7 Antonio Carlos Jobim 7

A Certain Mr. Jobim (1965), and composed classical works
and film scores. Of the more than 400 songs Jobim pro-
duced in the course of his musical career, “Samba de uma
nota só” (“One-Note Samba”), “Desafinado” (“Slightly Out
of Tune”), “Meditação” (“Meditation”), “Corcovado”
(“Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars”), “Garota de Ipanema”
(“The Girl from Ipanema”), “Wave,” and “Dindi” have
been particularly popular.

Ray Charles

(b. Sept. 23, 1930, Albany, Ga., U.S.—d. June 10, 2004, Beverly
Hills, Calif.)

A

merican pianist, singer, composer, and bandleader
Ray Charles Robinson was a leading entertainer,
often billed as “the Genius.” Charles was credited with the
early development of soul music, a style based on a melding
of gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz music.
When Charles was an infant his family moved to
Greenville, Florida, and he began his musical career at age
five on a piano in a neighbourhood café. He began to go
blind at six, possibly from glaucoma, completely losing his
sight by age seven. He attended the St. Augustine School
for the Deaf and Blind, where he concentrated on musical
studies, but left school at age 15 to play the piano profes-
sionally after his mother died from cancer (his father had
died when the boy was 10).
Charles built a remarkable career based on the imme-
diacy of emotion in his performances. After emerging as a
blues and jazz pianist indebted to Nat King Cole’s style in
the late 1940s, Charles recorded the boogie-woogie classic
“Mess Around ” and the novelty song “It Should’ve Been Me”
in 1952–53. His arrangement for Guitar Slim’s “The Things
That I Used to Do” became a blues million-seller in 1953.
By 1954 Charles had created a successful combination of