Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story |  | Authors: Ray Charles, David Ritz
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
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Seller: _beaglebooks_
Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 50032
Media: Paperback
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0306814315
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42164092
EAN: 9780306814310
ASIN: 0306814315
Publication Date: October 26, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Ray Charles (1930-2004) led one of the most extraordinary lives of any popular musician. In Brother Ray, he tells his story in an inimitable and unsparing voice, from the chronicle of his musical development to his heroin addiction to his tangled romantic life. Overcoming poverty, blindness, the loss of his parents, and the pervasive racism of the era, Ray Charles was acclaimed worldwide as a genius by the age of thirty-two. By combining the influences of gospel, jazz, blues, and country music, he invented, almost single-handedly, what became known as soul. And throughout a career spanning more than a half century, Ray Charles remained in complete control of his life and his music, allowing nobody to tell him what he could and couldn't do. As the Chicago Sun-Times put it, Brother Ray is "candid, explicit, sometimes embarrassing, often hilarious, always warm, touching, and deeply human-just like his music."
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 26
 brither ray February 6, 2010
Roxanne Moore (tampa fl)
book was in excellent condition looked new and shipping took much much shorter than expected
 we miss you Ray--its been 5yrs. August 31, 2009
Bette B. Prater (okc,ok,usa)
Ray Charles 9-23-30 to 6-10-04. Liver cancer.
In this book you will find out that Ray was addicted to
heroin for 17 years. And he was also addicted to Sex.
He loved his ladies.
He was a very hard worker and toured 300 days a
year. He was basically a loner. He tells you that he
believes in GOD & SATAN. He does not believe in
JESUS. He believes in pot,gin and hard work. He
married 2xs, he had 12 kids with 9 different women.
In Dec 2002 he gave each child 1 million dollars tax
free.
Ray is not harsh and hard..he is a nice man. You will
find out that even though he was blind he has never
had trouble getting around.
He did not go totally blind until he was 7 yrs old so he
has seen the stars, the sky, his 2 moms,blackberries,
pigs,chickens, a jukebox and a pie-ano. He feels very
lucky.
This book was originally written in 1978 but it has been
updated several times. It includes a few pictures but not
enough. It ends with his death n 2004.
You might wonder...will you still like Ray after you read
this book
....YES YOU WILL......
Best profile of Ray Charles available July 13, 2009
Susan Cross (Orlando, FL USA)
Having read the books about Ray Charles, this is the one that gives the reader a glimpse into Ray's world from the inside. After I interviewed several members of the Ray Charles band/orchestra, including Fathead Newman, Don Peake, Marcus Belgrave, Ernest Vantrease and John Bryant I think that Ray speaks his mind and Ritz puts it together nicely. There's a lot more to Ray's story that he chose to leave out. Leroy Hog Cooper, Ray's bandleader and baritone sax player for almost 20 years, and those named above told me more of the story. A memoir only provides what the subject remembers or wants to share. This is a memoir. Enough said.
America, the beautiful... November 9, 2008
Thomas Plotkin (West Hartford CT, United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Read Ray Charles' profane, outrageously self-revealing "as-told -to" autobiography, then spin his epochal gospel drenched version of "America." This is an exemplary lifestory, and proof of the pudding as to the "why" of American exceptionalism, which came in for much ridicule in the last election cycle. Brother Ray overcame a succession of childhood traumas, both staggering and sadly commonplace (poverty in the segregated south, absent father, witnessing the accidental drowning of his brother at age 5, blindess, devoted but sickly mother dying when he's still a kid, 20 years of heroin addiction...); he went on the road as a professional musician when he was 15 years old; young Quincy Jones, encountering Ray pre-fame in his late teens said he seemed 100 years old. By 25, he had single-handedly invented soul music, the fusion of rhythm and blues with gospel, scandalizing the faithful while roughening pop music with blues realism in a way no white rock and roller ever managed. By 29, he had, in Gary Giddins' words, jazz in one pocket (his ace 8-piece hard bop band, his sides with Milt Jackson, his great album of standards, "Genius") and R & B in the other pocket. He then confounded expectations by signing an unprecedented contract with a fledgling label,which gave him ownership of his masters and complete artistic control, and started cutting country sides, and selling gazillion copies. He crossed the same racial divide as Elvis, but from the other direction, a far more audacious move. In 1962, the titan of black music completely upended cultural hierarchies by singing the hell out of the music of the white southern working class; as he said, soul, country, its the same damn thing. He also said he would never be satisified with headlining the Apollo Theater, as all of his African American peers would be. Ray knew from an early age he could take over the world, and he did. Black, blind, orphaned, beyond poor, addicted, and he never seemed to have a moments doubt as to where he would end up. Proud and thorny, he could make Sinatra's boast of doing it his way, but he never had the assists of dangerous powerful people and Hollywood that Frank had -- Ray was alone, and wanted it that way. If he spent the last 35 years of his career coasting, with fitfully inspired moments on record, his live performances were always committed and stellar. This book is one of the best log cabin to mansion stories I've ever read, and it has the sting of truth. Not coincidentally, Ray is self-admittedly a selfish SOB of the first order, single minded in his pursuit of his art, to the detriment of scores of women and the childen he begot on them. But his book, like his singing, cuts though with the ring of truth and authenticity. As other reviewers here have noted, his co-author blanched about Ray's frankness when he read the proofs, and Ray instructed him, "Don't change a goddamn word."
A One-On-One Conversation September 2, 2008
Eddie Molina (Woodside, NY, USA)
The only way in which a book can be deemed outstanding is if it possesses three characteristics: 1) it has be ability to paint a picture for the reader, 2) it grabs the reader's attention, and 3) it relates to the reader to the extent that s/he can identify aspects of his or her own life in the book's pages. Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story is, in my opinion, a book that possesses all these qualities, along with the fact that it is genuine, direct, and human. In other words, this book portrays Ray Charles not as a superstar (i.e., more-than-human-individual), but as a person who faces death, marital problems, discrimination, joy, accomplishments, and disappointments.
Every chapter/section of the book submerges the reader into a specific part of Ray Charles' life; whether it is drugs, sex, women, religion, music, traveling, or his disability, one is able to establish a relationship with the musician that goes beyond that of a raconteur/writer and an auditor/reader. The establishment of such connection with Ritz and Ray Charles is due to the colloquialism of the words, sentences, and paragraphs that make up the book. In other words, Brother Ray is a one-on-one conversation that takes place between Ray Charles and the auditor: you. It is important to mention that some people may label the language Ray Charles uses in the account of his life as ribald. Yet, I feel that it is the ingenious use of these expressions, words, and remarks that make this book a superb one.
The book takes an even more intimate approach to the life of Ray Charles when Ritz introduces the reader to his own views on Brother Ray as a person, musician, and a human-being. It was during the last pages of this section when I was practically moved to tears, as Ritz spoke of the deteriorating health and death of Ray Charles. In my opinion, these pages can be viewed as a reflection of Ray Charles' life, the book, Ritz's relationship with Ray Charles, and, in one way or another, a subjective reflection of the reader him/herself.
I believe this is a book that all people should read. Regardless of age, religion, gender, or belief, I believe that people will benefit from reading this biography. By doing so, you will engage in an interesting, mesmerizing, and unforgettable conversation with Ray Charles.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 26
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