Maya Angelou

Author and poet Maya Angelou shares her castaway choices with Michael Parkinson.

Maya Angelou inherited her love of music from her grandmother, who used to sing to her as a child at the family home in the southern United States.

The first volume of her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was a bestseller, describing her life as singer, actress, stripper, dancer and writer.

Maya looks back on a remarkable career and chooses eight tracks she would take to the mythical island.

DISC ONE: How Great Thou Art - Mahalia Jackson
DISC TWO: A Quiet Place - Max Roach
DISC THREE: Killing Me Softly (With His Song) - Roberta Flack
DISC FOUR: I Just Called To Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder
DISC FIVE: East Of The Sun - Sarah Vaughan
DISC SIX: One For The Road - Frank Sinatra
DISC SEVEN: Summertime - George Gershwin
DISC EIGHT: Georgia On My Mind - Ray Charles

BOOK CHOICE: Negro Caravan - selected and edited by Sterling Brown, Arthur P Davis and Uylsses Lee
LUXURY CHOICE: The Kumasi Market painting by John T. Biggers
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: How Great Thou Art - Mahalia Jackson

Sir Michael Parkinson was the host of Desert Island Discs from 1986 - 1988.

Desert Island Discs was created by Roy Plomley.

Producer: Ray Abbott

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1987.