Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story [Paperback]

Ray Charles (Author), David Ritz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2004

Ray Charles (1930-2004) led one of the most extraordinary lives of any popular musician. In Brother Ray, he tells his story in an inimitable and unsparing voice, from the chronicle of his musical development to his heroin addiction to his tangled romantic life. Overcoming poverty, blindness, the loss of his parents, and the pervasive racism of the era, Ray Charles was acclaimed worldwide as a genius by the age of thirty-two. By combining the influences of gospel, jazz, blues, and country music, he invented, almost single-handedly, what became known as soul. And throughout a career spanning more than a half century, Ray Charles remained in complete control of his life and his music, allowing nobody to tell him what he could and couldn't do.As the Chicago Sun-Times put it, Brother Ray is "candid, explicit, sometimes embarrassing, often hilarious, always warm, touching and deeply human-just like his music."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A delight to read." -- A.O. Scott New York Times 10/29/04

"A must-own for Ray Charles fans." -- Jill Jackson's Hollywood 11/25/04)

"A raw, honest, decidedly unromantic look back...told in a plainspoken, conversational style...It's still astonishing, though, to read." -- All About Jazz-New York March 2005

"An excellent biography if you want to get all the dirt on Ray." -- Tom Waits in Magnet October / November 2004

"Required Reading" -- New York Post 12/5/04

"Tells all and hides nothing." -- East Bay Express 10/28/04

"[a] very readable as-told-to autobiography." -- Detroit Free Press 10/29/04

About the Author

David Ritz is the author of Faith in Time: The Life of Jimmy Scott, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, and many other books with or about Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and B.B. King. He is a three-time winner of the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award. He lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306814315
• ISBN-13: 978-0306814310
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In his own words., May 22, 2005

By 

M. Buisman (Amstelveen, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story (Paperback)

Warning!: if people are honest you might hear some things you'd rather not read. In this case however, it does mean that through Ray Charles' own words we hear about his life up till 1978 when the book came out.

His youth was hard, becoming blind around age 7, going to a special school and losing his mom when she was only in her thirties were hard. Music is of course the theme that runs through it all, though I personally would have liked to have read more about the musical side of his life than the two things that make up an important part of the book: heroin and sex.

He seems to have been addicted to both but he has always said that heroin was his own choice and that he wasn't pushed into it by other people. That makes it all very openhearted and in a way bearable. The part where he decided to stop smack is heartbreaking and genuine.

He also talks lightly about his blindness, which is great, you forget most of the time that he couldn't see a thing.

The ghostwriter himself has carefully written that Ray himself went over the pages time and time again so we can be pretty sure that everything in it is true to his heart.

We could have done with some more musical history, but it's a great book to read nonetheless

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An in-depth set of insights into his life and thoughts, March 11, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story (Paperback)

Fans of the late Ray Charles will delight in this classic autobiography of the legend, which is reprinted in a new edition including co-author David Ritz's essay on Charles' last days. If it's only one Ray Charles book you're buying, and you want an in-depth set of insights into his life and thoughts, it should be Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story. Competing Ray Charles biographical titles provide photos; but it is this highly recommended memoir which provides his personal story in his own voice and from his own perspective.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars STRAIGHT FROM RAY'S MOUTH, July 15, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story (Paperback)

I loved this autobio, the best I've ever read. While reading I felt like RC was talking directly to me. Ray just tells it the way it is with no type of fluff or excuses. In the book Ray says he selected his own clothes, dressed himself, shaved with a straight edge razor. He has even driven several cars (someone else were his eyes) and drove a moter scooter around his home (property) in L.A. The one thing that I found amazing was his drug use. RC said he used smack for about 20 yrs and he was shooting up himself, but I'm sure the first few times someone had to help. He never really said who scored the drugs for him and where he got it from. Ray said his drug use was his business and he wasn't hurting anyone. Did you know that Ray had one eye removed after being blind at a young age? He was attending a school for the blind and was great pain so it was removed. Years later as a man, he asked a few doctors what they thought of his ailment? They speculated that it was glaucoma but Ray never knew for sure. RC talks about the record companies, selling records, and tours. I thought his would be boring but the way RC tells the story it's not. I really like the way David Ritz organized the book and has a table of contents. I read every page, but the contents are good for those readers who only want to get straight to the juicy stuff. Get this book, you won't be disappointed.