Ray Charles quotes

Ray Charles was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist who became one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Widely regarded as a pioneer of soul music, he blended rhythm and blues, gospel, and jazz in his work. He helped break down barriers in music and society through his artistry and charisma. Here are 60 of his quotes:

Rhythm and blues used to be called race music. ... This music was going on for years, but nobody paid any attention to it.

Ray Charles

The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.

Ray Charles

You better live every day like your last because one day you're going to be right.

Ray Charles

Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.

Ray Charles

I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.

Ray Charles

What is a soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room.

Ray Charles

Before I begin, let me say right here and now that I'm a country boy. And, man, I mean the real backwoods! That's at the start of the start of the thing, and that's at the heart of the thing.

Ray Charles

When I was going blind, I didn't turn to God. It didn't seem to me then - and it doesn't seem to me now - that those items were His concern. Early on, I figured I better begin to learn how to count on myself, instead of counting on supernatural forces.

Ray Charles

Music has been around a long time, and there's going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it's a big record, that's the frosting on the cake, but music's the main meal.

Ray Charles

Soul is when you take a song and make it a part of you - a part that's so true, so real, people think it must have happened to you. ... It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, do we? But it's a force that can light a room. Soul is like electricity, like a spirit, a drive, a power.

Ray Charles

I was born with music inside me.

Ray Charles

You gotta know how to get to people's heart.

Ray Charles

Music is nothing separate from me. It is me. I can't retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. You'd have to remove the music from me surgically - like you were taking out my appendix.

Ray Charles

You got to set your mind right and the rest will come to you naturally. No restrictions, no hang-ups, no stupid rules, no formalities, no forbidden fruit - just everyone getting and giving as much as he and she can.

Ray Charles

But now if I can wrap myself up in that song, and when that song gets to be a part of me, and affects me emotionally, then the emotions that I go through, chances are I'll be able to communicate to you. Make the people out there become a part of the life of this song that you're singing about. That's soul when you can do that.

Ray Charles

I know that men ain't supposed to cry, but I think that's wrong. Crying's always been a way for me to get things out which are buried deep, deep down. When I sing, I often cry. Crying is feeling, and feeling is being human.

Ray Charles

I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me - like food or water.

Ray Charles

I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great.

Ray Charles

I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been able to hear.

Ray Charles

Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.

Ray Charles

There's nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, 'If you believe in Me, you ain't going to have no troubles.'

Ray Charles

Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.

Ray Charles