• “I Can’t Stop Loving You”
• “Georgia on My Mind”
• “Hit the Road, Jack”
• “I’ll Be Good to You” 
• “I’ve Got a Woman”
• “What’d I Say”
• “You Are My Sunshine”

80 Top 100 Billboard hits

His songs topped the Pop, Country, R&B, Jazz, and Dance charts

Legendary 17-time Grammy Award singer/songwriter Ray Charles spent his formative years at the Institute for the Blind, Deaf, and Dumb in St. Augustine. 

Charles was born in Georgia (1930), but shortly there after his family moved to tiny Greenville in the Florida panhandle. Located about 40 miles east of Tallahassee, Greenville is just 1.3 square miles. 

Charles’ vision began to deteriorate at an early age and by the time he was seven, he was blind. In 1937, Charles was sent by bus to attend the St. Augustine school.

(In 1967, the school name was changed to the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind)

Charles arrived at the school possessing a love for music that he had developed in Greenville. He would sing and pick at the piano at a little dance hall in town.

However, it was in St. Augustine where “The Father of Soul” was taught to read Braille and listen to classical and jazz music for inspiration and education. He was also encouraged to learn to play the piano, organ, clarinet, saxophone, and trumpet. And he sang. Oh, Ray Charles could sing.

It wasn’t long before the staff was working with Charles to write and arrange his own music. 

As his music developed, Charles would (on occasion) take a small organ from the school and make the short walk to radio station, WFOY, which was located on the grounds of the Fountain of Youth. It was his first time playing live on the air. 

The residents of St. Augustine were treated to a free concert. They had no idea that this teenager would be a household name throughout the world. He did this on several occasions at WFOY. 

Charles had also developed an impressive resume as the “must have” entertainer at local parties and clubs in the town, including the Odd Fellows Hall in Lincolnville. St. Augustine residents recall their parents and grandparents sharing stories of Charles popularity and talent.

He left the school at 15 years old, shortly after his mother had died. He described it as the most traumatic experience of his life. He said that he felt lost.

Charles left St. Augustine for Jacksonville to work at the Ritz Theatre and with groups that needed a musician. It didn’t last long because the work was so sparse.

In 1970, Charles played a concert in Ocala that helped raise money for the school’s building fund. Students at FSDB are proud of the legacy left by Charles and many study his music to this very day. The Ray Charles Center on the FSDB campus is named for the school’s most famous alum.