Question: Why did they call Ray Charles "The Genius?"
Answer: Many performers of the era had easy nicknames that summed up their appeal while promoting it -- Jackie Wilson was "Mr. Excitement," for example. Ray's 1959 LP The Genius of Ray Charles may or may not have been the first time the G word was used to describe him, but it was the album that made him a star in the pop world, and so it stuck. His genius consisted of his uncanny facility with many different genres of music; many rock and roll performers combined country, R&B, and pop, but Ray could find himself in all those styles as well as jazz, straight blues, jump blues, Latin music, adult contemporary, and more. Better still, his love for music enabled him to find the common connections between the different styles, and it was the most crucial element of his appeal.
