Throughout his life, Ray Robinson Charles (1930-2004) never really escaped the alternating cycle of success and failure, both personal and professional that seemed his fate since birth. He had a rocky start. At five, he witnessed the death of his brother, became blind at seven and an orphan at fifteen. But battling the odds seemed to fuel his genius; he was one of the first artists to fuse gospel and R&B. Still, the struggle took its toll; Charles developed a heroin addiction. Hackford stresses the impact Charles’ childhood had on his adult life in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards. This editing technique accelerates the movie’s pace; Ray’s quite long (178 minutes) but far from dreary. The film benefits from Charles role as ‘supervisor’ and it’s evident that he didn’t indulge in self-censorship; the singer’s dark side is clearly there for all to see from his drug habit to his adultery. While far from perfect in his personal life, Charles was a perfectionist in his work – he re-recorded some of his songs for this independent production (later widely distributed by Universal, and released in China by CAV Warner). Before dying of liver failure in 2004, Charles was able to sit through the first edit of the film to contemplate his own legend.
CAV Warner

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
April 2006 issue