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Another chance to hear Stuart Maconie's profile of the man known to millions as 'The Genius'.

Ray Charles was a man of many talents - a towering musician, a free-lover and free thinker, a superb chess player, an infamously tough boss and fierce competitor. He had his critics - the church, for one, railed against Ray's gospel inspired soul, branding it suggestive and vulgar - but he remained unstoppable. During a career spanning five decades, he remained in complete control over his life and music, producing an outstanding body of work across a dizzying array of genres.

This examination is a no-holds-barred account of the turbulent life and work of a musical icon, from his poverty stricken childhood in the Southern States of America to the onset of blindness as a child, through his struggle against racial prejudice and drug addiction.

This first episode explores his early life in Florida, his musical influences and his long journey from obscurity to his breakthrough as a mainstream star in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Featuring contributions from band members, Atlantic Records founders Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun, Ray's biographer Michael Lydon and Ray Charles.

This series first aired on Radio 2 in the summer of 2000.