Ray Charles

[Johnny]

Ray Charles defined "soul" as "when you take a song and make it part of you, a part that's so true, so real, people think it must have happened to you. Soul is like electricity, like a spirit, a drive, a power." For millions of listeners, the sound of Ray Charles was the definition of "soul." His voice, a midnight fog that could envelop any lyric in mellow sadness or bring the promise of a sunny new morning, was unmistakable. His blend of musicianship, his ear for composition and arrangements, his innate sense of swing, and his ability to make almost any song or style his own were all unequaled. And his death from liver cancer at age 73 a week ago Thursday, after a year of health problems including hip-replacement surgery, removes a cornerstone from the foundation of American popular music.

Charles went through hardships on his way to the top. The biggest being: getting busted for the possession of marijuana. Apparently, he and his band were sitting back stage waiting for their chance to go on and the promoter of the club called the police because "[the promoter] had smelled someone smoking reefer in the dressing room." So the police came and inspected the dressing room and ultimately found marijuana lying in a corner. The police made the assumption that Charles and his band were the ones that were responsible for the drugs and shortly there-- afterward Charles and the rest of his band were hauled off to jail. (But the charges were later dropped due to the fact that no one could actually prove whom the marijuana actually belonged to.)