Blindness is a disease that most of us will get when older. So i'm going to talk about how Ray charles dealt with blindness. Blindness is a disease that causes the eye to not see clearly. Cataracts, most common disease for blindness, is a very serious disease and can cause death (Hal, 13). Cataracts affects almost twenty million American people (Hal, 13). Dome of the most common causes that can cause blindness are Diabetes, smoking, drinking, and lack of nutrition (Medicine Net, web).
Ray Charles was completely blind at age seven (Brown, 12). Doctors believe he had glaucoma, However are not sure if this is true (Hal, 37). When growing he was constantly depressed. When age fifteen his mother died which made his depression worse. His neighbor would later teach him how to play the piano. Ray would
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However, he thought that people would not like him and started to become depressed. Since he was still young his neighbor continued to encourage him. Being that he was depressed he could not focus on music as much as he would like.
Once he started to be liked by the people he would continue to follow his music career. This would continue him to move on and overcome being depressed and being blind. While he was becoming more famous he was not perfect he would use drugs and alcohol. However this did not affect how much people liked him even though most know about this. At this point people would worry about him, because he had run into the law twice and would run into them once more for being caught with drugs. He managed to get a hold of his life and to stop using drugs and learn to cope with his blindness with music.
Ray started to make a name for himself because, he was blind but able to play piano. He would be asked by many radio and newspaper corporations for interviews. Once he was completely done he would release over many albums and hit
Music served as an escape for Josh, because, as Hunt vividly describes, being a 15 year old, in the Great Depression was not an easy task. Josh, and his best friend Howie would produce beautiful music, temporarily losing themselves in the exquisite music they created. Josh and Howie were talented past their age, and they were given a role to play for the school assembly. Though their rehearsals were beneficial, they both dreaded the thought of returning home. Sadly, Stefan, Josh’s father did not feel the love he once felt toward music anymore, so he believed Josh should not spend time on luxuries such as music.
Eventually in 1937, Dizzy Gillespie decided to head out to New York to carry out his dream of becoming a famous jazz player. During his time at New York he talked with many different bands and earned a job with Teddy Hill’s band. Hill was very impressed with Gillespie’s unique playing style. The group went on a tour from Great Britain to France shortly after Gillespie had joined the band. After getting back from the tour G...
In the 1930s many black musicians where coming out of the south. One especially who would soon top the charts and hit fame and fortune starting in his young years, Ray Charles. After conquering poverty, blindness and many other things, success was possible. In his young age he had a few losses in his family and near after came down with a disease which was causing him to go blind. He later came over the blindness and was able to learn and compose music with the help of his skills in mathematics. After enduring a harsh childhood and blindness, Ray Charles was able to over come his handicap and follow his dream in music.
"My goal is to be remembered as a human being and as a great performer" (Scalia). Bobby Darin, born Walden Robert Cassotto on May 14th 1936 and later died on December 20th 1973 at the age of 37. Darin was an American singer, songwriter, and actor of film and television. He was the son of an Italian-born cabinet maker in Bronx, New York. He had a normal childhood as many did and was backed with a loving family who supported and encouraged his every musical move. As a child he suffered something called severe rheumatic fever, which is inflammatory disease that may develop as a complication of a streptococcus infection. It is often similar to Strep throat or scarlet fever. This caused him to be much protected in his life and helped him strive to be as successful as he could be with the short life that he had. Later in life he found out that the people he grew up thinking were his parents were in fact not, his mom was the his sister and his ‘parents’ were actually his grandparents, he never found out who his father was. Although he had many complications that did not stop him from following his dream.
Little Stevie Wonder was modeled after the famed career of, the not-so surprising, Ray Charles. Charles was also a blind musician, whose charisma and “R&B screamer” style allowed Gordy to mold Wonder’s image after (Rolling Stone). Wonder worked in 1962 with Motown writer Clarence Paul to produce his first album called The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie Wonder under the Motown subsidiary known as Tamla. On this album, Stevie Wonder elucidated his extreme musical talent on the harmonica, drums, and keyboard. Although he doesn’t sing on this album, the album gave his audience a taste for the Soul and Jazz sound that embodied his young persona. Similarly, later in 1962, Gordy tried to cement Little Stevie Wonder’s image in his tribute to Ray Charles. Wonder made the album A Tribute to Uncle Ray, which was a series of songs dedicated to the famed Ray Charles in both covers and like-sounding originals. However, it was clear that Wonder’s sound was not like that of Charles, which left Gordy in a scramble to create an image that matched Wonder’s talent. As William Ruhlman states in his album
The rhythm and blues that Presley listened to throughout his years, whether in church or on the streets of Memphis, became a part of the way he sang and played. Taking the fundamentals of rhythm-and-blues, giving it a sense of speed, and with a voice full of passion, he popularized this genre of music. With his style of music and stirring performances in concerts, he was a role model for many who would eventually become musicians themselves. With his music that included both white and black-created influences, and his movement when singing, he gathered a multitude of fans and spread rock and roll across America. Elvis Presley changed the way music is today. He gave musicians a more sped up rhythm and exciting motion that intrigued an entirely different generation of fans. Without him, the music that millions listen to today could be vastly or slightly different, but it still would not be exactly what it is
The narrator's disapproval of Sonny's decision to become a musician stems in part from his view of musicians in general. His experiences with musicians have led him to believe that they are unmotivated, drug users, seeking only escape from life. He does not really understand what motivates Sonny to play music until the afternoon before he accompanies Sonny to his performance at a club in Harlem. That afternoon, Sonny explains to him that music is his voice, his way of expressing his suffering and releasing his pent-up feelings.
Ray Charles Robinson was born in September 23, 1930 in Albany Georgia . As a child he lived with his mother, Aretha and his brother . His father was a ghost figure , abandoning Arthena and the two children which were very young. As a child , Ray's brother died in a accident while playing in a laundry tub, drowning to death. This event traumatized Ray and causing him to sometimes panic or worry as seeing his own brother die suffering . At the age of 5, he was diagnosed with glaucoma and by 7, he had lost his vision . His mother and him lived very poor , being the reason why they couldn't afford better treatment for Rays problem. Although they were poor , his mother would always support him and tried to do the best she could . Ray attended school
Louis Armstrong was born to William and May-Ann Armstrong, on August 4, 1901; although it is rumored he was born on July 4, 1900. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana where as he went back and forth between his 'grandmother’s house and his mother’s house. He had on sister named Beatrice who was just two years younger than him who he looked after as a young child. When he was seven he begin singing on the street for a little money with his friends and that is where he got his nickname “Satchelmouth” which was later changed to “Satchmo” because of his smile. While playing in the street he met a trumpeter by the name of Bunk Johnson who taught him things he knew about music and the trumpet. In his memoir he said, “But somehow all that jive didn’t faze me at all, I was so happy to have some place to blow my horn” (Armstrong). Trouble didn't meet Mr. Armstrong until 1912 during a New Year’s Eve celebration. Louis Armstrong fired a pistol into the air and was immediately arrested and he spent the night in a jail cell. He was sentenced to a Colored Waif’s House, where he stayed for 18 months.
One of the very monumental jazz artists during the jazz age was Louis Armstrong. Armstrong was a trumpet player, bandleader, soloists and singer. Louis was born on August fourth 1901 in a bad neighborhood of New Orleans called “The Battlefield”. His parents were not the best . Armstrong's father was a factory worker but left when he was young. His mother was around but she often turned to prostitution in order to help support him; therefore his grandmother was his primary guardian. Armstrong's first job was given to him by a Jewish family by the last name of Karnofskys working delivering coal and collecting junk The Karnofskys often fed him meals and always encouraged him to sing. Armstrong was a bit rough around the edges and he had an incident on new year’s eve in 1912 he fired h...
Stevie Ray Vaughan is a legend and was a leading figure in the blues-rock genre. Vaughan was born in Dallas, Texas in October of 1954. (Dutton) He was exposed to music early on in his childhood watching big bother Jimmie Vaughan play guitar. By the age of 14 Vaughan was playing in Dallas blues clubs. (Simon, 2001) When he played he demanded the audience’s attention and had a sound of blues meets Jimi Hendrix. (Wenner, 2011) His fame was based mainly in central Texas. It was not until he played at a party thrown by Mick Jagger that his band Double Trouble got their big break when David Bowie as Vaughan to perform on his upcoming album Let’s Dance. (Stevie Ray Vaughan, 2013.) He became a pretty big success and his fan base grew to places outside of Texas. In 1985 Stevie became the first white performer to win the W.C. Handy Foundation’s Blues Entertainer of the Year award. (Simon, 2001) After a performance in August of 1990 Vaughan got on a helicopter bound for Chicago that crashed into mountains due to fog just minutes after taking off killing everyone onboard. (“Stevie Ray Vaughan”, 2013.) His legacy still lives on to this day with an ever-growing fan base.
...hievement Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1994 he won his twelfth career Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Performance. In 1995 Ray was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s annual Pioneer Awards.
He had exposure to several different genres growing up in his St. Louis, MO hometown. He heard country from the whites, rhythm & blues (R&B) from mostly blacks, even Latin music. His family environment set him up well for future success while growing up in a middle class home in the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s. His parents sun...
One of them was the cause of his death. One reported: “fourteen drugs in Elvis' system, ten in significant quantity.” There are numerous opinions on whether Presley was on drugs or not. Many claim that based on his mental condition, he must have been overtaking some kind of drugs or medicine. It doesn’t make sense that a person who is mentally unhealthy can be called the greatest star in American music culture. When a human abuses any kind of drugs, it impacts their target system. This is the part that normally responds to survival instincts and if it is affected the body will try to set in a motion to repeat the behavior of taking drugs. When drugs are abused for a long period of time, it will affect the brain’s ability to make decisions, memorizing and learning. After returning from military service, Presley had a hard time getting famous again with his music (graceland.com). Out of 11 records, there was only four that were in the top 50 rank and the highest was 28th place (graceland.com). In this time of the period, he might have abused drugs to be mentally satisfied and forget things. His abuse of drugs didn’t stop and even lead him to death. Due to such reasons, many might think that Elvis Presley doesn’t deserve the fame that he gets right now because he is an example where one ruins their life with drugs and he doesn’t deserve to be called the greatest star of American music
Cataract is a condition that clouds the lens in the eye that leads to decrease in vision. There are many factors that cause cataract but the most common is aging, blunt trauma can also cause cataracts due to swelling and thickening of the lens fiber. Cataract can also develop after a long and constant exposure to radiation. Genetics can also play a part in developing the condition. Most common symptoms of cataracts are cloudy or blurry vision, colors seems faded, poor night vision, double vision or multiple visions in one eye. The clouding of the lens reduces the sharpness of the image reaching the retina. The lens can also turn into a yellowish/brownish color and add brown tint to the images. If the infected eye is not treated properly it can cause blindness.