Ray Charles

USA, 1947–2004

American singer and pianist who combined gospel structure and delivery with rhythm and blues and, later, country repertoire. The result is generally regarded as the starting point of soul music.

MusicRoots documents 3 artists who influenced Ray Charles and 30 artists Ray Charles influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Ray Charles?

• Nat King Cole — Charles began his career as a deliberate Nat Cole imitator — 'I ate, slept, and drank everything Nat King Cole' — before finding his own voice.
• Art Tatum — Charles worked out his piano playing on the modern jazz players, Tatum first among them, before the gospel-and-blues fusion of the mid-fifties.
• Louis Jordan — Jordan's jump blues — small band, shouted lyric, saxophone where a horn section used to be — is the format Charles's early Atlantic sides work in.

Which artists did Ray Charles influence?

• Toots and the Maytals — Toots Hibbert named Ray Charles among his key influences — Charles's gospel-soul fusion shaped Toots's church-powered reggae voice.
• Usher — Ray Charles's gospel-rooted soul singing is among the older styles Usher went back to study.
• Janis Joplin — Ray Charles was a key influence on Joplin, who absorbed his gospel-blues synthesis.
• The Zombies — Ray Charles was Rod Argent's piano hero — the soul touch he was always reaching for.
• Small Faces — Ray Charles was the soul foundation for Steve Marriott's vocal style.
• Traffic — Ray Charles was Winwood's greatest musical hero — the press called him 'the white Ray Charles'.
• Procol Harum — Ray Charles was the soul-vocal model Gary Brooker was always aiming for.
• The Spencer Davis Group — Ray Charles was Steve Winwood's greatest influence — the press called him 'the white Ray Charles'.
• The Rascals — Ray Charles was the first of Felix Cavaliere's idols — the gospel-blues voice behind the Rascals' blue-eyed soul.
• Sly and the Family Stone — Ray Charles's synthesis of gospel and pop was a foundational influence on Sly Stone's musical vision.
• Stevie Wonder — Ray Charles was Stevie's idol and proof that blindness was no barrier — his primary model from childhood.
• Aretha Franklin — Ray Charles's synthesis of gospel and R&B was foundational for Aretha's entire career.
• Otis Redding — Ray Charles was the gospel-blues foundation feeding Redding's Southern soul.
• Booker T. & the M.G.'s — Ray Charles's organ-in-soul context was the foundation Booker T. Jones built his style on.
• The Animals — Ray Charles was 'God' for Eric Burdon, by his own memoir.
• Jerry Lee Lewis — Ray Charles was among the African-American R&B artists whose sound the young Lewis absorbed.
• Leon Russell — Ray Charles's gospel-soul piano was Russell's north star — Russell performed and arranged on Ray Charles sessions, and fused that gospel feel into his own style.
• Elton John — Ray Charles's gospel-soul vocal glides and piano were a lifelong model Elton delivered with open admiration.
• Van Morrison — Ray Charles was foundational to Morrison — 'If it weren't for guys like Ray and Solomon, I wouldn't be where I am today.'
• Bobby Darin — Ray Charles was Darin's favourite singer; the deep pull of Charles's R&B shaped Darin's soulful, genre-crossing side.
• The Righteous Brothers — Ray Charles's gospel-soul fusion was a foundation for the Righteous Brothers' 'blue-eyed soul'.
• Bill Withers — Ray Charles's gospel-blues-soul fusion is the bedrock of the introspective R&B Withers wrote.
• Billy Joel — Joel called Ray Charles the holy grail of singers and his greatest influence — Charles's gospel-soul phrasing is at the heart of his piano songwriting.
• Bobby Womack — Ray Charles's gospel-into-secular soul was part of the tradition Womack's six-decade R&B career grew from.
• Randy Newman — Newman cited Ray Charles as his greatest influence growing up — 'I loved Charles' music to excess'.
• Ali Farka Toure — Ray Charles is one of the American records that reached Bamako in the late sixties and turned Toure toward the guitar he ended up playing.
• David Sanborn — The gospel-and-R&B blend of the Ray Charles band — where Sanborn's idol Hank Crawford was musical director — was a deep influence on Sanborn's soulful playing.
• Hank Crawford — Crawford was the alto saxophonist and musical director of Ray Charles's band — Charles's gospel-soul was the crucible of his sound.
• Harry Nilsson — R&B is what Nilsson followed before he wrote anything — the phrasing under a voice usually described as a pop instrument.
• Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes — The fourth name he gives, and the one closest to what he actually does as a singer.