Goofs

When playing the piano with the orchestra, Ray's piano alternates from Steinway to Hohner, and the name is on both the side and the front.

When Ray is playing chess near the end of the film, he takes the white queen off the board and lays it on its side. Then the queen is back where it was, and on the third shot, the board is set up for a new game.

When Ray and Ahmet are talking about doing a session in New York, Ahmet is clean-shaven. The next day, when the session was to take place, Ahmet has a beard and mustache.

When Ray is getting on the bus in the beginning of the film to go to Seattle, Ray extends his arm fully with the ticket in hand for the bus driver. In the next shot, his arm is to his side. In the next shot, its up and extended again

When Marjorie leaves Ray, she has two suitcases in her hands, then she throws one of the suitcases on the floor, walks through the door, and never comes back for the other suitcase.

The scene where Charles is met by a group of protesters outside the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia is a fabrication. Charles canceled his appearance after receiving a telegram from students at a local black college. The promoter successfully sued Charles for breach of contract, but he was never banned from the state of Georgia. When the Georgia state legislature honored Ray Charles in 1979, they didn't apologized for banning him because he was never banned. In the commentary, it is stated that this event actually happened, but those who looked into Georgia's legislature found no record that he was banned, just sued, and later they adopted as their state song "Georgia" - by Ray Charles.

They show Ray his new recording studio, which uses fluorescent lighting throughout. Fluorescent lighting is generally not used in recording studios as it can cause a hum in recordings.

After Ray gets the phone call about Margie's death, his wife says that she knows about their baby Charles Wayne and states that he's 3 years old. In fact, Charles Wayne was born in 1959 and Margie died in 1973 when their son was 13 years old.

A scene that takes place in 1965 shows Charles performing at a concert in Montreal and then being arrested for heroin possession at Boston's Logan Airport, after flying back to the U.S. with his entourage. This actually happened in 1964, not 1965 as depicted in the film.

When Ray is frying chicken, he gives "Q" a piece straight from the frying pan. "Q" instantly takes a bite, without blowing or insinuating the chicken is hot in any way. Real fried chicken straight from a hot pan would be impossible to eat instantly.

At the 1965 Newport Jazz Festival, Quincy is wearing "Ray Bans" sunglasses bearing the familiar 1990 Ray Bans logo on the corner of one lens.

The 737-400 aircraft shown landing after Ray Charles returns from Europe was not introduced until the 1980s.

When the DJ is playing I've Got A Woman, the record label is red. However, Atlantic records was still using yellow labels on their 45s until # 1083, and this record was # 1050. A red label would be a reissue.

When Ray's son is watching Bandstand (1958) on the television while Ray is getting ready to leave for another concert, a digital counter can be seen on the television screen, clearly indicating that an archive film clip is being broadcast.

In a scene set in 1954, Ray and the guys from Atlantic Records pull up in front of a theater in a 1956 Ford taxicab.

Around 1 hour and 27 minutes Ray Charles starts improvising to fulfill the time of a contract, he starts using an electric organ and moves to a traditional piano but the electric organ can still be heard when he is playing the piano.

In the opening credits we hear Ray playing a Wurlitzer Electric Piano (later mentioned and shown in the film) but we see a close up of a Fender Rhodes Electric Piano, which sounds very different.

In the extended version, after Ray plays a country song for an audience for the first time and is discussing the lighting with Joe Adams, a "Cut!" can be heard at the end of the scene and (interestingly) is even shown on the subtitles.

When they show the state of Georgia honoring Ray at the state capitol building, it's really the House of Representatives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, not Georgia.

The film shows an exterior shot of Saenger theater in Alabama when Ray is suppose to be performing in Saint Louis, MO.

When Ray is recording "Georgia on My Mind," the conductor is conducting the wrong beats in one take.

When Ahmet suggests that Ray try playing "Mess Around," which Ahmet has just written, Ahmet describes it as being in the key of G, but Ray then plays it in E-flat.