The High Priest of Soul and great musician and band leader. The master of entertaining the masses and a very astute business man. It was was a pleasure to have known him and I will miss him greatly. I will write more Ray about our history in my upcoming book. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite quotes from him over the years.
"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." — (San Jose Mercury News, 1994)
"Do it right or don’t do it at all. That comes from my mom. If there’s something I want to do, I’m one of those people that won’t be satisfied until I get it done. If I’m trying to sing something and I can’t get it, I’m going to keep at it until I get where I want it." — (Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 1998)
"The fact of the matter is, you don’t give up what’s natural. Anything I’ve fantasized about, I’ve done." — (Los Angeles Times, 1989)
You can find some books about Ray in my Book Store Here
