Editing Ray Charles (section)

===1983–2004: Later years===
In 1983, Charles signed a contract with [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]. He recorded a string of country albums and had hit singles in duets with singers such as [[George Jones]], [[Chet Atkins]], [[B. J. Thomas]], [[Mickey Gilley]], [[Hank Williams Jr.]], [[Dee Dee Bridgewater]] ("Precious Thing") and his longtime friend [[Willie Nelson]], with whom he recorded "[[Seven Spanish Angels]]".

In 1985, Charles participated in the musical recording and video "[[We Are the World]]", a charity single recorded by the supergroup United Support of Artists (USA) for Africa.[[File:Ray Charles FIJM 2003.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Charles at the 2003 [[Montreal International Jazz Festival]], one of his last public performances]]

In 1990 he participated for the first time in the [[Sanremo Music Festival]] with song ''[[Good Love Gone Bad]]'', written by [[Toto Cutugno]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cznHGPwwt9Q|title=Ray Charles - Good love gone bad (Gli amori - Toto Cutugno)|website=[[YouTube]]|date=November 7, 2022 |access-date=July 25, 2023|archive-date=July 25, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230725153645/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cznHGPwwt9Q|url-status=live}}</ref>

Before the release of his first album for Warner, ''Would You Believe'', Charles made a return to the R&B charts with a cover of the [[The Brothers Johnson|Brothers Johnson]]'s "[[I'll Be Good to You]]", a duet with his lifelong friend Quincy Jones and the singer [[Chaka Khan]], which hit number one on the R&B chart in 1990 and won Charles and Khan a Grammy for their duet. Prior to this, Charles returned to the pop charts with "[[Baby Grand]]", a duet with singer-songwriter [[Billy Joel]]. In 1989, he recorded a cover of the [[Southern All Stars]]' "Itoshi no Ellie" for a Japanese TV advertisement for the [[Suntory]] brand, releasing it in Japan as "Ellie My Love", where it reached No.{{nbsp}}3 on its [[Oricon]] chart.<ref name="oricon89">{{cite web|url=http://www2.wbs.ne.jp/~ms-db/oricon/oricon_single_89.htm |title=List of Best-Selling International Singles in Japan of 1989 |publisher=Oricon. Wbs.ne.jp |access-date=March 1, 2018  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103044017/http://www2.wbs.ne.jp/~ms-db/oricon/oricon_single_89.htm |archive-date=January 3, 2007}}</ref> In the same year he was a special guest at the [[Verona Arena]] during the tour promoting ''[[Oro Incenso & Birra]]'' of the Italian singer [[Zucchero Fornaciari]].

In 2001–02, Charles appeared in commercials for the [[New Jersey Lottery]] to promote its campaign "For every dream, there's a jackpot."

In 2003, he headlined the [[White House Correspondents' Association#White House Correspondents' dinner|White House Correspondents' Association Dinner]] in Washington, D.C., attended by President [[George W. Bush]], [[Laura Bush]], [[Colin Powell]] and [[Condoleezza Rice]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?176331-3/2003-white-house-correspondents-dinner-entertainment|title=2003 White House Correspondents' Dinner Entertainment|publisher=C-span.org|access-date=March 4, 2017|archive-date=September 8, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230908141349/https://www.c-span.org/video/?176331-3/2003-white-house-correspondents-dinner-entertainment|url-status=live}}</ref>

Also in 2003, Charles presented [[Van Morrison]] with Morrison's award upon being inducted in the [[Songwriters Hall of Fame]], and the two sang Morrison's song "[[Crazy Love (Van Morrison song)|Crazy Love]]" (the performance appears on Morrison's 2007 album ''[[The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3]]''). In 2003, Charles performed "Georgia on My Mind" and "America the Beautiful" at a televised annual banquet of electronic media journalists held in Washington, D.C. His final public appearance was on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his music studio as a historic landmark in Los Angeles.<ref name="boheme" />