The artist Elton John once called his idol, but he hadn’t “made a decent record for about five years”

In a 1973 interview, Elton John criticised Ray Charles’s recent albums, saying Charles had not made “a decent record” in about five years. The remark stands out because John had also called Charles one of his idols and later praised him as one of the greatest performers and voices of all time.

The article argues that Charles’s legacy rests on landmark songs such as ‘Georgia on My Mind’, ‘I Got a Woman’ and ‘What’d I Say’, regardless of the quality of his later records or their artwork. It also notes that John sang with Charles on ‘Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word’ for Charles’s final album, *Genius Loves Company*, in 2004, and wonders whether John ever apologised for his earlier criticism.