According to a recently published report in the Los Angeles times, several of Ray Charles’ children ranging from 16 to 50 years of age have waged a feud with Joe Adams, who was Charles’ long-time manage. The children have claimed that Adams has mismanaged the estate of their late father and abusing his position as manager of the estate.
The children also accuse that in by mismanaging the estate; Joe Adams has also damaged the legacy and reputation of the late Ray Charles. According to Charles’ children, Adams had released two CDs posthumously. They said that their late father would never have approved let alone allow for those CDs to be released. In short, Charles’ family has said that Adams has too much power let alone abusing the power.
Currently, Adams has positions of power in both Ray Charles Enterprises and the Ray Charles Foundation. Not only have the children of the late Charles accused Adams of abusing his power, they have also accused him of cutting them out from dealings involved with both businesses.
So far, the children filed complaints with the California attorney general’s office, the Los Angeles County prosecutor’s office, and the FBI’s California office. In that regard, several of Charles’ children want a formal inquiry into everything under Adams’ control to see if there is any wrongdoing. Ray Charles’ children are definitely pulling out the big guns in a possible future legal battle against Joe Adams.
Reverend Robert Robinson, the son of Ray Charles and Della Robinson said that Adams had disrespected the family and the children. Robinson said: “If you respect a man and his work, then respect his kids. His blood is flowing through our veins.”
Interestingly enough, Charles did not say anything about inheriting the rights to license his likeness and image for any profits in the future. There are no trust documents or copies of Charles’ will that does not mention any part of that.
The children were given the impression that they could use their late father’s image in that respect. But Charles gave the indication that there would be more for then in the future asides from the $500K trust funds for each of the children. At the same time, there is no indication that Adams did not get the rights to use Charles’ image either, according to the family.
So far the only children that had spoken out were Robinson and Charles’ eldest son, Ray Charles Jr. It is only a matter of time before Ray Charles’ other children and family members step forward. For now, the report has covered Robert Robinson and Ray Charles Jr.
The children of Ray Charles have claimed that Adams’ abuse of power and mismanagement of the estate has happened for a good few years. One could speculate that this will be one interesting court battle.
In an interesting sense, this somewhat mirrors the case of James Brown after his death in regards to James Brown II, the child that Tomi Rae Hynie claims to have had with him. There was a legal feud between Tomi Rae Hynie and James Brown’s surviving family.
But, in the case of Ray Charles, it is a feud between his family and his long-time manager.