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"Mary Ann"
Single by Ray Charles
Released1956
Genre Rhythm & blues, blues
Length2:48
Label Atlantic
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]

References

  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


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