The genius of Ray Charles is the focus of a major celebration being launched in honor of the pioneering artist, who would have turned 80 on Sept. 23, 2010. Signaled by the recent re-launch of the raycharles.com web site, “The Ray Charles 80^th Birthday Celebration” will ultimately encompass a 20-month series of events and announcements.

“We will be rolling out exciting events and announcements every month through September 2011,” states Valerie Ervin, President of The Ray Charles Foundation. “It’s not only a chance to connect with Mr. Charles’ ongoing fan base on various levels but to also engage a new generation of fans as we re-introduce his enduring legacy and catalog of work. Fans throughout the world will be able to learn more about Mr. Charles— not only as a music legend but as a global icon of historical significance.”

Enhanced by links to various social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, the newly renovated raycharles.com web site offers news stories and updates about forthcoming music releases and events, a “This Day in Ray Charles History” feature and official Ray Charles merchandise. The site—netting a 1000% increase in visitors since its launch—debuted with complete discographies of new album releases and vinyl singles recorded by the 17-time Grammy Award winner. A special “80^th Birthday Celebration” logo has been designed for all product releases and events.

These discographies will eventually be expanded to include compilation albums and boxed sets, soundtrack albums and early songs recorded by Charles when he was the vocalist and pianist for the McSon Trio (also known as the Maxim or Maxin Trio) in the 1940s. “There are few things more exhausting to compile than all of the songs recorded by Ray Charles,” says Janet Macoska, Brand Manager/Archivist for The Ray Charles Marketing Group, the licensing arm for The Ray Charles Foundation. “The volume of work he produced during his career is incredible. The two discographies now contain more than 600 unique recordings. When everything is complete, there will be more than 700 recordings.”

Several of those recordings provided the musical backdrop for the seventh season opener of CBS’ popular television series, “Cold Case.” Premiering Sept. 27, 2009, the episode was seen by over 9,000,000 viewers. Over the coming 20 months, key events tied in with “The Ray Charles 80^th Birthday Celebration” include new music releases, a documentary DVD and the opening of the Ray Charles Memorial Library in Los Angeles.