Ray Charles Is In Town - Chronology 1980

With TV/event producer Jeff Margolis.

1980

At RPM Studio in Los Angeles. Photo (c) LA Times.

At a concert in Richmond:

At unidentified venue. Photo (c) Corbis.

At RPM Studio, LA; photo by Henry Diltz.

1 February 1980
On The Tonight Show. See this.

Photos by Paul Drinkwater / Getty Images.

1 March 1980
Conducts first in a series of clinics by the American Association of Music Arrangers in Steinway Hall.

2 March 1980
Final scene at closing ceremony Winter Olympics, singing America; televized by ABC.

30 March 1980
Bushnell Memorial Theatre, Hartford CT (but also see sub Nov.2).

6 April 1980
Temple University Music Festival, Philadelphia PA.

25 - 26 April 1980
The Stone, San Francisco.

Photos by Rodger Beltran.

Between 6 April and 18 May 1980
Cervantes Festival, Guanajuato.

25 - 28 April 1980
Eight shows at The Stone, San Francisco CA (Billboard: "remains a wonder of the Western world").




4 May 1980
Inaugural Gala in Washington, DC.


16 May 1980
Howard Theatre, Washington DC.

Photo by Milton Williams (Smithsonian).

19 May 1980
3d Annual KGSR Blues Festival, Waterloo Park, Austin TX (with Robert Cray a.o.).

16 May 1980
Howard Theatre, Washington.

27 May 1980 to 1 June 1980
Granny's Dinner Playhouse, Dallas.

13 June 1980
Antone's, Austin.


16 June 1980
The Blues Brothers (release date). See this. Photos here.

Set photos, with John Landis.

With John Belushi, recording for The Blues Brothers at Murray Allen's Universal Recording Company in Chicago.

Photo by Aron Johnson, c. 1980.

With John Lendis.

 

20 June 1980
Playboy Jazz Fest. Photos here.

17   - 22 June 1980
Watt's Club Mozambique, Detroit MI.

27 June 1980
Garden Theatre, New London.

28 June 1980
Eastman Theatre, with Rochester Philharmonic, Rochester  NY.

30 June 1980
Field's Supper Club, Chicago IL.

?July 1980?
Unidentified venue in south of France?

Photo by Chuck Fishman, who also described as being taken at New Orleans Jazz Festival in c. 1980.

2 July 1980
Le premier Festival International De Jazz, Place des Nations, Montréal QC. See this and this.

3 July 1980
Jazz Festival II at Convention Hall in Atlantic City NJ.

From Baltimore Sun, 25 May 1980.

 Photo by Robert Houston (Smithsonian).

Around this date in July 1980

Before a concert in Echternach.

6 July 1980
Festival Nuit du Glanvez at Racing Club, Loperhet.

7 July 1980
Olympia, Paris. Photo here.

Photos by Georges De Keerle/Pierre Villard, Sipa.

Photos by Betrand Laforet/Getty.

With valet and fans, backstage. Photo by Bertand Laforet/Getty.

(c) Rex Features.

Around this date in July 1980
Vaison-la-Romaine Festival.

11 to 13 July 1987
Concert at second Capital Jazz Festival, UK - Cancelled because of fire.

13 July 1980
Dutch AVRO TV tapes Ray’s concert and North Sea Jazz Festival, Congresgebouw, Den Haag for future transmission. See this.

Photo by Hans Hendriks.

17 - 20 July 1980
Lycabettus Theater, Athens.

23 July 1980
Théâtre Romain de Fourvière, Lyon.

31 July 1980
The Ritz, New York City NY.

Photos by Allan Tannenbaum/Getty.

Photo by Chuck Pulin/Corbis.

News photo from unidentified source - same gig?

From Jet magazine.

Second show at Ritz or other gig in NYC?

August 1980
Release of the single Compared To What / Now That We've Found Each Other.

1 August 1980
Towson Center, Towson, MD.

6 August 1980
Concert at Navy Pier in Chicago IL.
The Ray Charles Orchestra also backed Aretha Franklin. The Chicago Sun-Times captioned this photo with: "Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul, sings and Ray Charles [...] responds to cheers [...] in what Sun-Times critic Rick Kogan describes as a spine-tingling show'. [...] A surpisingly small crowd showed up for the performance. [...]." Aretha and the Ray Charles Band performed Respect, You Send Me, Rock Steady, Chain Of Fools and Think.

Backstage (from Koko Taylor estate).

28 - 30 August 1980
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles CA (with Irene Cara).

Late August 1980
At wedding of Ray Jr.

Duana Chenier, Ray Jr., Della Robinson, Ray Charles.

7 September 1980
Parker's Ballroom, Seattle WA.

9 - 13 September 1980
The Cave, Vancouver BC; review here.

10 September 1980
Lucifer's Nightclub, Calgary AB.

18 September 1980
Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles CA.

24 September 1980
In John Schneider's Back Home (air date). See this.

October 1980
Release of the single Beers To You, with Clint Eastwood. See this.

1 October 1980
Moody Civic Center, Galveston TX.

5 October 1979
Civic Center. Des Moines IA.

10 October 1980
Start of South Africa trip; arrival in Johannesburg.
In a 1988 press conference in Australia (reported by AAP, quoted from The Advertiser), Ray said:
"'South Africa is exactly the same as is happening here'[...] I got an awful lot of flak from people who thought I shouldn't have gone. We were invited by the very people our critics said were the reason we shouldn't have gone, but I don't feel it is my right to go to countries and start talking about how they ought to start handling their situations.'
He said he had not really thought about the plight of Aborigines but, if they asked, he would return to play for them just as he had responded to an invitation from the South African blacks. 'I just go to countries to play my music. All I am trying to do is just make people happy,' said Charles, 57, rocking back on his chair."

11 October 1980
Football stadium in Maseru, Lesotho.

15 and 18 October 1980
Colloseum Theatre, Johannesburg.

19 October 1980
Jabulani Mall, Soweto.

22, 24 and 25 October 1980
Cape Town.

26 October 1980
Jabulani Mall, Soweto.

2 November 1980
Bushnell Memorial Theatre, Hartford CT (but also see sub March 30).

Poster.

10 November 1980
Longhorn Ballroom, Dallas TX.


12 November 1980
Hill Audtorium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI. Read this.


21 November 1980
Avery Fisher Hall, New York City NY

25 November 1980
WBC's 2nd Sugar Ray (Charles) Leonard Vs. Roberto Duran Fight at the  Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans LA. See this.

Photo by Manny Millan.

26 November 1980
Two shows at Grand Ballroom, Hyatt Regency Hotel, New Orleans LA (with Freddie Hubbard).

December 1980
Taping of the Hee Haw episode where Ray sings Jealous Heart and Makin' Believe (aired in March 1981). See this.

24 December 1980
Noël Avec Ray Charles (France 2; air date; probably identical with Christmas In Ettal). See this.

The Raelettes, c. 1980.