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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
Start
Country
Right
Real
Mean
Heart
Backwoods
Thing
Begin
Men
Boys

More quotes by Ray Charles

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Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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[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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I'm a firm believer in God himself, but that's as far as I can go. I'm not any denomination. I'm not Catholic or Presbyterian or Baptist or Methodist or Jewish or Muslim. I'm none of those things. And I'm sure that's just fine with God.
Ray Charles
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Just because you can't see anything , doesn't mean you should shut your eyes.
Ray Charles
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Crying's always been a way for me to get things out which are buried deep, deep down. When I sing, I often cry. Crying is feeling, and feeling is being human.
Ray Charles
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Goodbye don't mean gone.
Ray Charles
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I heard someone say that all black people got rhythm. Bullshit.
Ray Charles
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Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate
Ray Charles
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I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of
Ray Charles
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The role of the designer is basically that of a good host, anticipating the needs of the guest.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been able to hear.
Ray Charles
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What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind.
Ray Charles