Margie Hendricks

Marjorie "Margie" Hendrix (March 13, 1935 – July 1973) was an American rhythm and blues singer best known for her performances as a founder member and leader of the Raelettes, backing Ray Charles. The spelling "Hendricks" is sometimes used.

She was born in Register, Georgia, the daughter of Kattie and Renzy Hendrix. She sang, played piano and directed her local church choir while in her teens. In the early 1950s she moved to New York City, and made her first recording, "Everything", on the Lamp label in 1954. In 1956, she replaced Beulah Robertson in the Cookies, joining existing members Dorothy Jones and Darlene McCrea. The group signed to Atlantic Records, and had a #9 hit on the R&B chart with "In Paradise". They also started working as session singers at Atlantic, where they were introduced to Ray Charles. In 1958, Hendrix and McCrea left the Cookies (who later went on to greater success with a different line-up), and formed the Raelettes as Ray Charles' backing singers.

In 1958, Charles recorded "Night Time Is the Right Time", which reached #5 on the R&B chart the following year. The song featured Hendrix's barely controlled pleas to the singer to "tease me, squeeze me, please me, oh don't leave me...". Hendrix also featured on Charles' other recordings of the time, including "Tell the Truth", "What'd I Say", and (in 1961) "Hit the Road Jack". She developed a close personal as well as a professional relationship with Ray Charles; their son Charles Wayne was born in 1959.

Hendrix became the effective leader of the Raelettes, but her personal relationship with Ray Charles deteriorated and she (like him) developed problems of drug addiction. In 1964, a final argument with Charles led to her being fired from the Raelettes. After recording a solo single on Charles' Tangerine label in 1964, she signed with Mercury Records, and released five singles on the label, mostly produced by Gene "Bowlegs" Miller. The first two singles on Mercury were released in 1965 ("Now The Hurts On You" and "Baby") and three followed two years later in 1967 ("Restless", "Nothin' But A Tramp" and "One Room Paradise"). Her final recordings were issued on the Sound Stage 7 label in 1969. She died in obscure circumstances in New York City in 1973, aged 38; most sources state that her death was the result of a drug overdose.

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