Brother Ray: Ray Charles Own Story |  | Authors: Ray Charles, David Ritz
Publisher: DoubleDay
Category: Book
Buy Used: $10.82
Used (5) Collectible (1) from $10.82
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 2191976
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
ISBN: 0385270232
Dewey Decimal Number: 784.0924
EAN: 9780385270236
ASIN: 0385270232
Publication Date: October 1978
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: May contain significant wear and/or markings. Supplemental materials may not be included. Inventory subject to prior sale.
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Product Description
Ray Charles has led one of the most extraordinary lives of any popular musician. Overcoming poverty, blindness, the loss of his parents, and the prevailing racism of the time, by the age of thirty-two Ray Charles was acclaimed worldwide as a genius. By combining the influences of gospel, jazz, blues, and even country music, he invented, almost single-handed, what became known as soul. And over a career spanning close to fifty years, Ray Charles has remained in complete control over his life and music, allowing nobody to tell him what to do.Brother Ray was first published to great critical acclaim in 1978, and has since attained the status of a classic. In an inimitable and unsparing voice, Ray Charles here tells his whole story, from the details of his sex life and drug use to the chronicle of his musical development. Supplemented with a new epilogue updating his story to the present day, and including a complete discography, Brother Ray is as engaging, frank, funny, and soulful as Ray Charles's enduring music.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 America, the beautiful... November 9, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Read Ray Charles' profane, outrageously self-revealing "as-told -to" autobiography, then spin his epochal gospel drenched version of "America." This is an exemplary lifestory, and proof of the pudding as to the "why" of American exceptionalism, which came in for much ridicule in the last election cycle. Brother Ray overcame a succession of childhood traumas, both staggering and sadly commonplace (poverty in the segregated south, absent father, witnessing the accidental drowning of his brother at age 5, blindess, devoted but sickly mother dying when he's still a kid, 20 years of heroin addiction...); he went on the road as a professional musician when he was 15 years old; young Quincy Jones, encountering Ray pre-fame in his late teens said he seemed 100 years old. By 25, he had single-handedly invented soul music, the fusion of rhythm and blues with gospel, scandalizing the faithful while roughening pop music with blues realism in a way no white rock and roller ever managed. By 29, he had, in Gary Giddins' words, jazz in one pocket (his ace 8-piece hard bop band, his sides with Milt Jackson, his great album of standards, "Genius") and R & B in the other pocket. He then confounded expectations by signing an unprecedented contract with a fledgling label,which gave him ownership of his masters and complete artistic control, and started cutting country sides, and selling gazillion copies. He crossed the same racial divide as Elvis, but from the other direction, a far more audacious move. In 1962, the titan of black music completely upended cultural hierarchies by singing the hell out of the music of the white southern working class; as he said, soul, country, its the same damn thing. He also said he would never be satisified with headlining the Apollo Theater, as all of his African American peers would be. Ray knew from an early age he could take over the world, and he did. Black, blind, orphaned, beyond poor, addicted, and he never seemed to have a moments doubt as to where he would end up. Proud and thorny, he could make Sinatra's boast of doing it his way, but he never had the assists of dangerous powerful people and Hollywood that Frank had -- Ray was alone, and wanted it that way. If he spent the last 35 years of his career coasting, with fitfully inspired moments on record, his live performances were always committed and stellar. This book is one of the best log cabin to mansion stories I've ever read, and it has the sting of truth. Not coincidentally, Ray is self-admittedly a selfish SOB of the first order, single minded in his pursuit of his art, to the detriment of scores of women and the childen he begot on them. But his book, like his singing, cuts though with the ring of truth and authenticity. As other reviewers here have noted, his co-author blanched about Ray's frankness when he read the proofs, and Ray instructed him, "Don't change a goddamn word."
A One-On-One Conversation September 2, 2008
The only way in which a book can be deemed outstanding is if it possesses three characteristics: 1) it has be ability to paint a picture for the reader, 2) it grabs the reader's attention, and 3) it relates to the reader to the extent that s/he can identify aspects of his or her own life in the book's pages. Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story is, in my opinion, a book that possesses all these qualities, along with the fact that it is genuine, direct, and human. In other words, this book portrays Ray Charles not as a superstar (i.e., more-than-human-individual), but as a person who faces death, marital problems, discrimination, joy, accomplishments, and disappointments.
Every chapter/section of the book submerges the reader into a specific part of Ray Charles' life; whether it is drugs, sex, women, religion, music, traveling, or his disability, one is able to establish a relationship with the musician that goes beyond that of a raconteur/writer and an auditor/reader. The establishment of such connection with Ritz and Ray Charles is due to the colloquialism of the words, sentences, and paragraphs that make up the book. In other words, Brother Ray is a one-on-one conversation that takes place between Ray Charles and the auditor: you. It is important to mention that some people may label the language Ray Charles uses in the account of his life as ribald. Yet, I feel that it is the ingenious use of these expressions, words, and remarks that make this book a superb one.
The book takes an even more intimate approach to the life of Ray Charles when Ritz introduces the reader to his own views on Brother Ray as a person, musician, and a human-being. It was during the last pages of this section when I was practically moved to tears, as Ritz spoke of the deteriorating health and death of Ray Charles. In my opinion, these pages can be viewed as a reflection of Ray Charles' life, the book, Ritz's relationship with Ray Charles, and, in one way or another, a subjective reflection of the reader him/herself.
I believe this is a book that all people should read. Regardless of age, religion, gender, or belief, I believe that people will benefit from reading this biography. By doing so, you will engage in an interesting, mesmerizing, and unforgettable conversation with Ray Charles.
A Must Read October 6, 2007
It was great getting to know Brother Ray. I've always loved him and now I love him even more.
Ray November 10, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book is great and I am enjoying getting to know Ray through his words.
 Oh yeah August 27, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"The most clear-eyed and honest celebrity autobiography I've read."
That back cover blurb, by somebody famous I've never heard of, is exactly right, including some details I'd probably omit from my own autobiography. What makes this book wonderful is, as you'd expect, Ray's voice. You've heard it in his music, and now you can read it in his book. I highly recommend it.
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