{"id":98336,"date":"2016-06-16T07:55:40","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T07:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/6toplists.com\/?p=98336"},"modified":"2017-12-12T12:21:44","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T12:21:44","slug":"the-top-6-albums-of-ray-charles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/6toplists.com\/?p=98336","title":{"rendered":"The Top 6 Albums of Ray Charles"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t Order Now from Amazon\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nModern Sounds in Country and Western<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nGenius Loves Company<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nGenius Sings the Blues<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nThe Birth of Soul<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nLive In Concert<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nThe Genius Hits the Road<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Ray Charles was born into a poor family on September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia, though he was raised in Florida<\/a>. Completely blind by the age of seven, Charles attended the Saint Augustine School of the Blind and Deaf<\/a> where he began to study piano, saxophone, and clarinet. When he was only fifteen his mother died (followed two years later by his father) and Charles began working as a traveling musician throughout Florida, and later Washington state.<\/p>\n

His life was quite difficult though. Ray was born at the very beginning of the Great Depression<\/a> \u2014 a depression that affected every civilized country in the world. Ray was born in 1930 in Albany, Georgia, and at that time\u00a0another Georgia native by the name of Hoagy Carmichael<\/a> was already making his mark on the world. In 1930, the year of Ray\u2019s birth, Hoagy recorded a song entitled \u201cStardust<\/a>\u201d that became an all-time classic and remains so to this day.<\/p>\n

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Related<\/div>\n
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Read article: <\/span>
The Top 6 Jazz Singers of All Time<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s ironic that these two Georgia natives would someday cross paths again, as they did 30 years later when Ray Charles was asked by the State of Georgia to perform (in the Georgia Legislative Chambers) the song they had selected as their state song. That song was Ray\u2019s version of \u201cGeorgia,\u201d written by Hoagy Carmichael. Hoagy, who unfortunately was too ill to attend the event, was listening via telephone\/satellite tie-up.<\/p>\n

Ray\u2019s mother and father, Aretha and Bailey, were \u201cno-nonsense\u201d parents. Even after Ray lost his sight, his mother continued to give him chores at home, in the rural area which they lived in, such as chopping wood for the wood burning stove in the kitchen in order to prepare their meals. Chores such as these often brought complaints from the neighbors, which were met with stern words from Mrs. Robinson.<\/p>\n

She told them her son was blind, not stupid, and he must continue to learn to do things, not only for himself, but for others as well. Unfortunately, Ray lost the guidance of his mother and the counseling of his father at a very young age. At 15 years old, Ray Charles was an orphan, but he still managed to make his way in this world under very trying conditions; living in the South and being of African-American heritage, plus being blind and an orphan.<\/p>\n

His biggest hit on the Hot 100 is “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” which spent five weeks at No. 1 in 1962. It also ranks as Charles’ top single on this exclusive recap of his biggest Hot 100 hits<\/a>. His other two Hot 100 songs,\u00a0“Hit the Road Jack” and “Georgia on My Mind” ranked at # 2 and 4 on the recap, respectively.<\/p>\n

Let’s see his top six albums:<\/p>\n

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6. The Genius Hits The Road<\/h2>\n

As a transitional record, The Genius Hits the Road <\/em><\/a>built upon the success of the landmark album The Genius of Ray Charles <\/em>(hence the modified title) and was a Top 10 hit, charting for 50 weeks. Having left Atlantic Records<\/a> when offered a lucrative financial opportunity and creative freedom, Brother Ray immediately paid dividends at his new home, ABC\/Dunhill.<\/p>\n

His relationship with that in-house producer (Sid Feller) turned out to be the start of a longtime partnership, and\u00a0one of the songs cut on the second day just blew\u00a0Ray Charles\u2019 career wide open. The inspiration for \u201cGeorgia on My Mind\u201d was a girl, not from the southern state, but thankfully the theme of songs were loosely enforced by destinations.<\/p>\n

Stuart Gorrell<\/a> wrote the lyrics about Hoagy Carmichael\u2019s sister, and Ray\u2019s version of their collaborative effort proved to be an absolute masterpiece. \u201cGeorgia\u201d brought Ray Charles his first number one on the Pop charts, and it is still among the most revered pop songs of all time almost 50 years later. (Ironically, Georgia would adopt it as their official state song in 1979.)<\/p>\n