Ray Charles: Man and Music - Updated Commemorative Edition published by Routledge, £15.99 ISBN 0415970431

The must-have complete Ray Charles story. Written by founding editor of Rolling Stone magazine and highly regarded rock journalist Michael Lydon, this book covers the life, loves and musical legacy of Ray Charles from childhood to death. It's been universally hailed as the definitive biography.

“Soul is a way of life, but it is always the hard way.” - Ray Charles

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If a life is merely the sum of its parts, then the story of Ray Charles might read as a tale of personal highs and lows behind a lengthy, award-winning career in the music business.

But for a man who synthesized his struggles, pain and personal darkness as effectively as he incorporated a myriad of musical styles-Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, Rock and Roll, Gospel, Country & Western -into his art, the story reads much differently, transformed from a sequence of events and accomplishments into a compelling and ultimately inspiring journey of a one-of-a-kind genius with a distinct vision…who, along the way, gave the world a new way to hear.

Ray is the never-before-told, musical biographical drama of American legend Ray Charles, brought to the big screen following a 15-year journey by award-winning filmmaker TAYLOR HACKFORD and featuring a remarkable performance from the multifaceted JAMIE FOXX.

Director Hackford (The Devil’s Advocate, Dolores Claiborne, An Officer and a Gentleman) - who, along with producing partner STUART BENJAMIN (La Bamba, The Long Walk Home, Everybody’s All-American), spent the last 15 years developing this story with Ray Charles - presents a well defined portrait of an artist who turned his personal encounters with darkness into a burning light.

The story of Ray – that of an impoverished, blind child of the segregated South who went on to break down social and artistic barriers and change the history of American music – is the quintessentially American story of a man’s fight to control his own destiny.

With Foxx assuming the title role in a performance of intensity, breadth and truth, Ray follows the most volatile period of Charles’ career - born in a poor town in Georgia, he went blind at the age of seven shortly after witnessing his younger brother’s accidental death.

Inspired by a fiercely independent mother who insisted he make his own way in the world, Charles found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. The real journey begins the moment this young, black, blind teenager courageously boards a Florida bus all alone and heads across the United States to hone his art in the happening Seattle jazz scene.

From Ray’s early struggles to be treated fairly and find his own path, to his discovery by Atlantic Records and subsequent meteoric rise to global fame, to his battles with addiction and his torrid love affairs, the journey of Ray leads not only forward but back to Ray’s youth. For, even as he becomes one of his generation’s greatest musical heroes, he is forced to come to terms with his brother’s death and the period in his life when he began to lose his vision—a time that had an indelible effect on Ray’s drive, emotions and immortal music.

Ray is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Taylor Hackford; screenplay by James L White, from a story by Hackford and White; and produced by Hackford, Stuart Benjamin, Howard Baldwin and Karen Baldwin.

Distributor:- UIP
Release Date:- 21st January 2005
Certificate:- 15
Running Time:- 2hrs 32 mins