Appearances
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October 26, 2014
Misty (The Ray Charles Band, Ft Hank Crawford)
Read moreAlbum: Ray Charles Orchestra – Zurich 1961. TCB (Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series #41), [2016]. Recorded during the Ray Charles Big Band’s first concert in Europe by Radio Basel at the Kongresshaus in Zürich on October 18, 1961. The performance of Misty is the only known live recording of this song by the Ray Charles Band. Crawford’s original studio version was released on […]
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October 26, 2014
Monster In The Mirror (With Grover)
Read moreUnreleased. In 1991 Ray appeared in the Sesame Street music video for Monster in the Mirror (watch good copy here), a Sesame Street song sung by Grover, who wakes up one morning and sees a monster in his mirror (his reflection). Instead of being scared, he sings, “Wubba wubba wubba wubba, woo woo woo”. In Season 22, […]
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October 26, 2014
More Love Than Ordinary
Read moreThis was a bonus track (only) on a French release of the CD: My World, Warner Bros 26735, 1993*. The song was originally written by Francis Cabrel (cf. this Youtube clip), and adapted in English by (Ray’s longtime French girlfriend) Arlette Kotchounian**. It was added as a bonus track to a (French?) (re?)release of Ray’s album My World (Disk ID: 1674286*). Ray’s original audio version, with […]
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October 25, 2014
My Buddy
Read moreAlbum3: Quincy Jones, Q – The Musical Biography, Rhino R2 74363-2, 1991. DVD: Quincy Jones & Claude Nobs Present: Montreux Jazz Festival 1991 & 1992, Montreux, S.a. (track #20). In the 1984 documentary I Love Quincy, the protagonist surprised the film makers by giving them a tape that he had just found back, advising them to let Ray Charles […]
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October 25, 2014
My God And I
Read moreCompilation album: Recorded Live At Newport In New York, Buddah BDS5616, 1974 (1973). Album: Renaissance, Crossover 9005, June 1975. This is one of the rare cases where a live rendition sooner found its way to vinyl than the studio version. Ray’s delivery in the studio was excellent, but the live version is superior. This beautiful song was recorded twice on […]
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October 25, 2014
My Soul
Read moreUnreleased. My Soul is an original Ray Charles composition. This instrumental was never released (Ray never even claimed the copyrights). The first known performance of this song was filmed for TV at the Pleyel Room in Paris, on 8 October 1968. A second rendition that same night, taped for a radio broadcast, has also survived. Ray Charles […]
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October 25, 2014
My Yiddishe Mama
Read moreUnreleased. In his role as Sammy, Ray played and sang a few blue notes of this song for Yetta (Ann Morgan Guilbert), in Fair Weather Fran, an episode of The Nanny, first aired on 19 November 1997.
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October 25, 2014
Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like A –) (With Lynda Carter)
Read moreUnreleased. Taped for Lynda Carter’s Celebration, broadcast by CBS on Monday, 11 May 1981. (LQ video & audio:) WMV file (with better audio) here.
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October 25, 2014
Nature Boy
Read morePerformed at the the induction ceremony of Nat King Cole in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 6, 2000. The ceremony took place at the Waldorf Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. “Ray Charles […] tore up the Waldorf when he admitted that he ‘tried to steal Nat Cole’s voice. I even tried to steal his […]
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October 24, 2014
Nobody Can Do It Like McDonald’s Can (Jingle)
Read moreUnreleased. In 1979 Ray Charles sang the jingle Nobody Can Do It Like McDonald’s Can for a TV commercial, which showed “[…] that McDonalds is the best fast-food restaurant for quality, service and value”. I haven’t found any commercial footage with Ray yet, but YouTube has a bunch of variations with other singers. (In January 1976 Ray Charles also completed […]
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October 24, 2014
‘O Sole Mio
Read moreUnreleased. There are good reasons to suppose that Ray Charles produced a studio recording of this song. In early 1995 La Stampa wrote that a concert in Positano (in mid July) coincided with the release of Ray’s “latest album”, which was to contain ‘O Sole Mio, “recently” produced in LA and Milan with the mandolin section (Patrone […]
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October 24, 2014
Oh Lady Luck (With Kennie Rogers)
Read moreUnreleased. Ray Charles’ and Kennie Rogers’ duet on Oh Lady Luck wasn’t great, but it certainly looked and sounded* spontaneous. The performance was part of a variety TV show titled A Special Kenny Rogers, taped on stage at the Opryland Auditorium in Nashville, in February 1979, and aired on April 12, 1979 by CBS. *I’ve been […]