Ray Charles

He died at 73 of liver disease, 10 June 2004 (5 days after the death of Ronald Reagan), in his house in Beverly Hills with his family. It will give $ 1 million to each of his children, and is buried at Inglewood Cemetery in California. On 10 June at 22 hours, an hour after the announcement of his disappearance, France Info paid tribute to him spreading his songs all night until six o'clock the next day. Similarly TSF radio station, Jazz, dedicated a whole day.

The next day the headlines national tribute to the French also went Genius Liberation headline "No More Ray," Le Monde "Ray Charles, death of Genius." Note that this was the first time since its creation as Le Monde put in one of his diary the death of a person other than political. Elsewhere, the death of Ray Charles was somewhat overshadowed, particularly in the United States because it was announced the day before the state funeral of President Ronald Reagan. Thus, out of respect for the 40th President of the United States, there was no official reaction to the day after his death. This is the day of his funeral, June 18, George W. Bush paid tribute to one of the greatest American artists.

Many artists have welcomed his death. They include personalities from the music like Willie Nelson, Quincy Jones, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Neil Young, Norah Jones, Elton John, Stevie Wonder or the Rolling Stones, who covered the song Night Time Is The Right Time throughout their European tour in 2006: A Bigger Bang.

Married twice, he had twelve children: Ray Jr., David, Robert (with his wife), Charles (with Margie Hendricks), Alexandria, Reath, Robyn, Evelyn, Raenee Sheila Vincent and Corey.