BioGraph
Connecting Ray Charles and Jaden Smith
Ray Charles
''Ray'', a biopic portraying his life and career between the mid-1930s and 1979, was released in October 2004, starring Jamie Foxx as Charles. Foxx won the 2005Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.
Jamie Foxx
The following year, Foxx appeared in '' The Amazing Spider-Man 2'' as the villain Electro, and co-starred with Quvenzhané Wallis in ''Annie'', Sony's Will Smith and Jay-Z produced update of the comic strip-turned-musical.
Will Smith
Smith and his son Jaden played father and son in the 2006 biographical drama '' The Pursuit of Happyness''.
Smith at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway with his family. (''left'' to ''right'': son Jaden Smith, wife Jada Pinkett Smith, Smith, daughter Willow Smith).
The pair produce films through their joint production company Overbrook Entertainment and Westbrook Inc. Together they have two children: Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (born 1998), his co-star in ''The Pursuit of Happyness'' and ''After Earth''; and Willow Camille Reign Smith (born 2000), who appeared as his daughter in '' I Am Legend''.
Quincy Jones
American record producer
Jones produced the successful ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' (discovering Will Smith), UPN's ''In the House'', First-Run Syndication's '' The Jenny Jones Show'' (in association with Telepictures Productions, 1994–1997 only) and FOX's ''Madtv''{{snd}} which ran for 14 seasons.{{cite web |url=http://www.quincyjones.com/about/ |title=About |publisher= Quincy Jones |access-date=May 23, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714074053/http://www.quincyjones.com/about/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 }} In the early 1990s, he started a huge, ongoing project called "The Evolution of Black Music".
Chris Gardner
American businessman and motivational speaker
The movie, starring Will Smith, Thandiwe Newton and Jaden Smith, focused on Gardner's nearly one-year struggle with homelessness.
Ray Charles
Billy Joel said, "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley".
His style and success in the genres of rhythm and blues and jazz had an influence on a number of highly successful artists, including, as Jon Pareles has noted, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, and Billy Joel.
Elvis Presley
Presley's father, Vernon, was of German, Scottish and English origins. Presley's mother, Gladys, was of Scots-Irish with some French Norman ancestry. His mother and the rest of the family believed that her great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was Cherokee. This belief was confirmed by Elvis's granddaughter Riley Keough in 2017. Elaine Dundy, in her biography, supports the belief. Gladys was regarded by relatives and friends as the dominant member of the small family.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}
Riley Keough
American actress (born 1989)
In April 2011, Keough starred as the female lead in the drama '' The Good Doctor'' alongside Orlando Bloom and Taraji P. Henson.
Ray Charles
His final album, ''Genius Loves Company'', released two months after his death, consists of duets with admirers and contemporaries: B.B. King, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Norah Jones and Johnny Mathis. The album won eight Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (for "Here We Go Again", with Norah Jones), and Best Gospel Performance (for "Heaven Help Us All", with Gladys Knight); he also received nods for his duets with Elton John and B.B. King.
James Taylor
American singer-songwriter and guitarist
He appeared in 2011 in the ABC comedy '' Mr. Sunshine'' as the ex-husband of the character played by Allison Janney, and he performs a duet of sorts on Leon Russell's 1970 classic "A Song for You".
