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The Music of Ray Charles
Master of many styles£¬
Ray Charles, a black singer and pianist, was born in 1930 in Georgia, USA. His relaxed style combined jazz, blues, pop and a type of black music called soul, which comes from the traditional music sung by slaves in the south of the USA. By the time Ray Charles died in 2004, he had won 12 Grammy Awards and performed at 10,000 concerts around the world. Many musicians called him simply "the Genius".
Childhood poverty
Ray Charles was born into a poor family, without a father. When he was 5 years old, his younger brother died; and around the same time, Charles started to lose, his sight. By the age of 7 he was completely blind. He had already been learning the piano for a year, and when he went blind, his mother knew this would be the only way he would earn any money in the future. All his life, Charles remembered her saying: "Do it right, or don't do it at all".
Becoming a musician
Later he went to a school for blind and deaf children where the teachers also encouraged him to study music. Sadly, while he was still at school, his mother died. He left school and in the early 1950s Charles formed a group of players. He sang, played the saxophone and the piano and composed music.
Three classic tunes
He made many recordings which are still classics: Georgia on my Mind, I Can r Stop Loving You, and Hit the Road, Jack are the three best-known songs. He recorded CDs with famous artists like Elton John. Others, such as The Beatles, thought his music was wonderful and said that the music they composed used many of his techniques.
The film of his life
In 2003 a film biography of his life was produced, called Ray. The part of Charles was played by a young actor and musician called Jamie Foxx. The film director brought Foxx to meet Charles. After they had been playing together for two hours, Charles, then aged 73, jumped up and said, "He's the one…he can do it." A year later Charles died aged 74. The film of his life has been as popular as his songs and means that the memory of Charles' music will live on.
21. Ray Charles was a black American singer       .
A. who sang many different styles of music       B. who mostly sang jazz
C. who mostly sang pop music                 D. who mostly sang soul music
22. Ray Charles' mother encouraged him to play music because          .
A. it would help him get used to being blind
B. it was a good way for a blind person to earn money
C. his father was a musician as well
D. she knew she would die soon
23. Ray Charles thought that Jamie Foxx         .
A. was a good musician                      B. was an excellent director
C. was the wrong person to play him in the film   D. was the right person to play him in the film