
By Ray Charles Robinson JR., Mary Jane Ross
A deeply own memoir of the non-public Ray Charles - the fellow in the back of the legend - by way of his eldest son.
Ray Charles is an American tune legend. A a number of Grammy Award-winning composer, pianist, and singer with an inimitable vocal type and a catalog of hits together with "What I Say," "Georgia on My Mind," "Unchain My Heart," "I cannot cease Loving You," and "America the Beautiful," Ray Charles's track is enjoyed by means of enthusiasts round the world.
Now his eldest son, Ray Charles Robinson Jr., stocks an intimate glimpse of the fellow in the back of the song, with never-before-told tales. Going past the celebrity, the live shows, and the excursions, Ray Jr. opens the doorways of his relations domestic and divulges their inner most lives with fondness and frankness.
He stocks his father's grief and guilt over his little brother's dying on the age of 5 — besides of moments of non-public pleasure, like staring at his father run his arms over the Christmas offers below their tree whereas making a song softly to himself. He tells of the way Ray overcame the demanding situations of being blind, even riding vehicles, driving a Vespa, and flying his personal aircraft. And, in gripping aspect, he finds how as a six-year-old boy he stored his father's existence one harrowing night.
Ray Jr. writes truthfully in regards to the painful evidence of the habit that almost destroyed his father's lifestyles. His father's struggles with heroin dependancy, his arrests, and the way he finally kicked the drug chilly turkey are offered in unflinching aspect. Ray Jr. additionally stocks overtly approximately how, as an grownup, he fell sufferer to an identical temptations that plagued his father.
He paints a compassionate portrait of his mom, Della, whose extraordinary voice as a gospel singer first attracted Ray Charles. even though her husband's drug use, his womanizing, and the paternity fits leveled opposed to him continually threatened the steadiness of the Robinson domestic, Della exhibited really good resilience and internal strength.
Told with deep love and fearless candor, You do not know Me is the robust and poignant tale of the Ray Charles the general public by no means observed — the daddy and husband and engaging man or woman who additionally occurred to be one of many maximum musicians of all time.