Facts of Bailey Robinson

Bailey Robinson was the father of late legendary musician Ray Charles. Bailey worked as a laborer for a living.

He died when his son Ray was just 10 years old. At the time of his death, Ray had just begun flourishing in his musical talent at his school.

Ray was born Ray Charles Robinson, but he dropped out his last name Robinson to avoid confusion with the popular boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.

The shocking truth of his married life

Ray Charles is the son of Bailey Robinson and Aretha Robinson, but Aretha was not the woman he exchanged wedding vows with. Bailey was married to his wife, Mary Jane. 

At a very young age, Aretha lost her mother, and her father could not afford to raise her. Bailey and Aretha’s father worked together as laborers. 

After knowing his friend’s inability to keep Aretha, Bailey and his wife Mary, and his mother decided to adopt her. 

Later, Bailey impregnated 15 years old Aretha, which means Aretha became pregnant with her foster father.

Due to the ongoing chaos about her pregnancy, Aretha left Greenville and only returned after giving birth. 

Despite everything, she shared a closed bond with Bailey’s wife, Mary Jane, who helped raise young Charles. Bailey later left Greenville and married another woman.

He was never a part of his son’s life

Though he was the father of Ray, he did not fulfill his role as a father. He remained an absentee father throughout his life, and the relationship between father and son was never there. 

Ray had confessed in an interview that his father was never a part of his life, and all he remembered about him was his tall height. 

He also confessed that many people confused his father and mother with father and daughter since his father was big and his mother was small.

Tragedies did not leave his son throughout his life

After he abandoned his family, Aretha became the single mother to raise her two sons Ray and George. 

The first tragedy hit when Ray lost his brother George in front of him. Ray was only a year older than his brother George. 

Both the brothers were playing in the backyard when suddenly George slipped into a large metal tub kept by their mother to wash clothes. 

Ray tried his best to pull his brother out of the tub, but George was weighed down by soapy clothes. 

His brother had already succumbed to death when he came with his mother for help. From that time onwards, Ray slowly began to lose his eyesight, becoming completely blind to glaucoma at seven.

Ray was then sent to Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. At the school, he studied music and excelled in his musical talent, learning to read, write and compose music in braille.

He was unaware of the second tragedy that was coming by. He was just 14 when he lost his beloved mother to cancer. Following the death of his mother, he never returned to school.

When was Charles first introduced to drugs?

Charles was all alone after losing two important people of his life, his brother and mother. 

His life after the death of his mother began more terrible as he was poverty-stricken. There were times when he had to spend days without food. 

It was the time when Charles was first introduced to d*ugs, h*roin, that later became his addiction and became the reason for obstacles in his musical career and finally the cause of his death.

Charles was just 16 when he first began to use h*roin. According to the sources, he was provided with m*rijuana to aid his performance anxiety by the promoters of the venue and later turned to h*roin use. 

However, he was arrested several times for the use of d*ugs but avoided jail going to rehab. 

According to the sources, the reason behind using the d*ugs was to get rid of the nightmares Charles experienced since witnessing his brother George’s death. 

In 1966, he vowed to give up d*ugs and started focusing on his musical career, recording songs reflecting his fight with d*ugs addiction. 

But he continued drinking gin and smoking m*rijuana throughout his life and was diagnosed with alcoholic liver disease and hepatitis C in 2003. 

On June 24, 2004, at the age of 73, he succumbed to death in his Beverly Hills home.

Grandfather of dozens of grandchildren

Though Bailey is no more in this world, he will be known as a grandfather to his dozens of grandchildren born to his son Charles with different women. 

Though Charles was married twice in his life, he had a dozen illegal relationships with other women. 

His first marriage to Eileen Wiliams lasted for less than a year, while his second marriage with Della Beatrice lasted 22 years. 

Charles and Beatrice gave birth to their three sons Ray Charles Robinson Jr., David, and Robert. Altogether Charles fathered 12 children with ten different women.

Net Worth

The impact Charles has left in the musical industry is beyond words. For his contribution to the music industry, he was crowned with 18 Grammy Awards and 10 of his awards has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. 

Besides that, his other awards and accolades are uncountable. His genre of music had influenced several great artists. 

He is one of the singers who was born dirt-poor and died rich. His net worth at the time of his death was:

Age 

1. His son died at the age of 73.