Della Beatrice Howard Robinson is most widely known as the woman who spent more than two decades married to Ray Charles. Yet despite her connection to one of America’s most celebrated musicians, reliable public information about her own life remains limited.
This article focuses on what is actually documented — her marriage to Ray Charles, the three sons they raised together, what is known about the end of their relationship, and an honest look at what simply cannot be confirmed from available sources.
Who Della Beatrice Howard Robinson Is?
Robinson is identified in biographical sources and family records primarily as Ray Charles’s second wife and the mother of three of his sons. She did not maintain a significant independent public profile, which means information about her personal life outside the marriage is genuinely sparse.
It helps to place her correctly in Charles’s family history. His first marriage was to a woman named Eileen Williams, but that relationship was brief. Robinson is the second wife — and the one with whom Charles built a longer, more documented family life.
Some online sources make claims about her birth year, birthplace, career, and finances. Most of those details come from weakly supported entertainment biographies or aggregator websites. This article will not repeat claims that cannot be confirmed through more reliable sources.
How She and Ray Charles Met and Married?
According to biographical accounts, Charles and Robinson met in Texas in 1954. That detail appears in multiple secondary biographies, though it should be understood as “reported” rather than verified through primary records.
What has stronger corroboration is the marriage date. Multiple sources, including MyHeritage and IMDb, confirm they married on April 5, 1955. Encyclopedia.com also supports this date, making it the most reliably documented fact about Robinson’s relationship with Charles.
Secondary biographies mention that Charles called her “Bea,” a nickname that appears in accounts of their life together. This was Charles’s second marriage. His first, to Eileen Williams, had been short-lived before he and Robinson wed.
Their Three Sons
Robinson and Ray Charles had three sons together. Their names are consistent across multiple sources, including Encyclopedia.com, Wikipedia, and IMDb:
- Ray Charles Robinson Jr.
- David Robinson
- Robert Robinson
Secondary biographies commonly place the births across 1955, 1958, and 1960, though those specific years come from sources without strong primary corroboration. The names themselves are the more safely documented detail.
It’s worth being clear about one thing: Ray Charles acknowledged 12 children in total, with multiple women. Robinson’s three sons represent one branch of a much larger family. The article is specifically about the children from this marriage — not Charles’s full family tree.
The End of a 22-Year Marriage
The marriage between Robinson and Ray Charles lasted approximately 22 years. Encyclopedia.com supports 1977 as the year the divorce was finalized, making that the most reliable date available for the end of the marriage. Some sources report that Robinson filed in 1976, though the exact filing timeline is not fully established by any primary legal records available online.
Biographies of Ray Charles frequently note that his relationships with other women placed significant strain on the marriage. That detail is widely referenced in accounts of his personal life. His well-documented struggles with drug addiction and the constant demands of a major music career are also part of the broader context that biographers discuss when covering this period of his life.
Some entertainment biographies include specific claims about a divorce settlement — figures involving a house, cash, and ongoing monthly payments. Those details have not been confirmed through court records or authoritative sources, so they are not repeated here as fact.
Ray Charles and Why His Legacy Connects to Her Story
Ray Charles Robinson was one of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century. His work helped shape rhythm and blues, soul, gospel, jazz, and country music in ways that still echo through American music today.
He was born in 1930 in Georgia and lost his sight by age seven. Despite that, he became a pioneering recording artist, pianist, and songwriter whose career spanned decades. Songs like Georgia on My Mind, Hit the Road Jack, and I Got a Woman became cultural touchstones.
His personal life was as widely covered as his music. Biographies, documentaries, and the 2004 biographical film Ray — starring Jamie Foxx, who won an Academy Award for the role — brought renewed public attention to Charles’s life story, including his marriages and family. That film, and the continued interest in Charles as a historical figure, is part of why searches about Robinson continue to surface.
Charles died on June 10, 2004, at the age of 73. His legacy remains a significant part of American musical history, and that legacy is why his former wife’s name continues to appear in searches decades after their divorce.
What Is Not Publicly Known?
It is worth being straightforward about the limits of what can be confirmed about Robinson’s life.
Her birth year is listed differently across various online sources, with some citing 1928 and others 1929. Neither is confirmed by a reliable primary source. Her birthplace, occupation, and life after the divorce are similarly undocumented in any reputable public record that is available online.
Some websites describe her as a model or actress. That description appears on pages with no clear sourcing, and it should not be treated as established biography. Whether Robinson pursued any independent career before or after the marriage is not something the available evidence can answer.
Her life after the 1977 divorce — where she lived, whether she remarried, and her current circumstances — is not documented in any authoritative source reviewed for this article. Speculation on those points would not be responsible or fair to her.
For readers interested in well-sourced celebrity and public-figure profiles, GrowBusinessPoint covers biographical topics with careful attention to what is and isn’t confirmed.
A Honest Summary
Della Beatrice Howard Robinson’s place in public record is real but narrow. She was Ray Charles’s second wife for roughly 22 years, from 1955 to 1977. She is the mother of three of his sons — Ray Charles Robinson Jr., David Robinson, and Robert Robinson. Those are the facts that hold up across multiple credible sources.
Beyond that, the public record becomes thin. Robinson did not seek or maintain a public profile of her own, and the biographical details that appear on many websites are repeated from sources that lack strong corroboration.
That does not make her story unimportant. It simply means that writing about her responsibly requires being honest about what is known and what is not — rather than filling gaps with unverified claims dressed up as biography.
What is clear is that she was part of one of the most significant chapters in Ray Charles’s personal life, and the three sons she raised with him are a lasting part of his family history.
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