Georgia, Georgia / The whole day through / Just an old sweet song / Keeps Georgia on my mind, Ray Charles’ effortless voice floats above crying strings, carefree keys, and canned harmonies. Charles’ ...

The Ray Charles we heard on “Georgia On My Mind” was 30. He sounded 300. By 1960, Charles had been working as a musician for 13 years, playing around with every form of popular music that America had ...

While Ray Charles started building a national following in the early 1950s, his reach became global with the ’59 hit “What’d I Say.” John Lennon recalled how many songs (including two by The Beatles) ...

In this clip from 1979, Ray Charles brings “the minds and hearts of the Georgia Legislature together” by serenading them with Georgia on My Mind. In this clip from 1979, Ray Charles brings “the minds ...

In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. The Ray Charles ...