Mary Ann (Ray Charles song)

"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)

"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 fourth 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]

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]

  1. ^ a b 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. Da Capo Press. P 122-125