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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.

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
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Sound
Helping
Cannot
Anything

More quotes by Ray Charles

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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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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.
Ray Charles
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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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The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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Music's been around a long time, and there's going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it's a big record, that's the frosting on the cake, but music's the main meal.
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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Sighted people, you gotta deal with them.
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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Live each day like it's your last, 'cause one day you gonna be right
Ray Charles
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Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice.
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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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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I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind.
Ray Charles
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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.
Ray Charles
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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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Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate
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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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