Charles dominates Grammys

LOS ANGELES - From Dickey Betts to Jerry Lee Lewis to Jamie Foxx, the Grammy crowd had one thing in common Sunday night: Ray Charles.

``Ray Charles influences all of us,'' said Betts, of Allman Brothers Band fame. ``To me, any time I'm writing a blues song, many times at least I'll be thinking about how Ray Charles put chords to it, how he used intonations. Just the way he writes and used chord structures is amazing was amazing.''

Ben Harper, who won a Grammy for traditional soul gospel album, said Charles was also an inspiration to him.

``He loved folk, he loved country,'' Harper said. ``There's soul music and then there's Ray Charles. ``That's a huge inspiration to me.''

``He was among the greatest God-given talents that ever lived,'' said rock 'n' roll legend Lewis, who received a lifetime achievement award. ``I just loved him so much. He was like a brother. Every time I saw him, he was, 'Jerry, you're looking good.'''

Charles, who was born in Albany, Ga., died of acute liver disease June 10 at age 73. But his posthumous album ``Genius Loves Company'' and the Oscar-nominated biopic ``Ray'' have generated tremendous renewed interest in his life and music.

``Genius,'' a compilation of duets with the likes of Norah Jones, Elton John and Gladys Knight, picked up eight Grammys Sunday night, including album of the year and record of the year for ``Here We Go Again,'' with Jones.

Charles had previously earned 12 Grammys, including best vocal performance for the song ``Georgia On My Mind'' in 1960. He won four of the five awards for which he was nominated that year.

Jones said the proposition of playing with Charles was daunting.

``I felt pretty musically challenged,'' she said. ``I felt a little scared, but he put me at ease.''

Charles' musical knowledge came in handy, though, when Jones initially could not think of which song to do with him.

``He called and said, 'Hey, it's the brother Ray!''' and reassured her any song she could think of would be fine, Jones recalled.

``I know them all,'' Charles told her.

During the awards ceremony, the Oscar-nominated actor Foxx, who portrayed Charles in ``Ray,'' sat at a piano opposite Alicia Keys to sing ``Georgia On My Mind'' and ``If I Ain't Got You.''

Producer Quincy Jones, wearing a shirt painted with Charles' face beneath his tuxedo jacket, conducted the orchestra playing along with Foxx and Keys, while video screens displayed images of the entertainer.

``For an old friend,'' Foxx said before kicking into ``Georgia On My Mind.''