THE FATHER OF SOUL MUSIC

Ray Charles Robinson was (be) born in 1930 in

Georgia, but he grew up (grow up) in Florida. He
lived (live) with his mother, Aretha, and his younger
brother. They were (be) very poor. When Ray was
(be) five years old, his brother died (die). Two years
later, Ray went (go) blind. Aretha Robinson sent
(send) her son to St. Augustine’s, a school for blind
children. He studied(study) classical music there.
When Ray was (be) fourteen, his mother passed (pass)
away, and he left (leave) school. For two years, he
played (play) the piano with some local bands to earned
(earn) money for a bus ticket to Seattle. There, he
played (play) in clubs and bars. He didn´t earn (not/earn)
a lot of money, but he loved (love) music. “Music,” he
said (say), “was like food or water for me.”

At first, he sang (sing) songs by other famous singers, be

he soon innovated (innovate) a kind of music. He used
(use) blues, jazz, country, and gospel music, and he
created (create) “soul music.” He changed (change) his
name to Ray Charles, and by 1955, the poor boy from
Florida was (was) rich and famous.
He gave (give) a lot of his money to schools for blind
African-American children. He got (get) married and
divorced (divorce) twice, and he had (have) 12
children.
In 1998, a movie director, Taylor Hackford, started
(start) planning a movie about the singer’s life.

He called (call) it “Ray”. The movie’s star, Jamie Foxx,

won (win) the Oscar for Best Actor in 2005. Sadly,
Ray Charles wasn´t (not/be) there. He died (die) in
June 2004 at the age of 73.