To deny the genius of the late, great Ray Charles would be just argument for the sake of argument. Nevertheless, giving the guy three Grammys for being dead is just pointless…

You could be forgiven for thinking you had slept through last year and that Ray Charles didn’t actually die after all. He has even got his own movie out at the moment.

Why more people can’t be honoured for their contributions while they are alive is a mystery. Poor old Martin Scorsese will be receiving a Best Director Oscar for the next five years after he dies. Fat lot of use it will be to him then.

Give Ray Charles one posthumous Grammy, that’s a great idea. Something for his family to treasure and know that he’ll not be forgotten. But anything more than that is daft, not to mention a tad disturbing.

This is an alarming trend with the Americans, and one that Europeans have not fully repelled. 

Eva Cassidy is another ‘victim’. Having wannabe flower-power uni-students fawning all over her apparent greatness signifies a present cultural climate that’s bereft of imagination. 

Cassidy was not untalented, not at all.  Though never let it be said that dying is barrier to a great career. “Death…” as someone in a movie once said, “is only the beginning”.