About This Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service proudly honors inspiring musician Ray Charles with a stamp, one of several that inaugurates the Music Icons series. This extraordinary composer, singer, and pianist, blind since childhood, went beyond category, blending blues, gospel, country, jazz, and soul music in a unique and highly influential pop music style. His many hits included “I’ve Got a Woman,” “Georgia on My Mind,” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”
The stamp art features an image of Charles, taken later in his career, by photographer Yves Carrère. The stamp sheet was designed to evoke the appearance of a vintage 45 rpm record sleeve. One side of the sheet includes the stamps and the image of a sliver of a record seeming to peek out the top of the sleeve. A larger version of the photograph featured on the stamp and the logo for the Music Icons series appear on the reverse side.
Looking back over the course of his long career, there seemed to be little Charles couldn’t do. His work spanned almost the entire breadth of American music and brought him 17 Grammy Awards, plus an award for lifetime achievement in 1987. Countless other prizes include the Polar Music Prize in 1998; the National Medal of Arts, awarded in 1993; and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986. That same year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ray Charles performed for seven presidents: Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush.
Art director Ethel Kessler worked on the stamp sheet with designer Neal Ashby.
The Ray Charles stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate.
All rights to the name and likeness of Ray Charles are owned by The Ray Charles Foundation. Photo © MEPHISTO
Stamp Art Director
Ethel Kessler
Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director who has worked with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, professional service organizations, and now, the United States Postal Service.
After earning a B.F.A. in visual communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer and project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency. Her work was distributed internationally on subjects such as Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Renovation of American Cities, and the Bicentennial of 1976. She was also responsible for exhibits in Morocco, Botswana, and El Salvador.
In 1981, she established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton Government reorganization, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Television, the National Park Service, and the American Institute of Architects.
She has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development program for more than 25 years. As an art director for USPS, Kessler has been responsible for creating more than 500 stamp designs, including the Breast Cancer Research stamp illustrated by Whitney Sherman. Issued in 1998, the stamp is still on sale and has raised more $98 million for breast cancer research. Other Kessler projects include the popular and highly regarded Nature of America 120 stamp series, a collaboration with nationally acclaimed nature illustrator John Dawson, the 12-year Lunar New Year series with Kam Mak, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes 10 stamps issued in 2003, a 2016 pane of stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the 2023 stamp honoring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And many, many others.
Stamp Designer
Neal Ashby
Neal Ashby was born in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. He discovered his dream career at an early age when he read a pamphlet about careers in art and was immediately hooked by the job description for art director. He graduated in 1989 from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in advertising design.
A love of music shaped Ashby’s career. He learned to play several instruments but found his way into the music business through his design talents. After ten years as the vice president and creative director for the Recording Industry Association of America, Ashby went out on his own in 2002. He opened a design firm, Ashby Design, in Alexandria, Virginia, and continues to work with music industry clients, including a long-term relationship with the Washington, D.C., electronic duo Thievery Corporation.
Ashby was nominated for the Grammy® award for Best Recording Package three times, in 2005, 2006, and 2008. His work has been displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington.
Aside from his design work, Ashby loves to paint. It is strictly a hobby for him, a pastime he enjoys for the sheer pleasure of creating something visual just to please himself.
Ashby lives and works in the Washington, D.C., area. He has designed three stamps for the U.S. Postal Service®: Lydia Mendoza (2013), Ray Charles (2013), and John Lennon (2018), all issuances in the Music Icons series.