Ray Charles

1930 – 2004

Music

Ray Charles Robinson was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians of the 20th century and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Genius". Among friends and fellow musicians, Charles preferred being called "Brother Ray". He lost his vision as a child, possibly due to glaucoma, and consequently wore dark glasses.

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Contemporaries

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Their World

Global Events

1933 Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany

1936 Spanish Civil War begins

1939 World War II begins

1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor; US enters WWII

1944 D-Day: Allied invasion of Normandy

1945 Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; WWII ends

1945 United Nations founded

1947 India and Pakistan gain independence

1948 State of Israel established

1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted

1949 People's Republic of China proclaimed

1950 Korean War begins

1953 Watson and Crick discover DNA structure

1955 Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

1957 Sputnik launched; Space Age begins

1959 Cuban Revolution; Castro takes power

1961 Berlin Wall constructed

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

1963 Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

1964 Civil Rights Act signed in the United States

1969 Apollo 11: first humans walk on the Moon

1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and independence

1973 1973 oil crisis

1975 Fall of Saigon; Vietnam War ends

1979 Iranian Revolution

1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster

1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall

1989 Tiananmen Square protests

1990 Nelson Mandela released from prison

1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union

1994 Rwandan genocide

1994 End of apartheid; South Africa holds first free elections

1997 Dolly the Sheep cloned

1998 Good Friday Agreement signed in Northern Ireland

2001 September 11 attacks

2003 Human Genome Project completed

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

In Their Field

1935 Gershwin premieres Porgy and Bess

1948 Columbia Records introduces the LP record

1954 Elvis Presley records first single at Sun Studio

1959 Miles Davis releases Kind of Blue

1964 The Beatles arrive in America; British Invasion begins

1967 The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

1969 Woodstock music festival

1975 Bohemian Rhapsody released by Queen

1979 Hip hop emerges in the South Bronx

1982 Michael Jackson releases Thriller

1985 Live Aid concerts held globally

1991 Nirvana releases Nevermind; grunge goes mainstream

1999 Napster launches, transforming music distribution

2003 iTunes Music Store launches