Good night, Brother Ray.

[Dr Fate]

I'm bawing my eyes out.

Good night, you bad-ass MF!!!!

Now you can just roll around heaven all day...SOBBB!!!!;(

[brainshrub]

1. OMG! Is he dead?

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

[Dr Fate]

6. I hate to be clichce, but people like him never really die...

TURN IT UP!!!!

[Lefty48197]

2. I think his singing of "Oh Beautiful" after the 9-11 tragedy

did more to help this country get past the mourning phase, than any photo-op that Jr.* or Guiliani appeared in.

[madrchsod]

3. my girlfriend and i saw

saw ray in 68 at the aire crown in chicago- great music, ray was amazing-talked 15 minutes about how beautiful women were..what a night. ray is truly an american legend...

[Bronco69]

4. Good Bye Ray.

You were truly an inspiration. Peace to you my friend.

[freetobegay]

5. What a great man!

Rest in peace. :cry:

[Tom Kitten]

7. I never thought he would die.

When I first heard and saw him (1970?) I thought he had been around forever already. Absolutely beyond time, a golden soul. and he was not that old ! My parent's age. I'm just beginning to feel the impact. Each day our culture and heritage grows poorer. I'll miss Ray more than I thought I would, by that I mean I thought he'd always be here. And he will in a way, his memory will live forever. Much more than some politician we are told to mourn for.

[NightTrain]

8. Nice picture! So nice, I just posted it to my website's homepage...

...along with an "R.I.P." message. Check it out here:

http://home.comcast.net/~soulexpress4/

[Dr Fate]

17. Happy to help- great site too...

...I'm sure your show is killer...

[Tripper11]

9. Enjoy the jam where ever you are Ray!

I brought my parents to the club I used to work at in the 80's to see Ray.

He was on fire! I swear I thought he was going to wipe out off his piano stool he was rocking so hard.

Great show!

When I heard the news, after my inital reaction, I thought about that show, and his appearance in The Blues Brothers..."come on let me see you shake yer tail feather!!"

[BrewerJohn]

10. Wife and I saw him in Davenport in 2001

Simply amazing. He had his band and singers with him, but didn't need any of them; he could have rocked that hall with just his voice, as he proved several times in the show.

Farewell to a great artist and a true legend. Rock on, bro.

[LowerManhattanite]

11. "Now you can just roll around heaven all day...SOBBB!!!"

I posted the message below is an earlier thread about "favorite Ray songs"

"Ray's "That Lucky Old Sun" . My dad used to cut me and my brother's hair and inexplicably, he always put on an album and hummed every song during the haircut. His three favorite albums to cut hair to?
1.) Sam Cooke-Live at the Copa
2.) The Impressions-People Get Ready
and
3.) Ray Charles- Ingredients for a Soul Recipe
I can remember the running order of all three albums from sheer repetition...but the songs that stayed with me strongest were the Impressions' hymn-like "People Get Ready" and most of all, Ray's heartfelt moan of "That Lucky Old Sun". God-damn. It's a powerful song. It always reminded me of my dad and how hard he worked (to feed seven kids!). My dad would hum that song along with Ray and it seemed as though the words spoke to him.
"That lucky old sun...
got nothin' to do...
but roll 'round heaven allllll daaayy..."
Spike Lee used the song in a pivotal scene from "Malcolm X" and I remember almost crying when I heard it in the movie; it so powerfully underscored the scene. Every one of us has a few songs that winnow their way into our hearts and give us that up-the-spine "tingle" whenever we hear them. Ray's "That Lucky Old Sun" does just that to me.

Godspeed Ray,
Godspeed."

That song still kills me...and it's good to see someone else is hip to it. The band upstairs just got a piano player par-excellence. Git yo' ass up Beethoven---Ray's got the midnight set!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

12. One of the irreplacabiles..... God speed Ray... God Speed.

Wonder if * will wave to him at his funeral?

[mitchum]

13. I've never known a world without Ray Charles

Rest In Peace, Genius

[mopaul]

14. .

[mopaul]

15. .

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. He is the lucky old sun now

Decided to post my Ray post on my musical soulmate's thread :hi: Hey Fate...congrats on making it through your first year of law school too! :thumbsup: