Ray Charles Man and Music

by Michael Lydon

1st edition Payback Press 1999 hardcover fine book in fine price clipped dw In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, History

Hardcover

First published June 28, 1998

Reviews

[Chavon]

I have not finished this book, but I have given up on reading it. At least for now. It has not managed to captivate me. And that's not for lack of an interesting story of Ray Charles. The Michael Lydon inundates readers with the most miniscule details of Charles' history and it's a bit much. Lydon focuses on his career much more than his life. It doesn't flow as a story, but as a compilation of dates and facts, where as the autobiographies of Marvin Gaye and Miles Davis read as a story. Hope this makes sense. Anyway, reading this book was painful and I simply can not take it anymore.

[Darla]

I liked this book, but after reading it, I don't much like Ray Charles. Loved the movie, and as always, I must find out the truth of the matter. So, I picked up the Bio. Good, worth the read, but don't read it if you want to stay enamored with Mr. Charles.

[Brian]

Not bad. Good book. I'd idealized Ray and his voice for most of my life. It's not exactly a triumph learning that he was a real bastard to most of the people close to him.

[Cheryl McEnaney]

Exhaustively researched and well-written, this book details the extraordinary life of "The Genius" from his earliest impoverished days in rural Florida to his global success, drawing vivid portraits of the many musicians, women, record executives, managers, and agents who came and went through the decades of his long career. Ray Charles -- RC Robinson -- was a complex and fascinating man, and this book does him justice while not sugar-coating his tumultuous, tempestuous life.

[Tammi Townsley]

I really wanted to love this book. But it made me realize the difference between what the public sees in a musician versus reality. The later years Ray Charles I remember, was the music loving grandpa, fiercely independent but lovable as portrayed in a 60 Minutes piece about his life. This book does NOTHING to support that PR viewpoint of RC. At times he comes off as a rebel but not very generous or really nice at times. Other times, the book read like a spruced up calendar with a little fluff (or dirt) depending on the source.

Now, if you want a little insight into how the recording industry changed over a long time period, this is the book for you. You get details about life before popularity, life during the peak years and the fall into reverential obscurity. At times, it felt like RC never really adjusted to the changes in musical tastes past the early to mid-1960s.

[Wilhelmina]

This should be required reading for every man, woman and child. This book encompasses the trajectory of a man who never saw the light of day. He was blind from day one and was immediately thrown into poverty in the segregated south. With an uneducated single mother to guide him along he became, in time, a superstar and an ICON. He also became a cruel man. It is that dichotomy that kept me intrigued -- just to see if he would make it to the next level or not. Of course he did make it, but what he learned, on the way up, must have hurt on the way down -- and then, back up again. You will never feel obsolete about being handicapped once you read this masterful book.

[Jak]

I learnt that your heroes are not always the nice guys you hoped they would be. Charles comes across as driven and narcissistic which was a bit of a shock.

[Tony Sacre]

Great read