Although with hindsight it seems like an obvious thing to have done, when
Ray Charles seamlessly fused R&B, blues, country, jazz, and gospel together and delivered all of it into a secular pop setting in the 1950s and '60s, it was actually a fairly radical thing musically. Of course, it helped that
Charles was a once-in-a-lifetime singer and artist, and probably could have sung the want ads from the morning newspaper and made it work. Along the way he invented soul, became an American icon, and remained a compelling recording and 25 tracks, including versions of
Charles' iconic classics "What'd I Say," "I Got a Woman," and "Georgia on My Mind," among others.