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St. Paul, Minn.

60 years ago, a hit single in the making for Ray Charles

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Today's Morning Edition music is from 60 years ago. Ray Charles was performing regularly, but hadn't released a hit record yet.

While traveling between gigs, he would often listen to gospel stations on the radio. That's when he heard the Southern Tones play a song called "It Must Be Jesus."

Charles reworked the lyrics with a more secular message, sped up the tempo and and added a jazz-inspired rhythm and blues background. The resulting "I Got a Woman" was recorded in late 1954 and became his first hit in early 1955.