Many folks, even here in Seattle don't realize that Ray Charles sort of got his start in Seattle, where he met Quincy Jones, and also where in 1948 he formed the first black group to have a sponsored TV show in the Pacific Northwest, the McSon Trio.
The BBC has set up a page where people can send a little tribute to the memory of Ray Charles. Many of them are quite touching, and they are from all over the world-- of course the UK, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, the Canary Islands, and this one from daftjack, South Africa:
"I remember travelling 200 miles from Manchester to London just to buy a Ray Charles record (in the 60s). I would still have gone had it been a thousand. Great singer, great voice, great man. The heavenly choir will have some competition tonight."
Ray Charles was truly a great American: optimistic, hard working, and sincere.
I will refrain from sullying his memory by comparing him to Ronald Regan; a man who began his political life being an FBI informant for the McCarthy Committee, and ended it with the blood of Nicaragua, Guatemala and Grenada on his hands, not to mention arming the Mujahdeen in Afganistan....wait I said I wasn't going to bring all that up.
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