Mary Ann (Ray Charles song)

"Mary Ann" is a song written and performed by Ray Charles and released in 1956 as a single on the Atlantic Records label. It was the third Ray Charles song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Best Selling Rhythm & Blues chart. The song is set to a Latin beat, but switches into a swing rhythm, "an alternation that adds fun for the dancers."[1] It has been described as "a sexy blues,"[1] and "a lightly lascivious tune."[2]

"Mary Ann"
Single by Ray Charles
Released1956
GenreRhythm & blues, blues
Length2:48
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)Ray Charles
Ray Charles singles chronology
"Hallelujah I Love Her So"
(1956)		 "Mary Ann"
(1956)		 "Lonely Avenue"
(1956)

The song was written about Mary Ann Fisher (1923–2004),[3] a singer who had recently joined Charles' band as a featured vocalist in his touring shows. Despite Charles' marriage, the two became lovers, and Fisher appears on a number of his Atlantic recordings. Fisher left Ray Charles in 1958 after he had added the Raelettes, formerly the Cookies, as female vocal backup to his band.[4][5][6][7]

References
  1. Michael Lydon (2004). Ray Charles: Man and Music, Updated Commemorative Edition. Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 0203498321.
  2. Scott Schinder (2008). Icons of Rock. ABC-CLIO. p. 39. ISBN 978-0313338465.
  3. Mary Ann Fisher, History Inspired. Retrieved 9 October 2016
  4. Lydon 2004, p. 122.
  5. Carin T. Ford (2007). Ray Charles: "I was Born with Music Inside Me". Enslow Publishers, Inc. p. 66. ISBN 978-0766027015.
  6. David Ritz, Ray Charles (2009). Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story. Da Capo Press. pp. 167–169. ISBN 978-0786728039.
  7. Ritz, David. 2009. Faith In TIme: The Life of Jimmy Scott. De Capo Press. P 122-125


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