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Ray Charles (born Charles Raymond Offenberg; September 13, 1918 – April 6, 2015), was an American musician, singer, songwriter, vocal arranger and conductor who was best known as organizer and leader of the Ray Charles Singers. The Ray Charles Singers were featured on Perry Como's records and television shows for 35 years.〔(FMS: Feature ASMAC salutes Lalo Schifrin and "the other" Ray Charles )〕 The Ray Charles Singers were also known for a series of 30 choral record albums produced in the 1950s and 1960s for the Essex, MGM, Decca and Command labels.〔 As a vocalist, Charles, along with Julia Rinker Miller, was known for singing the theme song to the television series ''Three's Company'' ("Come and Knock on Our Door").〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Como Team )〕 As a songwriter, Charles was best known for the choral anthem "Fifty Nifty United States," in which he set the names of the states to music in alphabetical order. It was originally written for ''The Perry Como Show''.〔 He is also known for "Letters, We Get Letters,"〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Perry Como TV Lyrics )〕 also originally written for ''The Perry Como Show'' and later used on ''Late Show with David Letterman''. In his later years, he continued to serve as a musical consultant to television programs, most notably for 31 years on the Kennedy Center Honors. Charles was acknowledged as an authority on American popular music. 〔 ==Biography== At the age of 13, Chuck Offenberg (as he was known then), won a contest to sing on the radio in Chicago. At 16, while still at Hyde Park High School, he had his own 15 minute radio program on WENR and won a vocal scholarship to the Chicago Musical College. After graduation, he attended Central YMCA College, where he met fellow future choral director Norman Luboff, who was to become a lifelong friend. In 1936, Offenberg joined the Federal Theater show ''O Say Can You Sing'', sharing a dressing room with the young Buddy Rich. In 1942, Offenberg, with his wife, Bernice and son, Michael, came to New York City and he started getting work, singing on the radio for Lyn Murray, Ray Bloch and other choral directors.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Ray Charles )〕 By 1944, he was doing 10 radio shows a week. In May 1944, Chuck Offenberg changed his name to Ray Charles. It would be 10 more years until the "other" Ray Charles changed his name from "Ray Charles Robinson" to Ray Charles. Close harmony was all the rage and Charles became the arranger and tenor for the "Double Daters," a quartet featured on ''Million Dollar Band''. Drafted into the Navy in 1944, Charles was assigned to Hunter College, where he created an entire new music library for the WAVE choruses and trained the "Singing Platoons", three choruses of 80 WAVES each, on six week training cycles that sang on the radio, bond rallies and at local veterans hospitals. He also conducted the band on their two CBS weekly shows. Discharged in 1946, Charles sang on New York radio ("Um Um Good" for Campbell's soups among other gigs) and on many record dates. In 1947, he was the conductor for the Broadway hit ''Finian's Rainbow'',〔 and conducted the original cast recording. Charles initially became associated with Perry Como in 1948 through his arrangements for the vocal group "The Satisfiers". The group performed on Como's ''The Chesterfield Supper Club''.〔〔 From 1949 to 1951, he was choral arranger-conductor on "The Big Show", the last big radio variety show with Tallulah Bankhead and Meredith Willson. Charles was also a soloist and sang in the choir on ''Manhattan Merry-Go-Round'', ''Tuesday on Broadway'', ''The Prudential Family Hour'', ''The Celenese Hour'', ''The Schafer Beer Program'', ''The American Melody Hour'', and he wrote the theme for Danny Kaye's, ''7-Up Radio Show''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ray Charles (musician, born 1918)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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