Ray Charles: Developing an Identity Through Music

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As an American musical icon, Ray Charles has revolutionized the genre of soul music with his distinct rhythm and song arrangements that fuse gospel and jazz music. Although most listeners are familiar with his disability, they may not realize how influential music has been in Charles’ life. At an early age, after contracting glaucoma, Charles’ life changed because he became blind. He suddenly coped with this reality by expressing his life experiences through music (Rolling Stone). Charles explains that “Music really and truly is my bloodstream, you know, my breathing, my respiratory system…” (Leung, 2014) Despite his sudden life change, Charles soon learned how to play several instruments and produced compositions in braille (Rolling Stone). He then began recording his first single and immediately became a musical sensation not only for his revolutionary music but also for his classic black sunglass look. In some ways, Ray Charles has expressed his disability identity through music.
Ray Charles’ experience raises important questions about the potential impact that music can have on society’s perception of disability. Can artists capture insight of their personal experiences with disability? Can they communicate their insight to listeners and encourage them develop a variety of interpretations? In particular, will listeners with disabilities express their interpretations by developing unique and empowering identities? By encouraging the development of unique identities, can artists provide different perspectives of disability to a wider audience in an accessible and understandable medium like music?
In my paper, I argue that artists capture important insight in their personal experiences through music. In particular, I assert tha...

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Mackin, Molly. "Sean Forbes Not Hard to Hear." Ability Magazine. http://abilitymagazine.com/Sean-Forbes.html.

Rap Genius. "Streets Is Watching Lyrics." Rap Genius. http://rapgenius.com/Jay-z-streets-is-watching-lyrics.

———. "Young Gifted and Black Lyrics." Rap Genius. http://rapgenius.com/Jay-z-young-gifted-and-black-lyrics.

Rolling Stone. "Ray Charles Biography." Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/ray-charles/biography.

Shakespeare, Tom. "Labels and Badges the Politics of Disability Identity." In Disability Rights and Wrongs, 68-82. New York, NY: Routledge, 2006. PDF.

Travis, Raphael, and Scott W. Bowman. "Ethnic identity, self-esteem and variability in perceptions of rap music's empowering and risky influences."Journal Of Youth Studies 15, no. 4 (June 2012): 455-478. SocINDEX with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed May 7, 2014).

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