MUMBAI: The Unites States Postal service is to release a commemorative stamp of music legend Ray Charles as a part of its Music Icon series. The late Blues and R&B singer joins the ranks of other renowned music legends including country singer Johnny Cash and Tejano guitarist-singer Lydia Mendoza, who have also been previously honoured with the accolade.

Two events for unveiling the stamp will take place on what would have been the singer’s 83rd birthday- one at Los Angeles’ Grammy Museum and the other at the Morehouse College's Ray Charles Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia. As part of the event, Chaka Khan will perform at the Grammy Museum event and Ashanti at the Atlanta venue.

Art work for the ‘Forever’ stamp is said to be based on an iconic photograph taken by Yves Carrere, which also graced the cover of his ‘The Best of Ray Charles’ album. To mark the occasion, Concord Records will release a ‘Ray Charles Forever’ CD/DVD collection on 24 September. The special edition CD will feature an unreleased version of ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’ along with several other tracks like ‘Ring of Fire’, ‘Till There Was You’, ‘Imagine’ and ‘Song For You’.

The special DVD edition will also include interviews from Norman Seeffe’s ‘The Session Project’ and BBC’s Live in London and several live performances.