Receipt for payment for a recording session signed by Ray Charles

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

Receipt for payment signed by Ray Charles, singer early in his career when he was only 20 years old. The receipt states that Ray Charles Robinson received from Swing Time Record Company payment of $82.50 for a recording session at Universal Studios on November 24, 1950. Charles joined Swing Time Records and under his own name "Ray Charles" to avoid being confused with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson) recorded two more R&B hits, "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" (#5) in 1951 and "Kissa Me Baby" (#8) in 1952. The following year, Swing Time folded and Ahmet Ertegün signed him to Atlantic Records.

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