Today, we celebrate the 89th birthday of our beloved, Ray Charles. He may not be with us physically, but our greetings will mean so much to him. So now, let us all greet him a happy birthday! Now, as we celebrate his birthday, let us know more about him.

Ray Charles: Father of Soul

Ray Charles is the pioneer of soul music, integrating R & B, gospel, pop, and country kind of songs. He may be blind, but he showed the world that his disability cannot hinder him from being a king of music. In addition, he has been considered as one of the greatest artists of all time.

Via raycharles.com

Charles was a legendary musician who pioneered the genre of soul music in the ’50s. His country fans have often called him the “Father of Soul.” His great ability to combine blues, gospel, and jazz to create groundbreaking hits is what make him unique. During his musical career, he has received numerous major awards and was truly loved by his county fans. Unfortunately, he died in 2004, leaving a lasting impression on the country music industry.

One of his classic hits that became popular is the song, “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”

“I Can’t Stop Loving You”

This track was written and originally recorded by Don Gibson. Since it became popular, many music artists have recorded.

Charles’ version of the song, was released in 1962 from his album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Upon the release of the song, it immediately reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and have spent 5 weeks on the chart. Thus, Billboard ranked this song as the number 2 greatest hits in 1962.

Via YouTube.com by Screengrab

We all know that Charles was known as a gospel and R&B singer, but he has decided to record an album of country and western songs. Amazingly, his first-ever country and western album was wildly successful. This album has sold 700,000 units for the first month of its release. In an inspirational message about this song, he said,

“You take country music, you take black music, it’s exactly the same thing,”

Listen to Ray Charles’ “I Can’t Stop Loving You” below: