Ray Charles had a hit single in 1963 with his version of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman’s classic song, No One.

“I never wanted to be famous, I only wanted to be great.” So said Ray Charles – and there’s no doubt he was both.

This version of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman’s classic No One was a hit single in 1963, and lends its name to the title of a new collection called No One Does It Like Ray Charles.

In the early ’60s, after his first pop hit – What’d I Say – Charles negotiated a landmark deal that would reshape the music industry, granting him full control and ownership of his recordings.

It also gave him the means to build his own publishing company, recording studio and business offices.

From that point on – and it’s hard to overestimate what a landmark that was at the time – he could record whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, answering to nobody but himself.

The result was his creation of Tangerine Records, allowing him to achieve greatness on his own terms – and still, today, the only authorised home of some of his greatest music.

As for his approach to recording, he once summed up his own A&R strategy simply: “If I like it, I’m gonna sing it.”