1930–2004 · born Albany, Georgia · singer, pianist, architect of soul
Charles built soul music out of blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and gospel, and his 1960 reading of this song is one of the great vocal records of the century — the only mistake people make about it is chronological. Cut for The Genius Hits the Road after he moved to ABC-Paramount, it became his first No. 1 pop record on the Hot 100 — his first pop top ten had been “What’d I Say” the year before — and won him two Grammys at the 1961 ceremony, for Best Vocal Performance Single Record or Track, Male and Best Performance by a Pop Single Artist. When Georgia named an official state song in 1979, it was Charles the legislature invited to the capitol to perform it. That, more than anything, is why the song reads as his.