FOREVER RAY (September 23, 1930 - June 10, 2004)

Whitley and the Hard Times Band perform the exciting and uplifting music of Ray Charles, which include a wonderful blend of musical styles which range from Jazz and Blues, to Country and R&B.

The band features a stellar line-up of musicians whose performing credits include:

Ben E. King, Michael McDonald, Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, George Clinton, Prince, Liza Minnelli, Jimmy Vivino, Rod Stewart, Celia Cruz, Aretha Franklin, Tito Puente, The O'Jays, Donna Summers, Temptations, Four Tops, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Frank Sinatra, Lionel Hampton + Vocalist Angela Workman was a Raelette in Ray Charles' band.


From country to blues to jazz to R&B and even funk, Ray Charles set the aesthetic standard for more than five decades, earning plaudits across the globe and setting standards that his legion of fans, in and out of the entertainment industry, aspire to.

More often than not he wasn't called by his name - or even his longtime nickname "Brother Ray"---his is simply "The Genius."

Few artists can claim to have had such a wide ranging impact on the music we love, and even fewer have altered the course of so many musical streams - from his soul-jazz combos to his crucial R&B bands, to his landmark country music recordings, "Modern Sounds in Country Music." Only modesty kept him from saying the obvious - that his name sits at the top of the soul singers list.