Los Angeles, CA – Congresswoman Watson and family, friends, and associates of legendary singer Ray Charles participated in ceremony to dedicate the newly renamed “Ray Charles Post Office,” located on Washington Blvd.

“Ray Charles is both a national treasure and international phenomenon,” said Congresswoman Diane E. Watson, the sponsor of a bill to rename the postal facility in honor of the Ray Charles.  “He was a longtime resident of Los Angeles and the 33rd congressional district.  His music studio and office are located very near the newly renamed Ray Charles Post Office.”

Joe Adams, the manager of Ray Charles, presented a letter from comedian Bill Cosby to former President Bill Clinton and asked that it be the first letter mailed from the newly renamed post office.

“It is my hope that the naming of the Ray Charles Post Office Building is only one of the first of what should be many tributes to a man who started from nowhere and ended up a national treasure and global phenomenon,” said Congresswoman Watson.

The complete text of Congresswoman Watson’s remarks follows:

I am honored to have had the opportunity to introduce legislation in the United States Congress to officially rename this postal facility “The Ray Charles Post Office.”  I am also honored to participate here today in a ceremony with Ray Charles’s family, friends, and associates.

Ray Charles is both a national treasure and an international phenomenon.  He was a longtime resident of Los Angeles and the 33rd congressional district.  His music studio and office are still located on Washington Blvd., very near the newly renamed Ray Charles Post Office.

The life of Ray Charles is full of paradoxes.  It is about rags to riches, the sacred and profane, and triumph overcoming tragedy.  It is the material of Horatio Alger and Mark Twain.  It is a uniquely American story. 

Comedian Bill Cosby gave some indication of the significance of Ray Charles when he described in one of his skits Columbus sailing to America in the hope of discovering Ray Charles.  Columbus may have discovered America, but Ray Charles helped America to discover itself.

Ray’s music – a melting pot blend of pop, country, gospel, blues, and jazz – brilliantly reflects the rich American cultural and musical tapestry in its various shades, shapes, and permutations.  
 
Much has been written about Ray’s rise from poverty and obscurity in Saint Augustine, Florida and his decision to migrate to Seattle–a decision he made by asking a friend to find him the farthest point from Florida on a map of the continental U.S.  Ray would later remark that he was destined to succeed because he had everything going against him – he was black, poor, born in the South, and blind.
 
What we learn from the life of  Ray Charles is that he constantly persevered in the face of adversity and often overwhelming odds.  He learned very early that the two constants of life are change and adaptation.  Those qualities are reflected in spades in his music.  He secularized gospel music, wed it to jazz rhythms and sensibilites, and popularized, almost single handedly, music we know as rhythm and blues. 
 
But the music of Ray Charles–true to his legacy– cannot be confined to any one genre.  In 1962, Ray Charles spit in the eye of conventional wisdom, as well as his producers, and recorded one of the great, if not greatest, country albums, Modern Sounds in Country and Western.

Billboard Magazine listed it as the number one selling album for 14 weeks in a row – a feat that has not been duplicated since then.  Ray’s accomplishment was all the more profound when we consider that the races in America were still largely segregated, particularly in the South.
 
Ray’s revolutionary approach to music was also reflected in his politics and his deep and abiding commitment to Martin Luther King and the plight of African-Americans.  Ray Charles may not have been on the front lines, but he put his money where his mouth was.
 
In his autobiography, Ray Charles wrote about his life-long love affair with music:  “I was born with music inside me,” he wrote.   “That’s the only explanation I know of...It was a force already with me when I arrived on the scene... It was a necessity for me – like food or water.”    
 
Ray Charles has provided comfort to millions of Americans from all races and backgrounds and made their lives brighter with the genius of his music.  He was genius and soul personified.  He was a fighter who won some of the toughest battles of our society.  He was also a successful businessman who controlled his own musical as well as financial destiny. 

It is my hope that the naming of the Ray Charles Post Office Building is only one of the first of what should be many tributes to a man who started from nowhere and ended up a national treasure and global phenomenon.  
 
God bless Ray Charles.