- Della Beatrice Howard Robinson enjoys wearing high heels.
- Charles discovered Della was pregnant with their son before Della did. In fact, she had no idea she was pregnant for three months.
- Della was aware of her ex-true husband’s age on the day of their marriage.
- Jamie Foxx won his first Academy Award for Best Actor in 2005 for his role as Della’s husband in the 2004 film Ray. Kerry Washington played the role of Howard Robinson in the film.
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Who is Della Beatrice Howard Robinson?
Della Beatrice Howard Robinson is a celebrity ex-wife. Della Beatrice Howard Robinson is the ex-wife of the late Ray Charles Robinson, Sr., an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. The couple had been married for 22 years and had three children.
Della Beatrice Howard Robinson’s Bio
Ray Charles’ wife, Della Beatrice Howard Robinson, was born two years before her husband.
Ray Charles Jr. writes in his book, You Don’t Know Me: Reflections Of My Father, that the fact that she was older than her ex-husband irritated her throughout her life.
Her family came from Richmond, Texas, which is about fifteen miles southwest of Houston.
Della was born in a town of only 1,500 people. Her hometown was a cotton and oil country, so it wasn’t as hard hit as the rest of the country during the Great Depression.
Della Beatrice was born two years before Ray Charles, her ex-husband.
Her family came from Richmond, Texas, which is about fifteen miles southwest of Houston.
After the Civil War, Richmond became a haven for emancipated slaves.
The train tracks that ran through the middle of town, however, had become a symbol of racial division by the time Charles’ ex-wife was born.
Howard’s mother and two aunts moved to Houston when she was a child and worked as live-in housekeepers.
Della attended a black school in Richmond.
Every day, she had to walk sixteen miles. Robinson went to Richmond’s school until he was in fourth grade. She then relocated to Houston.
Howard’s family owned a large amount of land for segregated people
Robinson’s maternal family owned approximately eighty acres of land, which was divided among the various households.
She shared a one-bedroom frame house with her grandmother Mama Lee and uncle George on ten acres of farmland.
They used to grow cotton, corn, peanuts, and potatoes, as well as maintain a truck garden for vegetables.
Beatrice’s family also grew fruit trees, wild blackberries, and dewberries.
They’d make cobblers and pies out of the fruit and berries. They had horses to pull the wagons as well as cows for milk.
Her family didn’t need to buy meat because they had plenty of hogs, chickens, ducks, and geese.
Della learned from her parents that food should not be thrown away. They were devout Christians who had built a small church called Zion Watchtower on their property.
Della Beatrice Howard Robinson’s Parents Didn’t Marry
Her parents, ironically, never married. And Della never found out why, because it was never mentioned in her presence.
In fact, her father was absent when she was a child, which bothered her. He had remarried and was now living in Houston.
She knew who he was and knew his name, but the father and daughter never met when the latter was a child.
She then moved to Houston with her mother when she was ten years old, leaving Richmond and her grandmother behind.
However, the relocation was difficult.
Della frequently fought with her mother
She had a running feud with her mother from the start.
She disliked her mother’s late nights and after-work parties because she was used to a quieter life with her grandmother.
Della hated it even more when her mother forced her to look after her new baby brother, James.
Robinson announced one day that she was moving out on her own. But she quickly regretted her decision.
She then went to live with her cousin Robert Lee.
Della admits that leaving home at such a young age was one of the worst decisions she ever made.
She mostly survived after leaving her mother by “lying.”
She explained that back then, no one asked for a birth certificate, and she was tall enough to pass for eighteen.
She obtained a Social Security card and a health card and began working as a waitress.
Her secondary job was singing in a gospel choir. As a result, she moved in with Ella Dooley, an older woman in her group.
She also joined Cecil Shaw’s gospel group at the age of 16. She had just finished high school.
Della Beatrice Howard Robinson Singing Gospel
She began singing on the radio and in concerts soon after joining Cecil Shaw’s gospel squad.
Once she and her bandmates were under contract, they moved on to larger churches and concert halls.
There was soon a recording contract; some of the creations made it onto CDs and are still available.
Della’s face could be seen on the covers, smiling into the camera. Robinson was well on her way to a successful gospel career by the time she was out of her teens.
How Did Howard Meet Ray Charles?
Howard was in her late twenties and still a gospel singer.
Charles, like many others, was in the early stages of his career, touring the Jim Crow circuit. When he was driving, he enjoyed listening to the radio.
He happened to hear the Cecil Shaw singers on the radio one day while driving through Texas.
“Pray On, My Child,” the song, was sung by none other than Della Beatrice Howard.
He found her voice to be deeply moving and resolved to meet her.
Della Beatrice Howard Robinson’s First Date with Ray Charles
In her book, Ray Charles, author Janet Hubbard Brown recounts the first time Beatrice met her future husband, Charles.
Brown reveals that when the What I’d Say singer met Della, she was a plump woman his age with a radiant smile and cheerful demeanor.
The writer goes on to say that it was during her time with the Cecil Shaw Singers.
And she’d heard the Grammy Hall Of Famer was a womanizer and a drug addict while in Houston.
In 1955, Della Beatrice Howard Robinson married Ray Charles.
They had three children together. Della had been married twice before meeting Ray.
Della and Charles Wed in a Dilapidated Room
Della Beatrice Howard Robinson married Ray Charles in Dallas in 1955.
They got married in a junky back room, and a woman they’d never met read them their vows.
Even though Charles hadn’t become a household name and was struggling financially, the first few years went well.
Ray Charles Robinson Jr., the former couple’s first child, was born in May 1955. They lived on Myrtle Street in Dallas, Texas, with their first son.
They had two more sons, David Robinson and Robert Robinson, over the next few years.
However, as much as Charles claimed he desired a home life and a family, his life on the road, filled with women and drugs, exacerbated matters.
In any case, he managed to compartmentalize his life into two parts: family man and road musician. And he made certain that one did not collide with the other.
Della’s husband, the Polar Music Prize winner, continued touring, writing songs, and checking in on his family.
He released three singles per year on average. Meanwhile, Robinson had another son, and Charles relocated the family to Los Angeles.
What Caused Howard’s Divorce From Ray?
Charles’ desire for sex persisted while he was on the road and Della was at home.
He was having an infamous affair with Mary Ann Fisher at the time.
Ray was seeing two other women, Margie Hendricks and Mae Mosely Lyles, within two years of his marriage to Robinson.
Charles’ gospel singer wife was aware of his extramarital affairs, but she chose to stay with him because of her faith.
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The Separation
Ray’s three children’s mother finally filed for divorce in 1976, though the details were kept private.
Robinson was living with her son, Charles Jr., and his girlfriend at the time.
Della and her ex-husband, Charles, were on better terms by 1983.
However, the Jazz legend’s career and health were not going so well.
He had recently removed “abnormally patent Eustachian tubes.” The treatment nearly killed him, but he was saved by antibiotics.
In addition, he had the worst tour in band members’ memories in 1983.
Della would pay Charles visits and bring him food while he was in the hospital for rehabilitation.
Howard’s ex-husband died on June 10, 2004, as a result of complications from liver failure.
Before the meeting, Charles and Della had both been married and divorced; the latter twice.
The gospel singer’s romantic history was as bleak as that of her Grammy Hall Of Fame ex-husband. Della yearned for a home of her own and children when she was twenty in the early 1950s.
So, after meeting him at a church service one night, she married a tall, handsome minister’s son.
Although his name was never revealed, he was described as being six feet four, with ebony skin and thick, curly black hair.
