Ray Charles Winner of the 2013 ASCAP Foundation Life In Music Award “With a career spanning more than 70 years and every type of media you can name, Ray Charles has truly done it all.” That’s the way that ASCAP (American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers) opened its tribute to Ray Charles at its 2013 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards held at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California, just down the hill a few miles from Ray’s home overlooking the city vista of Los Angeles. Ray, once listed as “The Other Ray Charles” in one of his movie credits, began his career in 1931 by winning a singing contest on radio, and within three years had his own 15-minute radio program. He won a vocal scholarship to the Chicago Musical College and continued work in radio after moving to New York in the early 1940s, singing for such famous choral directors as Ray Bloch and Lyn Murray, and soon was doing 10 radio shows a week. Born Charles Raymond Offenberg, Ray changed his name in the 1940s to what it has been ever since, and became the music arranger for the Double Daters, a vocal quartet featured on the “Million Dollar Band” radio show. During World War II, Ray trained and conducted choruses of female Navy recruits who appeared on radio and at bond rallies and veterans hospitals. In the late 1940s, Ray expanded his career by doing recordings and commercial work (he sang “Um Um Good” for Campbell’s soup). He also began doing work on Broadway, as conductor for the hit musical, “Finian’s Rainbow.” Ray began a longtime association with singer Perry Como in 1948, performing with The Satisfiers on Como’s “The Chesterfield Supper Club,” and soon was appointed as choral arranger-conductor on Como’s radio variety show, “The Big Show.” Ray Charles and Perry Como worked together continuously for 35 years, and during that time, Ray worked with and wrote special material for some of the great entertainers of the age – Ethel Merman, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Richard Rodgers and Harold Arlen and many more. During his time with Como, Ray wrote “Fifty Nifty United States,” a tune that would become a staple of school choirs. He also launched the Ray Charles Singers, a rotating group of singers that Ray conducted and arranged for albums, radio shows, TV specials, commercial jingles and live performances. The Ray Charles Singers recorded 30 albums of their own in the 1950s and 1960s. The group was chosen to provide backup vocals for the last songs that Buddy Holly recorded before his death in 1959. In the 1960s, Ray and his late wife, Bernice, a great singer in her own right, migrated to Los Angeles where he produced a Bing Crosby special, worked on “The Hollywood Palace,” and wrote and arranged for the “Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour” and the first Julie Andrews TV special. Ray became the musical guru to “Sha Na Na” and guided their show through three seasons. As a vocalist, Ray Charles is perhaps best known for “Come and Knock on Our Door,” the theme song of the 1970s and 1980s sitcom, “Three’s Company,” which he recorded with Julia Rinker. In the years since, Ray has worked on a variety of high-profile projects, including “The Muppet Show” in London, thus adding Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog to his long list of collaborators. Charles became the musical consultant for the Kennedy Center Honors in 1982, a position he still holds today. He also was musical consultant for Fourth of July and Memorial Day concerts on PBS for 14 years. Ray Charles won two Emmy awards for his music and lyrics for two TV comedy specials, “The Funny Side of Marriage” and “The First Nine Months.” He arranged music for films including Barbara Streisand’s “Funny Lady” and “Racing With The Moon.” Film music was the basis for Ray’s one and only solo album, “Memories of a Middle-Aged Movie Fan,” which comprises his sweet-voiced versions of classic songs from movies released in 1936. If you wonder why I’ve singled out Ray Charles (who has a photograph of the other great Ray Charles on his grand piano), it is because he is great, one of the nicest human beings you would ever want to know, and he’s our daughter’s father-in-law. And Ray’s son, Jon, our son-in-law, is a great music arranger in his own right. Our salute to Ray Charles.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 18:16:07 +0000
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