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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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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
Mean
Heart
Backwoods
Thing
Begin
Men
Boys
Start
Country
Right
Real

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There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we're here to explore new possibilities.
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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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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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I heard someone say that all black people got rhythm. Bullshit.
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I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of
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The important thing is to feel your music, really feel it and believe it.
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Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice.
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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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Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you.
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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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Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically.
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When I'm having a rehearsal and there are new guys who come in to try out for the job, I always let my conductor rehearse them. Because I don't want the guy to get bent out of shape, because I walk in.
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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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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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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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I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind.
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I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water.
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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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There's such a thing as too much happiness and sadness. What I'm after is contentment.
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The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.
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