"An American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred

 being called "Brother Ray."  He was often

referred to as "The Genius."  Ray Charles

was blinded during childhood due to glaucoma.

 Charles pioneered the soul music genre during the

1950s by combining blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded

for Atlantic.  He contributed to the integration

of country music, rhythm and blues, and 

pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, notably with his two Modern Sounds  albums.  While he was with ABC, Ray Charles became

one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic

control by a mainstream record company."