Ray Charles was a famous soul musician who was born poor, orphaned, and blind from a young age. Despite his challenges, he had a gift for music and taught himself to play instruments like the piano, saxophone, and trumpet through perfect pitch and sensitive hearing. He became known as the "Father of Soul" for combining jazz, blues and gospel into his unique style. Some of his most popular songs were "Georgia on My Mind" and "Hit the Road, Jack."

1. Ray Charles
By Kayden

2. Why I Chose Ray Charles
• I love music and instruments. I like soul music and
country music too. Ray Charles sang soul music and
country.
• He has gray hair. He was blind and he could play the
piano when he was blind.
• He plays good and cool music.

3. Ray Charles’ Early Life
• He was poor.
• He was blind.
• He was an orphan because his mom died.
• He moved to Seattle in 1948 because he had hard
times. He made his first record in Seattle.

4. Ray Charles Attributes
• He was blind and had good hearing.
• He had perfect pitch.
• He had an expressive voice when he sang.

5. Ray Charles’ Challenges
• He was five when his brother died from drowning.
• Ray Charles became blind because glaucoma that
was not treated by a doctor.
• He was fifteen when his mother died.

6. Ray Charles’ Gifts And Talents
• He had good senses like hearing, touching and
smelling.
• He was a singer and a songwriter.
• He always believed in himself even though he was
blind.

7. Ray Charles’ Episode
• He won one Grammy Award for his song “Georgia
on My Mind.”
• He also got a Grammy Award from the song called
“Hit the Road, Jack.”
• Both of them were won in 1960.

8. Ray Charles’ Contributions
He gave us soul music by combining jazz, blues and
gospel.
He was known as the “Father of Soul.”

9. Ray Charles’ Most Popular Songs
“Georgia on My Mind”
“Hit the Road, Jack”
(based on iTunes)

10. Instruments that He Played
• A sax
• A trumpet
• A piano
• A clarinet

11. Ray Charles’ Favorites
• Ray Charles’ favorite food was Hershey Kisses.
• Ray Charles’ favorite drink is a Sunkist.
• Ray Charles’ favorite cake is called Dump Cake.
– Loretta Lynn made this cake for Ray Charles.

12. References
• http://www.biography.com/people/ray-charles-
9245001
• http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ray-
charles-takes-country-music-to-the-top-of-the-pop-
charts
• http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=o
utput.cfm&file_id=5707
• http://www.food.com/recipe/dump-cake-the-
loretta-lynn-dump-cake-for-ray-charles-442291