'Music of Ray Charles' coming to UF's Phillips Center

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Direct from London’s West End and a sold-out European tour, “I Can’t Stop Loving You – The Music of Ray Charles” will make its Gainesville premiere for one show only at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the University of Florida’s Phillips Center. Tickets are on sale now for the show directed and choreographed by Gary Lloyd, creator of the successful production in the United Kingdom.

Featuring a live onstage orchestra, stunning dancers and six amazing singers, “I Can’t Stop Loving You – The Music of Ray Charles” takes audiences on a musical revue of Ray Charles’ life and music. This nonstop celebration embraces the diversity of Charles’ musical genres. From rhythm and blues to gospel and country, from soul to rock ‘n’ roll, from jazz to big band, Ray Charles’s music has influenced generations of artists and styles throughout his 50-year career.

Known as “Brother Ray” or simply “The Genius,” Charles was one of the greatest musical legends of the 20th century. Born in 1930 in Albany, Ga., and blind by the age of 7, Charles began his recording career in the late 1940s. He soon began his mixture and experimentation within musical genres winning him 17 Grammy Awards over his lifetime.

Throughout his career, Charles was featured on more than 250 albums, appeared in film and on television, and was one of the original inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Presidential Medal for the Arts, France’s Legion of Honor and the Kennedy Center Honors.

In 2004, Charles’ life story was chronicled in the award-winning film “Ray” starring Jamie Foxx. The biography of his life, “Brother Ray,” has become an international best seller. Charles’s best-selling album to date, “Genius Loves Company,” was released in 2005, one year after his death.

Tickets for “I Can’t Stop Loving You – The Music of Ray Charles” are currently available by calling the Phillips Center Box Office at (352) 392-2787 or (800) 905-2787 or by calling Ticketmaster at (904) 353-3309. Orders may be faxed to (352) 846-1562. Tickets are also available in person at the Phillips Center Box Office, University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Student Union and all Ticketmaster outlets; and on the Web at www.ticketmaster.com.