My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.

Some elements of his own vocal style showed up in "Sinner's Prayer" "Mess Around" and "Don't You Know". Wiley Pit's Red Wing Cafe when Pit played boogie woogie on an old upright piano. In 1977 he reunited with Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler and re-signed to Atlantic Records where he recorded the album True to Life.

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23 1930 – June 10 2004) was an American musician known as Ray Charles (to avoid confusion with champion boxer Sugar Ray Robinson). In honoring Charles Billy Joel noted: "This may sound like sacrilege but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley. Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" in 2004 and number two on their November 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".