CHARLES, RAY (née RAY CHARLES ROBINSON). Rhythm n
blues singer ( in Albany, Georgia). His family moved to Greenville, Florida, when he was an infant. When he was three years old he was given access to a piano in the neighborhood cafe, and he taught himself to play, inspired by the proprietor, Wylie Pitman, a boogie-woogie piano player. He began going blind when he was five years old and within two years was totally blind. He obtained his...