Ray Charles

Ray Charles is the most talented musician the Sunshine State has ever produced, and probably ever will produce.

Ray Charles
People

Of course, lots of folks associate Charles with Georgia because he was born there, in Albany, and recorded the definitive version of the Hoagy Carmichael standard “Georgia on My Mind.” But Charles’ mother came from Greenville in Florida’s Madison County, and that's where she raised her son after giving birth to him on Sept. 30, 1930.

Blind by the age of 7, Charles attended the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine in the late ’30s and ’40s and then lived in Tampa while working as the piano player in a country and western band called the Florida Playboys. In fact, it was during his time playing in Tampa in 1948 that Charles made his historic first recordings including the self-penned beauty “St. Pete Blues,” which can be heard on streaming services such as Spotify.

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