Music and Beyond

◀ You may not have grown up with Ray Charles’s music. But if you have heard songs by Chaka Khan, Ludacris, Michael Bolton, Throttle, or Kid Rock, you may be more familiar with his music than you think. These and other modern artists have sampled many of Ray Charles’s songs. Sampling is when one artist uses small bits of another artist’s music in a new work of his or her own. Charles’s version of “Georgia On My Mind” is one of his many songs that artists have sampled.

In 1986, Charles founded the Ray Robinson Foundation for Hearing Disorders. (Later, it was renamed the Ray Charles Foundation.) Its mission is to provide financial support in areas concerned with hearing disorders. For example, it has funded implants for people unable to hear. It is also involved with empowering students with academic services in the arts and science. The foundation’s aim is to help young people believe in themselves. Charles was also involved in the fight against sickle cell anemia. This is a blood disorder that affects Blacks more than other groups of people. He even met with President Richard Nixon at the White House to talk about the need for more research into the disease. ▶

◀ Ray Charles’s personal motto was, “There is no challenge too great one cannot overcome.” That included learning how to play chess, which he did. Charles played chess with his band members and other performers. He became good enough to play against Grandmaster Larry Evans. The chess board he used was different from the ordinary. For example, the dark squares were lowered, while the light squares were raised. Also, each square had a hole drilled into it. A peg on the bottom of each playing piece fit into the hole. The pieces were also different. The dark pieces had sharp tops. The light pieces had flat tops. When Charles played, he and his opponent would call out their moves.