Impeccably researched biopic

Rating: 10/10 (22 February 2007)

Ray Charles was an unknown quantity in the UK till he made Swanee River about 1957-he also made My Bonnie both of which were made by Tony Sheridan & the Beatles in Germany-but it wasn't till 1959 that he crossed over to the U S pop charts with What'd I say-a song which has been made by over 200 artists since.I think the first UK hits began around the time he signed with ABC Paramount but his legend is such that it probably seems unbelievable nowadays that all those songs made famous in cover versions by Elvis or Eddie Cochran or Bobby Darin never did anything for him in this country. Not only did Ray Charles create a market for rhythm'n'blues but also for country music by 1962. Pity the film never touched on those great Beatles songs he covered one of which was Yesterday. And when McCartney wrote this song he had no idea what the melody was in his mind when he woke up. But listen to Georgia on my mind-its not a million miles away from the song and very likely that McCartney had dreamt of this song. There's many great moments-the way the records began selling slowly at first then hitting the pop charts in 1959 after which came 3 No.I singles. Hit the road Jack even had an answer version by a group of black girls who sounded like the Raelets (the Chantels) and the former name of the Raelets -the Cookies-was resurrected in the 60s by a different group Possibly the oddest song Charles ever recorded was a version of I can see clearly now-he had a sense of humour!