Ray Charles (10)

Ray Charles
1930-2004
Pioneering legend of soul, gospel, country, blues and jazz
Cause of Death: Complications from liver disease
Charles in Charge: Charles’s posthumous plaudits were both lengthened and amplified by the release, four months after his death, of the highly successful biopic Ray, which reminded audiences worldwide of the singer’s genre-hopping talent, amazing rags-to-riches story—and also of his womanizing, heroin-injecting ways.
Get Rich or Die Tryin': Charles’ 2002 CD, Thanks for Bringing Love Around Again, didn’t even chart, but after his death the duets CD Genius Loves Company hit Billboard’s No. 1, sold more than 3 million copies and earned him eight posthumous Grammys. In September 2005, Rhino Records released another duets CD, Genius & Friends, and a 146-track box set, Pure Genius. The following month, Charles appeared on Forbes’s list of the Top-Earning Dead Celebrities, with an income of $7.88 million.
Ray Charles on Their Mind': Last year, residents of Tampa, Florida, objected to a plan to rename a street after Charles, suggesting that, since the neighborhood was already rife with drug dealers, associating it with a former smack addict probably wasn’t going to help much.