Vincent Kotchounian is the son of Ray Charles and his partner, Arlette Kotchounian. Kotchounian’s father, Charles was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called “Brother Ray”. He was often referred to as “the Genius”. Charles was blinded during childhood, possibly due to glaucoma. Vincent Kotchounian’s mother, Arlette is a Parisian

Vincent Kotchounian: Profile Summary

Vincent Kotchounian is the son of the most renowned American pop singer Ray Charles and his Parisian lover, songwriter, and Photographer Arlette Kotchounian.  In the year 1977, Vincent was born in Los Angeles.  Currently, his age is 44 years old in 2021. He is of mixed ethnicity.

Though Kotchounian is the only child of mother and father, He also has 11 other half-siblings from his father, Ray Charles’ side.

How did his parents meet? Vincent Kotchounian’s mother, Arlette Kotchounian, a photographer from Paris, came to New York during Ray’s run at the Copa. A classic Left Bank bohemian, small, dark, and a heavy smoker, Kotchounian had translated the lyrics of a starkly beautiful song, “II Est Mon le Soleil” (“The Sun Died”), that a singer friend had recorded. Arlette brought the record with her and pushed her way into meeting Ray at his hotel. Ray liked “The Sun Died,” was intrigued by Arlette, and soon had her, most willingly, in bed. This was not to be a one-night stand. Arlette had a scrappy streak in her character that Ray liked, and the meeting began a relationship that lasted for years and resulted in the birth of Vincent Kotchounian.

Vincent Kotchounian’s father, Charles stated in his 1978 autobiography, Brother Ray: Ray Charles’ Own Story, that he became hooked on women after losing his virginity at 12 years old to a woman about 20. “Cigarettes and smack [heroin] are the two truly addictive habits I’ve known. You might add women,” he said. “My obsession centers on women—did then [when young] and does now. I can’t leave them alone,” he added.

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Vincent Kotchounian’s father was married twice. His first marriage was less than a year, his second 22 years. Throughout his life, Charles had many relationships with women with whom he fathered a dozen children.

Vincent Kotchounian’s mother, French singer-songwriter and photographer Arlette Kotchounian, 76, was not always called by her name. At the beginning of her career, she was also called  Arlette Avedian and Ann Grégory. In 1963, she began a two-year career as a singer, recording her first single The People Say/You Laugh at me. She composed songs for Eddy Louis, Martine Clemenceau, and other singers, but most importantly, Ann Grégory wrote and composed the English version of The Sun Died, which became one of the best songs in the repertoire of legendary Ray Charles.

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In 2003, Vincent Kotchounian’s father, Ray Charles had successful hip replacement surgery and was planning to go back on tour, until he began suffering from other ailments. He died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, of complications resulting from liver failure, on June 10, 2004, at the age of 73. 

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His funeral took place on June 18, 2004, at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, with numerous musical figures in attendance. B.B. King, Glen Campbell, Stevie Wonder, and Wynton Marsalis each played a tribute at the funeral. He was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery.

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