Ray Charles: A Musical Genius for All Genres

NPR | By Ashley Kahn

Published June 11, 2004 at 12:00 AM EDT

American music legend Ray Charles died Thursday of complications from liver disease. He was 73. Blind since age 7, the man known as "The Genius" built a career that defied genre, lending his soulful, bluesy stylings to jazz, pop, country and R&B. Ashley Kahn has a remembrance.

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