What Did Ray Charles Go Blind From

The african american musician ray charles was widely admired as a singer pianist and composer writer of music.
What did ray charles go blind from. Directed by taylor hackford this biopic profiles the life of legendary musician ray charles. He stayed only two years but during that time he cut his first record and began to develop the genre bending musical style that would make him an international star. Ray charles was born in 1930 to a teen orphan named aretha robinson who was informally adopted by bailey and mary jane robinson presumably as a way to obtain cheap labor. Charles returned to school after the funeral but was expelled in october for playing a prank on his teacher.
Ray charles was a poor blind newly orphaned teenager living in tampa florida in 1948 when he decided to move to seattle picking the city because it was as far away as he could get from where he was. Her death came as a shock to him. In an anecdote ray charles suggested he went blind by looking at. He started to go blind when he was five and completely lost his sight when he was seven.
It seems that ray charles had glaucoma. He refused to use a guide dog or a cane although he did require some help from his personal assistant on tour. Ray charles mother died in the spring of 1945 when ray was 14. How did ray charles go blind.
Charles merely used his other senses. Still ray charles blindness never stopped him from learning to ride a bike play chess use stairs or even fly an airplane. The treatments are much better now but it s still often a blinding disease. He combined elements of jazz gospel and rhythm and blues to create a new kind of african american music known as soul.
Sanders mother sharon warren helps him adjust when he loses his sight. He judged distances by sound and learned to sharpen his memory. When ray charles was a child the treatments were primitive and ineffective even if he d had access to the best care. In a exclusive interview cindy charles 2nd wife of singer ray charles came clean about what she says is ray s biggest secret cindy who is the mother of 2 of ray charles 12 children says that charles was not actually blind.