Ray Charles did not lose his sight until he was about seven years old. Years later, doctors suggested that juvenile glaucoma had caused his blindness. But Charles always maintained that his visual impairment never hindered his career in any way. ... I lost my sight when I was seven.

Could Ray Charles see anything?

Although the young Ray Charles—born Ray Charles Robinson—began to lose his sight at the age of 5, not long after witnessing his brother's drowning, his eventual blindness was medical, not traumatic. At the age of 7, he became completely blind when his right eye was removed due to intense pain.

Why did Ray Charles hug himself?

I met Ray Charles in 1975, when he agreed to let me ghostwrite his autobiography. He was vulgar, refined, funny, sexy, spontaneous, outlandish, brave, brutal, tender, blue, ecstatic. He would wrap his arms around his torso, hugging himself in a grand gesture of self-affirmation.