"My music had roots which I’d dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil." ― Ray Charles Topic(s): Music More From Ray Charles "I did it to myself. It wasn’t society… it wasn’t a pusher, it wasn’t being blind or being black or being poor. It was all my doing." "I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great." "I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water." More In Music "Do what you love; you’ll be better at it. It sounds pretty simple, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t get this one right away."― LL Cool J "Music is a performance and needs the audience."― Michael Tippett "Entertainment isn’t just based on the very structured syndrome of European popular music, and it’s great that there are so many thousands of people who are of the same opinion."― Robert Plant