Ray Charles, who battled childhood poverty, blindness and heroin addiction to help pioneer soul music and become one of America's most enduring musicians, has died at the age of 73, a spokesman said.Charles died at 11:35am (local time) at his Beverly Hills home from liver disease complications.
Family members and his manager were present, said Jerry Digney, his long time publicist.
He was born Ray Charles Robinson on Sept. 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia, the first child of Aretha and Baily Robinson. His father was a mechanic and a handyman; his mother worked at a sawmill. They moved to Greenville, Florida, when he was an infant.It was the height of the Depression and Charles recalled how poor his family was in his 1978 autobiography, ``Brother Ray'':
``Even compared to other blacks...we were on the bottom of the ladder looking up at everyone else. Nothing below us except the ground.''
Charles contracted glaucoma at the age of six, and it eventually left him blind.
Blind by age 7 and an orphan at 15, Charles spent his life shattering any notion of musical boundaries and defying easy definition. A gifted pianist and saxophonist, he dabbled in country, jazz, big band and blues, and put his stamp on it all with a deep, warm voice roughened by heartbreak from a hardscrabble childhood in the segregated South.In his own words:"His sound was stunning - it was the blues, it was R&B, it was gospel, it was swing - it was all the stuff I was listening to before that but rolled into one amazing, soulful thing," singer Van Morrison told Rolling Stone magazine in April.
Originally, soul music had a strong element of the church, of spiritual music. It had a gospel music feeling, and then it incorporated the sound of blues music. That's soul's makeup: the fusion of gospel and blues, all mixed up together. It's the crossover of those forms of music that makes soul unique....At first I got some criticism for playing soul music. Women sent me letters, accused me of being sacrilegious because they could pick out that gospel music was being incorporated into something that went beyond the sound they heard in church every week. They didn't realize at first how spiritual soul music could be....
And there were people who objected to soul being played on the radio because of the depth of feeling in the music. Some people thought it was too suggestive, and some thought it was just plain vulgar. But the feeling that comes through in the music --that's the essence of soul -- the word itself tells you that.
Talk about coincidence, here's a bit of trivia you won't read in the mainstream press:
Charles performed at Republican national conventions during Ronald Reagan's years as the party's leader.
Melba King was a 22-year-old nursing student in Des Moines in 1933. She was walking home one autumn night when a mugger came up behind her with a gun and demanded her money.They didn't meet again until 1984, at which time Reagan added to the story:At that moment, Ronald Reagan -- who was a Des Moines radio sportscaster at the time -- came to her rescue. Reagan pointed a .45-caliber revolver at the robber from the window of his second-floor rented room.
"And he said, 'Leave her alone or I'll shoot you right between the shoulders,'" King told KCCI.
Reagan scared the man off and calmed King's nerves. Then, the future president said he would walk King home.
This is the first time I've had a chance to tell you the gun was empty. I didn't have any cartridges. If he hadn't run when I told him to, I was going to have to throw it at him.That's my kind of president.
While you're out surfing, be sure to stop by Spiced Sass because Zee has a hilarious post on the homicide-bomber gathering that recently took place in Iran.
And Hog on Ice exposes yet another liberal lie: AIDS money under Reagan. (Can you say $5.7 billion?)
Ronald Reagan's fragile widow rested her head on her husband's flag-draped coffin and whispered, "I can't believe it" as she gave in to her grief.Her tears flowed yesterday after she emerged for the first time since the former President's death to begin a week-long farewell.
And as Nancy Reagan publicly showed her heartbreak, details of her final private moment with the love of her life were revealed last night as one of deep sorrow and miraculous surprise.
The former First Lady believes her long-suffering husband recognized her when he stared into her eyes for an instant before taking his last breath, his daughter Patti Davis writes.
"It was the greatest gift he could have given me," the former First Lady told her family.
Sobbing, shaking and knowing death was imminent, she held her husband's hand about 1 p.m. Saturday as he inhaled deeply and opened his eyes for the first time in five days.
While most thought Alzheimer's disease had robbed former President Reagan of all his memory, the last look he gave his wife was one of deep acknowledgment, Davis writes for People magazine in its upcoming edition.
"At the last moment when his breathing told us this was it, he opened his eyes and looked straight at my mother. Eyes that had not opened for days did, and they weren't chalky or vague," Davis recalls. "They were clear and blue and full of life. If a death can be lovely, his was."
Davis and her brother Ron were standing next to their father's bed when the astonishing interchange between their parents took place.
"In his last moment he taught me that there is nothing stronger than love between two people, two souls," Davis writes. "It was the last thing he could do to show my mother how entwined their souls are and it was everything."
The former President died just before Michael Reagan entered his father's room, but he said the look on Nancy Reagan's face revealed she had been given a gift even as she began to mourn her loss.
"His last earthy look was at his wife, his next look was at the face of God," Michael Reagan told People.
The effort to get Reagan's face on the ten-dollar bill has been around for quite some time, thanks to the folks over at the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project.
Well, the effort is back, with alternative plans of putting his face on the $20 bill or even half the dimes:
USA Today reported Tuesday that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) plans to sponsor legislation in the Senate to have Reagan's image replace that of Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first treasury secretary, on the $10 bill.Meanwhile, an effort is underway in the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), to put Reagan's face on the $20. ...
A change would require majority votes in both houses of Congress. In the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, passage of a bill seems achievable, according to Washington sources. In the Senate, however, cloture rules would allow the Democratic minority to block any legislation.
Proponents of Reaganized money, however, are proposing an alternative to paper money: coins. Unlike decisions about notes, coinage can be changed at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. ...
The idea of removing Roosevelt from the dime altogether in favor of Reagan had enough opposition, even from Nancy Reagan, to be dropped, USA Today reported. But the Gipper's fans think giving equal time to Reagan and FDR strikes an appropriate compromise.
An Ohio state representative wants to see President Ronald Reagan's image added to Mount Rushmore.I would love a double win in South Dakota this year: Reagan on Rushmore and Thune beating Daschle!Rep. Ron Young, R-Painesville, introduced a resolution Monday requesting Congress to add the former president's image to the South Dakota landmark. ...
"During the years of President Reagan, America laid to rest an era of division and self-doubt. Because of his leadership, the world laid to rest an era of fear and tyranny," Young said. "I conceived this idea some time ago, and had this resolution drafted and ready to introduce because I can think of no better way to honor the Great Communicator than to have his image added to Mount Rushmore."
Being American in T.O. covers the Canadian perspective quite well.
A Little More to the Right posts the entire text of Reagan's farewell address, while American RealPolitik chose to post his Berlin Wall speech.
Maroon Blog has a number of excellent entries from a Historian's point of view.
Spot On offers a personal perspective:
My parents were from two different areas of the Soviet Union. My mother was from Kuybyshev, now called Samara. My father was from Lvov, now called Lviv, in the Ukraine. My mother became a teacher and my father a doctor. ...They got to America in the late 70's. Carter was president. It was gas lines, inflation, weakness on the international front. And still, they were overjoyed to be here.BoiFromTroy has an extensive list of blogger reactions and a tribute of his own:Then, in 1980, Ronald Reagan gripped their imaginations and hearts. He was energizing, tough and most important to them: he saw the Soviet Union for the evil place that it was. I can't say it enough, to those who never experienced Communism, it might be this flawed system that was further corrupted by bad leadership.
Loved and hated, Reagan led the country and the world from a period of malaise and discontent to one of hope and opportunity.Right Wing News follows suit with a list of blogger reactions as well as a personal tribute:
Reagan was like a bigger than life hero from one his movies. He showed up when America and yes, even the rest of the world, needed him most, saved the day, and then rode off into the sunset, leaving all of us with a "debt of gratitude" that we could never fully repay.The Politburo Diktat has an extensive list of blogger posts.
Bastardsword gives a fascinating account of how Reagan faced down the Soviets, and his appointment of Casey to head up the CIA:
Some of what Reagan did was simple, yet masterful, such as playing up that cowboy image. The reason he did is because when he was first campaigning our people in Moscow found out he terrified the Russian generals, with all of his cowboy talk and SDI, so Reagan always played to that image. Many Democrats still derisively refer to him as "the cowboy" without realizing he had a reason and a purpose for it. We wanted their generals shaking in their boots.Cavalier's Guardian WatchBlog:
His policies, however, were not what endeared him to the American people. It was his personal warmth and sense of humor, which he kept even in the worst circumstances. When he was shot by would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. in 1981 and was rushed to the hospital, he looked around at the surgeons and joked, "I hope you're all Republicans." When he awoke to find his wife Nancy at his side, he told her, "Sorry, I forgot to duck."Just A Girl recounts meeting the president:
His handshake was firm. His eyes sparkled as his eyes made contact with mine - and his smile, genuine and warm as he thanked me for all the hard work of making his visit possible.Jed from Boots and Sabers:
He showed us that we were better than everybody else, and we shouldn’t be ashamed to think so. Ronald Reagan instilled a sense of pride and duty in me that will stay with me for the rest of my life.. Opinari:
I knew it was coming. But I don't know that I was quite ready to say goodbye. That is how I feel right now as I learn that Ronald Wilson Reagan, the greatest president of my lifetime, has passed away.Rex Hammock has a personal and touching story:
The more I witnessed up close the finger-in-the-air approach to policy that most politicians practice, the more I came to appreciate that Reagan actually had some beliefs about which he would not compromise. I also came to appreciate his ability to know when there was no more negotiating room and the exact time to compromise, and then, with artful savvy, declare victory.Peter Schramm of No Left Turns knew Reagan, working for him from the campaign for governor to the president's administration:I became a fan.
Ronald Reagan was the political antidote to this shrunken view of America. He reminded us that we stood for something great, that we were made of sterner stuff than the nay-sayers implied. He not only made the right arguments and proposed sound policies, but his very person, his character, was such as to make it entirely believable. This was an entirely American man.Free Will has a personal anecdote and a couple of extracts from other's comments.
Bane Rants has an honest and mixed look at Reagan:
I was in the military when RR was sworn in, and his policies began to take effect. The comparison between RR's and Carter's regime was like night turning into day. We went from grey, faceless drones, bent-backed under the weight of communism, to Red White and Blue Patriots quite literally overnight. It swept all of society, not just the military.Pejmanesque has an extensive post:
Of course, Reagan's legacy should not end by just being measured by its Cold War accomplishments (though those accomplishments are surely the defining feature of the Reagan legacy). After three failed Presidencies and one caretaker government--that of Gerald Ford's--Reagan proved to a doubting public that the Presidency could be made to work again.Sgt. Stryker has an anecdote of his own.
He ended the Cold War. He governed over one of the most prosperous times in American history. He made America believe it was great again. He pulled us from the depths of one of the darkest times in our history and made us proud to be an American.Michelle at A Small Victory does her usual execellent job:
I have never been more comfortable than I am here in Reagan's World, where pride in your country is a good thing, where hope always remains, where the future is something to look forward to and not fear.Dean's World:
I voted against Ronald Reagan in my first vote for President in 1984.Belmont Club sums it up with this:In retrospect, I was a fool.
The man who won Cold War died today. He couldn't take it with him, but left his legacy to billions of human beings. He was characterized as an idiot, an automaton and charlatan by many of his critics. Yet none of his detractors, however polished and poised, have changed the world so profoundly as this one man.Kitty Litter:
Reagan changed America. No longer was the word American an ugly word. We began displaying Old Glory with pride. We were proud to admit we were Americans.The Black Republican:
Ronald Wilson Reagan now belongs to the ages, but the world still belongs to us, the living. I don't think that I would be out of line to say that President Reagan would not want us to spend to much time or energy praising him, for he considered himself just a simple man doing what he thought was right.Captain's Quarters says farwell:
Pundits at the time, and worse yet since, have branded Reagan as a simple man (or a simpleton) who won by huckstering the US into thinking happy thoughts, but optimism was a key component of Ronald Reagan -- and people knew it.andCoupled with a strong belief in individualism and personal liberty, Reagan literally changed the nature of American politics in a single election cycle.
No reading of a listing of the positive changes attributible to President Reagan (Martin Luther King Day) can fully explain the effect of this man. His wit, his generous nature, his style, his vision, his consistency and a thousand other descriptive words can highlight aspects of his character, but only fail to capture the entire man, he was an original and we don't have a word that fully appraises his value. He was Reaganesque, a new word that fits only him, the defintion of which is lengthy and complex, yet as simple as, sincere.Marginal Revolution lists some of Reagan's accomplishments, including:
Reagan also deserves great credit for standing up to the air traffic controllers thereby sending a strong signal that the country would not be taken hostage by the labor unions as had happened and continues to happen in much of Europe.Silent Running tells us to move foreward:
We who are lucky enough to live in the Free World have an obligation to see Ronald Reagan's vision through to the end. President Bush may have inherited the leadership, but the task belongs to all of us.Mullings has an anecdote as well as a few words of tribute:
Ronald Reagan died on Saturday. He has now "slipped the surly bonds of earth"; and we pray, "touched the face of God."Tomfoolery makes some interesting points:We believe in our hearts and in our souls that God, feeling Ronald Reagan's touch, turned toward him, smiled, and said, "Welcome."
There will be a lot of historical revision in the next few weeks. The collapse of the Soviet Union will be told as "inevitable," as if it were the natural course of history instead of because of Reagan's hard-line towards them.Serenity's Journal has a few words:
So much to say about this fine man but I’d rather keep my thoughts to myself. What I will say is that he brought a bright ray of hope to a very young girl who thought that there just may be no future for us. I will always be grateful to former President Ronald Reagan.Aaron's Rantblog lists some excellent quotes.
Insults Unpunished remembers:
Perhaps the moment that cemented my affection for him was the Challenger disaster. I would be graduating from high school in a few months and knew full well what was going on in the world. Again, in a moment of crisis, he was able to talk to the American people in a way that acknowledged the tragedy but allowed us to keep moving forward.Useful Fools covers how the Left is responding (hint: "predictably"), as does Balloon Juice and Hootinan and damnum absque injuria.
Hawken Blog covers the New York Times' shameful coverage.
How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.
-- Ronald Reagan - Remarks in Arlington, Virginia, September 25, 1987
Reagan's courageous eight years of leadership changed everything. "Tax cuts for the wealthy" energized the economy, enabling the rebuilding of the military and funding of the infamous Star Wars program that was a primary cause of the Soviet Union's demise. He is credited with saving the Republican party and transforming American conservatism "from an intellectual movement into a political revolution".
He truly let America be America, restoring pride in our nation and returning moral fiber to our policies.
A president's legacy is often not felt until years, or even decades, after the end of their administration. Just as FDR's New Deal spawned Lyndon Johnson's Great Society long after Roosevelt's death, Ronald Reagan's legacy made Bush 43 possible.
Tax cuts to counter a deepening recession? It worked in Regan's time and it has worked today. Clear talk of an "evil empire"? It clearly identified a formidable and frightening enemy, just as "axis of evil" has today. A return to traditional values and prayer in (gasp) schools? Today we are seeking faith-based initiatives and protection for the unborn.
Reagan blazed the trail, we are but following it.
Ronald Reagan's legacy continues today in the Ronald Reagan Ranch, which teaches young people the "principles of freedom, limited government and respect for traditional American values like patriotism, courage and personal responsibility." In memory of the great man, stop by if you can and make a donation.
Today I honor a man who served as an example to everyone with the words he used while standing on the sands of Omaha Beach on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day:
We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.
-- Ronald Reagan - June 6, 1984
God Bless You, Dutch. May you walk with the angels throughout eternity.
Note: the best Reagan quotes can be found here.
