music. ... This music was going on for years, but nobody paid any attention to it.
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I think that most great artists who are extremely known, as I am, would intimidate a lot of people. I don't want to do that to people, but I know I do.
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