The U.S. Postal Service is selling a CD of Ray Charles’ music in conjunction with the recently released Forever Stamp celebrating the entertainer’s legacy.
“Ray Charles Forever!” from the Concord Music Group includes re-mastered classics of “Come rain or come shine;” “America, The Beautiful;” a previously unreleased recording of “They can’t take that away from me;” “I didn’t know what time it was,” a bonus track only released on the postal version of the CD; and nine other tracks. The CDis being promoted with a TV ad campaign in targeted markets.
The CD is priced at $9.99 and is available at nearly 5,000 select Post Offices, including all Premiere Offices. The CD also is available for purchase online at usps.com/shop.
The Ray Charles Forever Stamp debuted on Sept. 23, 2013 on what would have been the singer’s 83rd birthday. The stamp is the latest in the 2013 Music Icon series.
Born Sept. 23, 1930, in Albany, GA, Ray Charles Robinson was raised in the small town of Greenville, FL, where a local boogie-woogie pianist gave him his first piano lessons.
At the age of five, Charles began to go blind. His right eye was surgically removed. He learned to read Braille and was given lessons in classical piano and clarinet. He also taught himself to play saxophone while continuing to listen to a mix of jazz, blues and country music.
After his mother died in 1945, Charles left school and went to work in Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa as a professional musician. In 1948, he went to Seattle, WA, and formed a group known as the McSon Trio. Charles signed with Atlantic Records in 1952, where he had his first national hit, “I’ve Got a Woman,” in 1955.
Charles assembled his own band, touring along with his quartet of backup vocalists, the Cookies, later known as the “Raeletts.” In 1959, Charles scored a major hit on both the rhythm and blues and pop charts with “What’d I Say?”
But Charles could not be defined or contained by one musical style. He appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival and recorded a successful album with Milt Jackson of the Modern Jazz Quartet. In 1959, when offered financial incentives, Charles left Atlantic for ABC-Paramount. His growing audience continued to expand with two number one hits, “Georgia On My Mind” (1960) and “Hit the Road Jack” (1961).
Looking back over the course of his long career, there seemed to be little Charles couldn’t do. His work spanned almost the entire breadth of American music and brought him 17 GRAMMY Awards; the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986; an award for lifetime achievement in 1987; the National Medal of Arts in 1993; and, his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Many of this year’s other stamps may be viewed on Facebook at facebook.com/USPSStamps, via Twitter at @USPSstamps or at beyondtheperf.com/2013-preview.
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