How Did Ray Charles Define True Success in Life and Music?

You want to know about success? That's a good question, because most people get it wrong. They think success is money, or fame, or the number of people clapping when you walk on stage. And don't misunderstand me—I appreciate all of that. A man needs to eat, needs to provide for his family, needs to know his work matters. But that's not success. That's the consequence of success.

Success is waking up every single day knowing you did the thing you were meant to do, the way you were meant to do it. Success is looking a man in the eye—or in my case, speaking to a man straight—and telling him the truth, whether he wants to hear it or not. Success is building something with your own two hands that didn't exist before you were born.

I measure my success by what I built. Not just the records, though I'm proud of every one. I'm talking about the publishing company I founded. My own label. My own band that I led and trained and shaped to play exactly what I heard in my mind. I took control of my own destiny, baby. I didn't wait for somebody else to decide what I was worth or what I should sound like. That's success—ownership of your own soul.

The other measure is simpler and deeper: Did I help people? Did my music reach somebody who was hurting and give them strength? Did I stand up when things were unjust? Did I love the people in my life with everything I had? If the answer to those questions is yes, then I've been successful, whether anybody ever heard my name or not.

Money comes and goes. Records fade. But the person you became, the mark you left on other people's hearts—that's permanent. That's the success that matters when you're lying down at the end, when all the noise stops and you're just you. I've always believed that.