Collection

Ray Charles – Gothenburg, Sweden, 3 July 1992

Portraits and visual memories from the international music scene

Collection: Meet the Legends

Author: Torleif Svensson

Another artist outside the rock world I most often photographed. But most people recognise Ray Charles immediately: the sunglasses, the piano, the voice. This is how I like him. Not behind the piano, but in a moment where the body almost falls forward and the image gains another weight. He played several times at the Montreux Jazz Festival and belonged on the great stages. I do not have a setlist from Gothenburg that evening, but I am certain he played I Can’t Stop Loving You. With Ray Charles, sometimes a single note was enough. Not to show who he was, but to change the character of the room. He died in 2004, aged 73. A relatively long life compared with many others in my exhibition, and I am glad I got to see him, photograph him and, not least, listen to him.

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