By Ron Wynn
Robyn Moffett aka Babie Charles always wanted to be a singer. But Charles,
who is the eleventh among twelve children of the legendary Ray Charles, found
that her father didn’t want any of his offspring involved with the music
business in any way. But she refused to abandon her dream, and even studied
vocal music performance and music business management at Columbia’s
College of Chicago.
Charles has persevered through numerous life changes, and is now putting
emphasis on her career. She’ll be appearing both tonight and Saturday at the
2006 Southern Women’s Festival held at the Nashville
Convention Center, and is currently
working on a forthcoming CD The Re-Evolution Project.
Babie Charles has already worked
with some major figures in soul and R&B, among them blues/R&B vocalist
Otis Clay, urban music producer/vocalist R.Kelly and
the rap ensemble Do or Die. She’s also penned songs for various rappers, but
considers herself a neo-soul artist in terms of approach. Growing up on the
West side of Chicago, she was
raised by her mother Gloria Moffett and stepfather Robert Earl Ford, though she
maintained contact with Ray Charles at various points. She has general praise
for the recent film Ray, and says it helped her better understand some things
about her father.
“There were a couple of things in the film that were, let’s say, Hollywood elaborations, but most of it was really
accurate,” Charles said. “It did show what my father accomplished, the different
types of music that he loved, and the trials in his life. It helped me
understand why he had such a negative view of the industry despite loving the
stage and performing as much as he did. Jamie (star Jamie Foxx) did a fantastic
job and I think if you saw it, you would understand a great deal about Ray
Charles and his moods and motivation.
“It was also good for me to see it because it has been one
of the things that’s made me so determined not only to
continue my singing career, but to make sure that things are done the right
way. I’m taking my time with this project, making sure that we have the right
songs and the right sound and it puts my music out there in the right light.
It’s easy to just rush something out and say you have a CD out, but if you want
any long-term success, you have to build slowly and carefully and that’s what
we’re doing with this new project.”
Posted: 4/22/06
Source: The City Paper
Return to: Black Music Archives
Please click on the Web Sites below for more information.