The 45th anniversary of the attack on Ray Charles.

On this day 45 years ago, 28 February 1977. Soul legend Ray Charles was attacked on stage.

Ray Charles was performing at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles for a benefit concert for the community program Project Heavy when an audience member leapt onto the stage with a rope and attempted to strangle him.

Ray Charles fought the aggressor off until security aided him. Curiously, no complaint was ever filed and the authorities were not alerted. The attacker was a member of Project Heavy. The group decided they would handle the situation privately and his identity was not announced.

At that celebrity benefit concert , hundreds of people witnessed an attack on Ray Charles, the blind singer, by a man who jumped onstage and began choking him with a microphone cord. “Ray Charles will see and the Lord will come tonight,” the attacker yelled before security guards could wrest him away from Mr. Charles

Reports later speculated that the attacker was simply a fan overcome with emotions. However, witnesses claimed the man yelled out “Ray Charles will see and the Lord will come tonight,” while trying to strangle the music legend. Luckily, Charles did make it out scratch free and continued to perform later in the evening.