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 enlarge | Authors: Ray Charles, David Ritz
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy Used: $0.83
You Save: $16.12 (95%)
New (40) Used (55) from $0.83
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 75943
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0306814315
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42164092
EAN: 9780306814310
ASIN: 0306814315
Publication Date: October 26, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!
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| Customer Reviews:
 "Don't change a goddamn word!" May 5, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
David Ritz is a lucky man. In the course of his life he wrote autobiographies for Soul legends as Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles. These bios were the result of long and intimate conversations, a fan boy's dream come true. All these autobiographies are interesting not only for the lives they portray but also for the era they take place in. At the time these artists were at the height of there career America was changing. During the sixties when the civil rights movement reached its peak they had there biggest selling records and were pushing the boundaries of the genre they were operating in.
It is often argued that Ray Charles and artist like him played an important part in the civil rights movement. His records crossed over from R&B to Pop, allowing the white middleclass teenagers to be introduced to Black culture. Not everybody had the patience or commitment to go to a civil rights rally; everybody can enjoy a good piece of music. Not only did Ray cross over he wrote some new rules as well. Ray was one of the first to combine Jazz, Soul and Country, appealing to a very broad audience of all colors and dominations. Ray was as much appreciated by the college kids up north and the hillbillies down south. Ray integrated concerts and gave the black man a human face, which at the time it was sadly lacking in mainstream white America.
David Ritz describes his conversations as some of the most frank yet closed he's had throughout his career. Ray never left out the sordid details of his life; the drugs and infidelity is vividly portrait. All of it written down in raw language, Ray liked to swear! At times you forget Ray is blind as he describes the women in his life, "Man the things I've seen" he even exclaims when he talks about his nights of sex on the road. Yet he also found Ray lacking the capability to reflect on the why's in his life. In contrast to Marvin Gaye who thoroughly analyzed himself, Ray seemed to ride the current, act on instinct and gut, without asking why he made the decisions he made. We find Ray Charles claiming that he did drugs, drugs never did him. Ray tells us his music comes from his Soul, he sang it as he felt it. Inevitably it was his unwillingness or unable ness to reflect that made him such a robust performer. When David Ritz asked Ray a couple of years later if he wanted some revisions for a reprint Ray exclaimed "Don't change a goddamn word!".
 The Genius of Soul Recounts His Life--In His Own Style April 7, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a very real, sometimes funny, sometimes bitter, sometimes poignant memoir from The Genius of Soul himself, of the first 45 or so years of his life. His frank, no-holds-barred style, frequent use of strong language, and free-living attitude toward drugs and sex may put some people off; but the book is well worth reading for his candid account of his upbringing influenced by two strong and loving women, learning to be independent and deal with his disability without self-pity, and his rise in the music business to a hugely successful career. I found it refreshing and enjoyable, because Ray put himself out to readers just the way he was-faults, charms, humor, strong feelings and powerful talent-and his story makes us want to remember what a blessing he was to the world. I wish he had written a follow-up of his later life.
interesting April 5, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read this book after the movie "Ray" came out. I enjoyed the book a lot, but found there were a few things that he talks about that were portrayed differently in the movie, so I wondered which were true. I was a little surprised at how honest he is in the book about his womanizing and lack of interest in birth control or whether his casual encounters would result in contracting STD's. He was an amazing man and musician, and I admire his talent, but was a little disappointed at his lack of morals in a lot of cases. I wonder how his dear mama would have felt about it, if she had lived to see his adult life. The book is a great read and very insightful into Ray Charles's life, he leaves no stone unturned.
Brother Ray January 5, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This was one of the most honest pieces I've ever read. It's also one of the funniest, because he has a way of telling a story, and you have no choice but to laugh. He speaks vividly of his childhood, of his mother, and other things which feels as if you are right there with him. From learning how to play the piano to having to go to another school, location, and a new way of life at such a young age is extremely humbling. He keeps it real throughout the story and goes into extensive detail about his problems with drugs, his issues with women, and others. I think he may have been lying to himself when it came to drugs, but it's something you'll have to see for yourself and form your own opinion from it. His passion for music is unquestioned once you read the pages. It was such a significant portion of his life, and he speaks of it (performing, recording, being consumed by it) as someone who did it for the love of it and not because it was something he just happened to be good at. There are life lessons which can be picked up from reading this book, good as well as bad, but lessons nonetheless. It's thoughtful, entertaining, and inspirational all rolled into one.
Quite Interesting December 2, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm a musicians' biography nut, so I had to buy this, despite hardly knowing any of Ray's material beforehand.
It was written by a fan who hounded Ray Charles for months for the permission to write his biography. Once Ray said yes, the author got to hang out with his idol for months of nightly interviews before writing the book, and they eventually became friends. It's written in a colloquial, personal style that's supposed to reflect the way Ray talks, so the book is kind of like a one-on-one with Ray himself - like you're having a beer with the guy. It gets pretty raunchy - the syndrome of Too Much Information. I didn't mind it, tho' it was a tad jarring to hear about his masturbation contests, and the language does get earthy, but I suppose it all helps to size up the subject matter into a real enough image, which is what reading the book is for in the first place.
Overall a good read.
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