The Ray Charles Memorial is located in Haffye Hays Park in Greenville. This full-size bronze statue was sculpted by Bradley Cooley and Bradley Cooley Jr. in 2005.
A plaque near the statue reads as follows:
Ray Charles "R.C." Robinson
(September 30, 1930 - June 10, 2004)
The musical genius known to the world as Ray Charles was a native son of Greenville and known to his childhood playmates simply as "RC".
Shortly before his birth, Ray's mother, 'Reitha Robinson went to Albany, Georga to stay with relatives. About one month later, 'Reitha brought her son, Ray, back home to Greenville.
Ray grew up poor, and learned to play the piano from the owner of the Red Wing Cafe. At age 7, Ray's sight failed and he was sent to The School For Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, where he continued his education and learned Braille. During holidays and summers, Ray returned to Greenville to visit his family and friends.
Ray was 15 when his mother died and he was on his own. He began to travel and exhibit his musical talents. The rest, as they say, is history. Over the years, Ray returned to his hometown from time to time, referring to it affectionately as "Greensville."
The roots of Ray Charles' musical genius started in Greenville, developing into a talent embraced by the world. He pioneered soul music and is considered one of the most outstanding musical talents of the century. His influence is felt in gospel, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock and roll and country music. The singer, pianist and bandleader was 74 when he died on June 10, 2004.
The life-size bronze likeness of Ray Charles at the keyboard was created by Bronze by Cooley and stands as a permanent memorial to the legendary musician from Greenville.
The following information about Ray Charles is from Wikipedia:
"Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), professionally known as Ray Charles, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and composer. He was sometimes referred to as "The Genius", and was also nicknamed "The High Priest of Soul".
He pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records. He also contributed to the racial integration of country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his two Modern Sounds albums. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company.
Charles was blind from the age of seven. Charles cited Nat King Cole as a primary influence, but his music was also influenced by jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and country artists of the day, including Art Tatum, Louis Jordan, Charles Brown and Louis Armstrong. Charles' playing reflected influences from country blues, barrelhouse and stride piano styles. He had strong ties to Quincy Jones, who often cared for him and showed him the ropes of the "music club industry."
Frank Sinatra called him "the only true genius in show business", although Charles downplayed this notion.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Charles at number ten on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and number two on their November 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". Billy Joel observed: "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley"."