Ray (Not?!) Saluting Stevie At 9th American Music Awards (1982)

The American Music Awards were created for ABC by Dick Clark in 1973 to compete with the Grammys. The 9th edition was aired live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on 25 January 1982.

According to many sources (even including content descriptions of illegal DVDs, and a script of the show that's currently for sale on Ebay), Ray Charles was supposed to be among the live performers (with a.o. Sheena Easton, Alabama, Rick Springfield, Little River Band, Frankie Smith, Air Supply, Rick James, Olivia Newton-John, Wonder Love, The Bee Gees, Chubby Checker, Chaka Khan, Kool & The Gang, Teena Marie, Stephanie Mills, Juice Newton, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Helen Reddy and The Whispers).

More particularly he seems to have been scheduled for a line-up (with a.o. Glen Campbell, Donna Summer, Lionel Richie, Dionne Warwick, Ray Parker Jr, Ella Fitzgerald and Quincy Jones) who were to  participate in a salute to Stevie Wonder for receiving the AMA's Award of Merit.
But the clip below (don't miss Quincy Jones singing, and Stevie shedding a tear!) is proof that Ray didn't make it.
There is a realistic chance that Charles did send his greetings through a pre-recorded video message (that's what a.o. Paul McCartney did).

Does anybody remember seeing Ray - who knows more?

Ray Charles (Not) On Swinging With Sammy Davis Jr. (1960)?

The 1960 newspaper The California Eagle had a (beautifully designed, awfully written) show biz news & gossip page, that specifically reported on the adventures of black artists.
On 21 January 1960 they published a squib announcing that Sammy's "[...] 90 minute TV show in June will include Ray Charles, Dinah Washington, Count Basie and will be titled Swinging With Sammy Davis Jr."
On 8 December 1960 they had an item stating that "Sammy Davis Junior's smash One Man Show is a buildup to his own in preparation television spectacular to be called The Swinging World of Sammy Davis, Junior which will feature Count Basie and Ray Charles... and even with those boys, ol' Sammy will really have to string out to top the show Harry Belafonte put on from N'Yawk-town."

It's unclear what exactly happened to this initiative. This article in the Trenton Sunday Times Advertiser of November 3, 1963, is just a bit too ambiguous: Sammy Davis "packaged a video special starring himself and featuring Ray Charles, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin - but [...] no network would touch it. [Davis] made clear he felt it was because he, a Negro, was the star" - leaving it open for interpretation if the show was actually taped.

Ray Charles (Not) On Ernie Ford Special (1967)?

Country and gospel singer Tennessee Ernie Ford presented several TV shows during his career. The TV page of the newspaper the Watertown Daily Times from 1 December 1967 announces the broadcast of the Ernie Ford Special on Sunday, 3 December 1967, on Channel 5 (Syracuse), with "guests Lainie Kazan and Ray Charles, jazz musician".
Other sources, however, describe a completely different line-up for this show, featuring Andy Griffith, Danny Thomas, The Dillards, Goldie Hawn, and - above all - Diana Ross and the Supremes.

Who knows more?

A Show From Which Ray Charles Probably Escaped (1974)

In early 1974 Billboard reported several times that Ray Charles would be one of the "name performers" on the second day of the 3-day First Annual American Song Festival, from 30 August to 1 September 1974.
After a long series of articles paying attention to things that went wrong in the preparation phase, Billboard of 14 September placed an article under the header "U.S. Song Fest In Anemic Start", reporting a "skimmy attendance" of only 12,781 paying spectators, "talent cancellations, cold, rain, weather, and lengthy television taping delays", that "took much of the magic out of the victories", "a small electric fire" that "held up sound checks", and "the illness of special guest host Paul Williams who finally had to leave before the taping ended", "several of the performers threaten[ing] to pull out" [Rev. James Cleveland did], the show ending at "7 a.m. the next morning", by which time "the crowd had dwindled to less than 100", inevitably leading to "a projected loss of $400.000-$500.000".
The show (either 60 or 90 minutes) nevertheless was broadcast, on 18 or 19 October 1974, on ABC-TV's Wide World Of Entertainment, but I haven't found any trace of Ray being on it. I suppose he didn't even contribute to the actual show.