Gossie mcgee biography for kids

Learning to play piano at an early age, Ray is haunted by the accidental death of his younger brother George, who drowns in their mother's washbasin. Ray loses his vision by age seven and becomes completely blind. Aretha teaches him to be independent, eventually sending him to a school for the deaf and blind. In , Ray joins a white country band and wears sunglasses to hide his damaged eyes.

Two years later, he travels to Seattle and joins a nightclub band, though the club's owner demands sexual favors and controls his money and career. After discovering he is being exploited, Ray signs his own record deal and leaves the band. Touring on the Chitlin' Circuit as "Ray Charles", he is introduced to heroin. In Houston , Ray falls in love with Della Bea, a preacher's daughter.

A pregnant Della finds Ray's drug kit and confronts him. Which is not to say that there aren't many hip, accurate details in "Ray. Ray loved to cook and, being blind, naturally never turned on the lights. In addition, Quincy, who is practicing trumpet in the scene, is playing the notes of a chord Charles was actually teaching him at that time.

But while "Ray" nails the soul of Ray Charles, it messes with a lot of other facts. In the spirit of providing information to the curious, and in no way meaning to put down the film, here is a list of places where Hackford plays fast and loose with the truth, and some speculation as to why. What the movie says : Charles was haunted by the death of his brother, who died in a drowning accident as Charles watched.

He feared that God punished him soon afterward with blindness. What's true : Charles did watch his brother die in a drowning accident. But Charles never connected the incident to his blindness. Hackford invented that part, but says Charles approved it for the movie. It makes for an epic tale. Is it true? I will never understand the point of asking someone to marry you if you plan to secretly continue living as a single person.

Why not just remain single and then have entanglements with whomever you want without having to sneak around? It just seems like a lot of unnecessary wasted energy. But then again sometimes people get themselves into these situations because they like having drama in their lives. It might be convenient but makes absolutely no sense to start sleeping with what are essentially your co-workers or more accurately employees.

Being a married man in the public eye who is cheating on his wife is problematic. Some random woman in a completely different town is one thing. The first woman, Mary Ann Fisher Aunjanue Ellis shows up for an audition and is singing gospel music and talking about loving the Lord. Not to absolve Ray from his role in this entanglement as he was the one that was married.

But Mary Ann knew that he was married and chose to entertain him and his nonsense. Why are you surprised that a person who is lying and cheating on their partner is lying and cheating to be with someone aside from you? Aside from delusion, what would make you so special to not receive the same treatment? And then adding more fuel to this ridiculous fire is the second mistress Margie Hendricks Regina King.

By the time she arrives on the scene, Ray has a wife, a mistress, and who knows how many other women. Mary Ann seems upset about being replaced as the first mistress but not necessarily Ray being married. When she gets fed up and leaves, Margie begins fussing about Ray not leaving his wife and goes so far as to show up in LA. Ray is not a paragon of virtue.

This man is obviously for the streets but here are these women fighting to take him home. I certainly believe that these women engaged in affairs with Ray. But at the same time, because the story is told from his perspective I take it with a grain of salt. He might have been feeding these women all types of lines and stories giving them the false impression that they could have some kind of a future.

I was kind of shocked because these were grown middle-aged to old people by the time I was born. But also watching his mother struggle to provide for him and his brother and witnessing the traumatic accidental drowning of his brother. There are flashbacks to Ray as a child and we see his mother throughout the film. At one point Ray mentions that his mother worked herself into an early grave.

Coming of age in Florida during the s to s as not just a Black boy but a blind Black boy is rough. Ray manages to work his way out of the South and heads to big cities in the North with hopes of making a way for himself as a musician. During a conversation with Bea, he explains that as a blind Black man his options were very limited. Music was the thing that his mother recognized as being a skill that he could use to earn a good living and escape from struggling in the South.

Having children after achieving some degree of success motivated Ray to relocate to Los Angeles where he hoped his children could have more and better opportunities. I never begrudge a parent doing what they have to do to put food on the table for themselves and their child. By all means, chase your dreams, pursue your passions, and work to provide for your family but you also have to make time for your family.

People who are creatively inclined tend to use their art as a positive outlet for their thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, some people whether they are creative or non-creative turn to alcohol, drugs, sex, and other substances or behaviors as a means of coping with or escaping from their thoughts and feelings. Margie Hendricks: I'm sure you'll think of something.

Now you've gotta stop it. Ray Charles: Margie is drunk, Jeff. You should go home and sleep it off. Jeff Brown: Margie, come on now, let me take you home. Margie Hendricks: No, I'll leave when I'm good and goddamn ready to! Ray Charles: She's good and goddamn ready right now. Margie Hendricks: Why don't you make me leave this, sucker! Teach you to treat me like some piece of meat!

Margie Hendricks: Listen to that crap. I thought you said ABC wasn't gonna force that nothing on him. Jeff Brown: They didn't. It was Ray's idea. Something new. Margie Hendricks: Well, what are we then, Jeff? Something old? Fathead Newman: Yeah, what about us? We got to eat too. Ray Charles: You know what they're saying about me? Said I lost something.

Said I've gone middle-of-the-road. They might as well say the same thing about you.

Gossie mcgee biography for kids

You were the soul of this band, now every time you're around, you're just drunk. The drunk soul of a blind junkie. What a lovely couple. Why don't you just get outta here? Margie Hendricks: I ain't drunk, Ray. I'm pregnant. Yeah, that's right. I'm having your baby. Ray Charles: There's some things you're not understandin' Della Bea Robinson: Well, make me understand, Ray!

Ray Charles: Baby, when I walk out that door, I walk out alone in the dark! I'm trying to do something that ain't nobody ever done in music and business. But I can't do it if I'm alone everwhere I go. I don't want to be alone here, Bea. Not in my own home. Look, Bea, if you don't understand me, then who will? Della Bea Robinson: I don't know, Ray.

Fathead Newman: Ray, this fool, Joe Adams, is trying to fine for me for being late. Ray Charles: What time did you get here? Fathead Newman: What? Just now. The band's still setting up. Jeff never Joe Adams: I'm not Jeff. Fathead Newman: That's a fact, Jack. Jeff Brown: Ray, you said the band was my thing. Ray Charles: That's right, I did.

Jeff Brown: Fathead, you go on back to rehearsal.