Text: Eleven
1
"Soul Singer" is based on a true story. Ray is the protagonist of the movie "Soul Singer".
He was born in a village in the southern United States as a black man to a poor family. His father had three families, and he rarely saw his father, and he was always dependent on his mother and brother.
When he was a child, he liked to play the piano the most. There was a grocery store opposite his house, and the owner of the shop had a piano, and every evening, he would go to listen to the boss play the piano.
When the boss saw that he liked him so much, he took him as an apprentice and taught him to play the piano.
When he was nine years old, his brother asked him to play together, and he didn't want to, he wanted to learn to play the piano. As a result, the younger brother accidentally leaned back and fell into his mother's laundry basin.
Ray thought his brother would get up, but he only saw his brother's feet pedaling outside a few times, and then he didn't move. Then I heard my mother's shouting and crying, and many people gathered around.
His six-year-old brother died and left him so easily.
He felt that he had not helped his brother, if he could find out in time to help his brother, or he played with his brother, right?
Nine months after his brother's death, his eyes gradually became blurred, and he often shed tears inexplicably. Gradually, it became less and less clear to see things.
His mother found him a doctor and applied medicine, but his eyes did not get better, but they became more and more invisible, and finally the world was dark.
And because he couldn't see, he accidentally injured his foot, resulting in limping.
Ray was frustrated and he didn't know what to do? His mother told him that no one can help you, you can only help yourself and save yourself.
Later, every time he encountered difficulties, Ray did not need the help of others and tried to solve it by himself. He uses his ears to hear sounds, to discern things.
Out of sight, Ray learned to cook his own meals, learned to play the piano, learned Braille, and learned to walk independently like a clear-eyed man without relying on crutches.
Many people sighed and asked him how he did it? He said, on your own.
He was like a seed, and although fate had dealt him a critical blow, he did not accept defeat at all and grew very hard.
2
Ray had just reached adulthood when his mother died of overwork.
Fortunately, Ray can play the piano, and he forms a band with other instrumentalists, performing in bars in multiple places to sustain himself.
He played the piano at a higher and higher level and was appreciated by more and more people.
But jealousy is a disease.
Some of the band members were jealous of him and bullied him for being blind, so they deliberately deducted his salary, thinking he didn't know. But he was blind and blind, and the moment he got the money, he knew less.
Asking the other party to take it out, the other party scolded him as a stinky blind man, saying that he only deserved so much.
Ray got into a fight with the other side and then ran out alone. Luckily, he was accepted by another band and sang in a group.
But Ray had a fear in his heart, and what he couldn't get rid of was:
Ray went to the bathroom several times, and as soon as he stepped on it, he felt like he was stepping into the water. He squatted down, his hands touching the ground, it was cold water, and then touched a pair of fleshy feet.
And those feet are my brother's feet.
In his mind's eye, it immediately came to his brother's feet with his head thrown back in his mother's washbasin. And he stood stupidly not far away, only watching his brother leave, not helping a little.
He was so frightened that he fell to the ground and wanted to cry, but he couldn't do anything.
The musician asked him what was wrong? He said there was water, and the water was rising.
The musician was surprised and said, "What water, you're crazy."
Ray touched it again, dry and dry, with no water. His forehead was sweating profusely. It was as if I had a nightmare.
There were two addicts in the band, and Ray couldn't stand it, so he told them that he wanted to try it too.
They told him not to try, and he couldn't stop trying. But he didn't listen, gave them the money he earned, gave them a shot himself, and felt much better.
The feet were gone, the brother was gone, and all that was left was a fluttering feeling. He used drugs to drive away the guilt in his heart.
After that, he had a habit of taking a shot every time he went to a place before he took the stage to perform.
3
As his career became more and more successful, so did his addiction to drugs.
While he was singing in a bar, he was approached by someone from a record label who said he wanted to sign him. Ray happily agreed.
The owner of the bar told the man that he was Ray's agent and asked Ray to stay home and talk to him himself.
The result of the conversation is that the other party is a liar. Don't be delusional.
Ray didn't believe it and ran over on his own. The other party was very happy, gave him a part of the signing money, and said that he wanted to give him a record and so on.
Ray happily signed the deal and broke with the bar owner and the band.
When he arrived at the new company, because the company's turnover was not working well, the company owner recommended him to another ABC record company. The company gave him an original song.
He sang very well. A record sold in the top ten.
It was also at this time that he met Anto, his favorite band singer, and after talking for a while, the two entered the wedding hall. And soon there was a little baby.
Once, when his wife was packing his luggage, she found his drug use utensils and asked him to quit drugs.
Ray refused, saying he would control it. Use very little for yourself. When his wife's persuasion was ineffective, she told him not to bring drugs to the house and affect the children.
With ray's first record release achieving good results, the company launched a second, a third, followed by Ray's own lyrics and composition, combining jazz and gospel to become a new wind.
At the same time, he offered the need for a female partner. The woman's partner later became his mistress. The two had been together for several years, and the mistress offered him a divorce, and she wanted to marry him.
Ray did not agree, saying that he had said it well at the beginning that marriage would never be possible.
The mistress was very angry. So Ray recruited three more women to partner. One of the women, who was very interested in Ray, walked together. The former mistress knew about it and left angrily.
The latter mistress did not get what she wanted, and when she found out that Ray was taking drugs, she advised Ray to quit drugs, but Ray refused. Mistress 2 then tells him she is pregnant.
Ray said without hesitation, knocked out.
Mistress 2 is heartbroken and says she wants to taste drugs too to see why Ray loves it so much and doesn't like her.
Ray warned her not to take drugs.
Mistress 2 did not listen, but left Ray, who felt indebted to the other party and paid each other fifty thousand yuan a month for living expenses.
A few years later, Ray jumped to another, larger record label. He has his own master tape and can work as an independent producer.
As a result, his career has also achieved greater success, every song he composed is very popular, and the sales volume of records has stabilized at the top.
He also moved into a large house of 7,960 square meters. That day, he received the unfortunate news that Mistress 2 had died of too much drug use, leaving behind a three-year-old child.
Ray listened to it and suddenly couldn't stop crying.
His wife and mistress advised him to quit drugs, but he did not quit; on several occasions he was found by the police for the use of drugs, and he almost went to jail. But this time, he wanted to quit drugs.
People may only truly understand the preciousness of life at some point. Life is gone, what ideals, ambitions and so on.
So Ray went to the drug rehabilitation center, at first he did not need drugs, when the drug addiction attacked, completely rely on his own willpower to quit drugs. Because he always remembered what his mother said to him: everything is on his own.
Under his strong will, he quit the drug. And saw a psychiatrist.
Knowing that his mother and brother both forgave him and told him that what happened when he was a child was not his fault, and that he wanted him to live a good life.
4
Ray started again after rehab.
He mixed jazz and country music and then devoted himself to the movement for the rights of blacks. Over the next forty years, he won numerous awards and his songs influenced thousands of people.
Throughout his life, Ray went from a poor boy with nothing to a soul singer who influenced many people.
His success seems to be very accidental. But in fact, there is also a certain inevitability. That is, from a very young age, he has had talent, and has always insisted on this talent, developed this talent.
Many people have talent, but they can't always persevere and can't continue to improve.
In ancient China, there was a story of "wounding Zhongyong". Children are smart and parents are proud of their children. But instead of letting the child continue to learn, he took the child everywhere to show off, so that the smart child ended up in mediocrity.
Therefore, a person has talent, more need to learn, and constantly learn, in order to be able to develop better.
Secondly, Ray also took a lot of detours, took drugs, and cheated. Some people broke the jar after taking drugs, and finally lost their lives. But Ray, after hearing that his mistress had died of drug use, completely woke him up and quit drugs.
As for cheating, his wife is really atmospheric, forgives him, and tolerates him. Probably because of the times.
In this day and age, drug use or cheating, any of them will ruin his career.
Therefore, may each of us not take a detour, even if we take a detour, we can get back on track and find our own soul life.
I also like a sentence from Ray's mother, which I give to everyone: Don't let anyone or anything turn you into a cripple, you must stand up on your own feet.