lasting influence of legend charles ray charles  who has won a string of posthumous grammy awards  belonged to a pioneering generation of artists that had a huge influence on the course of rock and pop music.  his sound encompassed so many styles - blues  gospel  jazz  rock  n  roll  even country - and had a real impact on the nascent uk beat and r&b scenes.  compared in stature to elvis presley by some commentators  charles  songs cast their spell on such 1960s stalwarts as joe cocker  steve winwood  eric burdon and van morrison. his influence has extended to contemporary artists such as norah jones  with whom he recently recorded a duet. if james brown was the godfather of soul  then ray charles was indisputably one of its founding fathers. along with sam cooke  he was instrumental in bringing together the gospel fervour of the deep south baptist church with the  devil s  music of r&b to pave the way for a new generation of soul artists.  without charles  it is hard to imagine the tear-stained atlantic r&b sound of aretha franklin  otis redding or wilson pickett. he was also a talented jazz composer  arranger and band leader  playing at the newport jazz festival and carnegie hall and recording with noted jazz musicians such as milt jackson and david  fathead  newman. unfortunately  he also shared another trait common among many jazz artists of the era - that of heroin addiction  which led to him being arrested in 1965. his string of 1950s atlantic r&b successes included songs that would be covered by the first-generation rock  n  roll greats  including i ve got a woman (roy orbison  elvis presley) and hallelujah  i love her so (eddie cochran). after the exuberance of his 1959 signature song what d i say  charles turned towards a more pop-oriented style  recording hoagy carmichael s sentimental string ballad georgia on my mind  and the upbeat hit the road jack.  he also won acclaim in the country arena with his interpretations of hank williams standards such as your cheating heart and you win again. more than 40 years after its release  his 1962 abc album modern sounds in country and western music is still regarded as a classic. his version of don gibson s i can t stop loving you topped the pop and r&b charts in the us. in 1972  he made a rare foray into protest songs with his album a message from the people.  on it  he took a stand on poverty and civil rights - echoing similar recordings of the era from progeny such as stevie wonder  james brown  curtis mayfield and marvin gaye. more than 20 years later  he would embrace contemporary production with his 1993 album my world  which featured hip-hop beats - although charles claimed at the time not to know what hip-hop was. among the tributes that poured in from all sections of the music world when charles died aged 73 in june 2004 was one from his friend  the producer quincy jones  who described him as a  brother in every sense of the word .  there will never be another musician who did as much to break down the perceived walls of musical genres as much as ray charles did   he said. former manfred mann singer paul jones  who sang on 1960s hits such as come tomorrow and sha la la  said charles was one of his heroes.  i m quite sure my own writing was influenced by him   he told bbc news online.  i would put money on the proposition that ray charles will have an influence on music forever.