I'm probably the only one in the world you can name that's worked with Billie Holiday, Louie Armstrong, Ella, Duke, Miles, Dizzy, Ray Charles, Aretha, Michael Jackson, rappers. 'Fly Me to the Moon' was played on the moon by Buzz Aldrin. Sinatra. Paul Simon. Tony Bennett. I'm the only one.
Guys like me and Ray Charles, when we was coming up through our days, country music and soul music was just a very thin line between the two.
One day, I'll be listening to a bunch of Ray Charles, the next day it's nothing but Red Hot Chili Peppers. The next day it might be Tupac all day.
I'm still trying to re-create a Ray Charles concert that I heard when I was fifteen years old, and all my nerve endings were fried and transformed, and electricity shot through me.
I met Ray Charles at 14, and he was 16. But he was like a hundred years older than me.
My dad has always been a big Ray Charles fan, and I've grown up listening to all kinds of music.
I have been influenced by many different artists at many different stages of my life. Starting out, it was people like Elton John, Billy Joel, Ben Folds, and Fiona Apple. As I got older I got deeper into the work of bands like the Beatles, artists like Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Etta James, and Joni Mitchell.
I always say that I went to the College of Blossoms and the University of Ray Charles.
Give it up for Ray Charles and his beautiful legacy. And thank you, Ray Charles, for living.
I would like to be able to do a song with Ray Charles, before we both get too old.