American Musician, Songwriter, Composer, Conductor, Arranger and leader of the Ray Charles Singers. Born Charles Raymond Offenberg, at age 13 he won a contest to sing on the radio in Chicago and within three years, he had his own 15 minute radio program. After graduating high school, he attended Central YMCA College and in 1936, he joined the Federal Theater show 'O Say Can You Sing'. By the early 1940s, he moved to New York City and found steady employment in radio, singing for choral directors Lyn Murray, Ray Bloch and others, and was soon doing 10 radio shows a week. In 1944, he changed his name to Ray Charles - it would be 10 more years until the "other" Ray Charles changed his name. Drafted into the Navy later that year, he was assigned to Hunter College, where he created an entire new music library for the WAVE choruses and trained the "Singing Platoons", who sang on the radio, bond rallies and at local veterans hospitals, while also conducting the band on their two CBS weekly shows. After his discharge in 1946, he returned to New York and became a Broadway conductor. Two years later, he began his longtime association with Perry Como, performing with The Satisfiers on Como's 'The Chesterfield Supper Club', and soon being appointed choral arranger-conductor on Como's radio variety show 'The Big Show'. In 1950, he formed the Ray Charles Singers and he and Como would work together continuously over the next 35 years. Over the course of his career he wrote material for some of the great entertainers of the age: Ethel Merman, Kay Thompson, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, as well as composers Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren and many others. He would go on to record over 30 albums with the Ray Charles Singers and another 31 albums with Como. In the late 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote and produced shows for Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Glen Campbell, Julie Andrews and Gene Kelly. Charles also worked on the films 'Funny Lady' (1975) and 'Racing With the Moon (1984). Duetting with Julia Rinker, he sang the title theme song "Come and Knock on Our Door", for the long-running comedy series 'Three's Company'. In 1982, he became the musical consultant of the 'Kennedy Center Honors', a post he held for 31 years. He performed the same function for the Fourth of July and Memorial Day concerts on PBS for 14 years. Charles, who won two Emmy Awards for his music and lyrics to two TV comedy specials, 'The Funny Side of Marriage' and 'The First Nine Months', died of natural causes.