Charles changed the way people perceived country music. He brought many new fans to the genre, and country songwriters and publishers became a more popular source of material throughout the record business.
“Country music has been here forever; but for years a lot of people who listened to country music were ashamed to admit it. What I really think started it booming was Ray Charles and his hit ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You.’” — Loretta Lynn
By the time of Charles’s sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall in 1962, black and white audiences had embraced him equally.
His landmark 1962 album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music received gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.
Gold status in 1962 was the equivalent of today’s platinum award, for sales of one million copies.
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With the phenomenal success of Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Charles became a millionaire. In 1964, this shrewd businessman centralized his various music and business enterprises under one roof, in the two-story RPM (Recording, Publishing, and Management) International Building in Los Angeles. It housed Charles’s Tangerine Music publishing company, his Tangerine and Crossover record labels, and his Racer personal management and booking agencies. Most important for Ray, it contained a custom-built recording and rehearsal studio.
“My first love was the recording studio, my own studio.” — Ray Charles
Having his own studio gave Charles complete control over the recording process, and the freedom to lay down tracks whenever he pleased. When not on the road, Charles found refuge at RPM, where he spent thousands of hours recording and mixing tracks in his tireless pursuit of musical perfection.
Ray Charles’s versions of country songs such as “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Busted,” and “Crying Time” dominated the pop and R&B airwaves in the 1960s but were largely ignored by country radio. In fact, Charles did not appear on the national country charts until two decades later, when he signed a multi-album deal with the Nashville division of Columbia Records with the expressed intent of making music for the country audience. While negotiating that contract, Charles insisted that he record an album of duets with some of his favorite country artists.
The result was the #1 album Friendship (1984), produced by Billy Sherrill, which paired Charles with such country stars as George Jones,
Willie Nelson,
the Oak Ridge Boys, Janie Fricke, B.J. Thomas, and Ricky Skaggs,
Merle Haggard,
Mickey Gilley,
and Johnny Cash.
The Friendship album reached #1 on the Billboard Country chart in 1985.
During the latter part of his career, Ray Charles emerged as a cultural icon. Even as his records failed to make the charts after the success of 1984’s Friendship album, Charles was being showered with awards and honors, and courted by presidents and politicians as a symbol of American opportunity and equality. His appearances in popular TV ads kept him in the public eye in the 1990s and helped cement his status as a hip elder statesman of pop.
Charles passed away on June 10, 2004, shortly after completing Genius Loves Company, his album of duets with Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, and others. It earned eight Grammys and became the biggest-selling album of Charles’s career.
At the invitation of Ray Charles Enterprises, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibited I Can’t Stop Loving You: Ray Charles and Country Music, in 2006 and 2007. The exhibit featured a treasury of Charles-related artifacts, including keyboards and other instruments, stage costumes and sunglasses, honors and awards, as well as photos, videos, and listening stations. Some of the photos, videos, and audio recordings that were part of the exhibit can be found at http://digi.countrymusichalloffame.org.