“Oh, Mary Ann, you know you sure look fine” are the opening lyrics of a song that Ray Charles wrote about Mary Ann Fisher. Ray composed this song, anticipating that when he returned to Louisville, Kentucky, she would go out on the road with him. Mary Ann’s years touring with Ray as his featured vocalist are just one chapter in the colorful life of her 66 years of singing blues and ballads. Mary Ann endured a traumatic childhood. She lost her father in a gambling dispute, was abandoned by her mother, lived in an orphanage, was passed around between relatives, and was sexually abused. When she came to Louisville at age 18, she started singing with a variety of local musicians. Mary Ann got the title “Songbird of the South” when she won a talent contest at the Lyric Theater. She traveled throughout the country with the Ray Charles Orchestra from 1955 to 1959, during the height of his R&B era. Ray nicknamed her “Fish,” and they had an intimate personal relationship, as well as a professional relationship, until the Raelettes joined the group. Tiring of the drug and sex scene she encountered on the road, Mary Ann amicably left Ray and pursued a solo career for nine years, based in New York and Los Angeles. Joe Louis, the ex-boxing champ, was her manager, booking her to perform with many R&B and jazz legends. During that time, she recorded several songs on the Fire, Seg-way, and Imperial labels. Mary Ann and Jimmy Scott had a brief relationship, while assisting each other’s careers. She returned to Louisville in 1967 to raise her adopted son and to continue performing. During her later years, she received many awards and tributes that culminated with her recording “Songbird of the South,” an album that was released in 2003, a year before she died.