Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder is the
stage name of
Steveland Morris (born
May 13,
1950 as
Steveland Judkins[Stevie Wonder's mother's authorized biography, Blind Faith: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway, Stevie Wonder's Mother (2002, Simon and Schuster) states that his surname was legally changed to Morris, "an old family name," when he signed with Motown in 1961.]), an
American singer,
songwriter,
record producer,
musician, and
social activist. Wonder has recorded more than 30 Top 10 hits, won 21
Grammy Awards
[Search for "Stevie Wonder" at Grammy.com] (a record for a solo artist), also one for lifetime achievement, he has won an
Oscar for Best Song and been inducted into both the
Rock and Roll and
Songwriters halls of fame.
Blind from infancy, Wonder signed with
Motown Records as an
adolescent, and continues to perform and record for the label to this day. He has become one of the most successful and well-known artists in the world, with nine U.S. number-one hits to his name and album sales totaling more than 100 million units. Wonder has recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles, and writes and produces songs for many of his labelmates and outside artists as well. A multi-instrumentalist, Wonder plays the
drums,
congas,
bass guitar,
organ and most famously the
piano,
keyboards and
harmonica. Critics and colleagues have referred to the quality of Wonder's work and its versatility as being indicative of musical
genius.
Early life
Steveland Judkins was
born prematurely in
Saginaw,
Michigan to
Lula Mae Hardaway[ "Stevie Wonder". History-of-rock.com.]. It is thought that he received
excessive oxygen levels in his
incubator which led to
retinopathy of prematurity, a destructive ocular disorder affecting the
retina, characterized by abnormal growth of blood vessels, scarring, and sometimes
retinal detachment. Common among other prematurely born children in the 1940s and 50s, this is considered to be the ultimate cause of his blindness.
Hardaway instructed her other children (there would eventually be five boys and one girl in the home) to treat Steveland the same as any other child, and not to tease or over-assist him because of his blindness. As a result, Steveland had a balanced childhood. The family moved to
Detroit,
Michigan and Steveland began singing and playing instruments in church at an early age. He in particular took to the piano, congas, and
harmonica at an early age.
Early career, 1962-1971
In
1962, at the age of 11, Steveland Morris was introduced to
Ronnie White of the popular Motown act
The Miracles. White brought Morris and his mother to
Motown Records. Impressed by the young musician, Motown CEO
Berry Gordy signed Morris to Motown's
Tamla label as
Little Stevie Wonder.
At the age of 13, Little Stevie Wonder had his first major hit, "
Fingertips (Pt. 2)", a
1963 single taken from a live recording of a
Motortown Revue performance. The song, featuring Wonder on vocals, congas, and harmonica, and a young
Marvin Gaye on drums, was a #1 hit on the US pop charts and launched him into the public consciousness. Dropping the "Little" from his moniker, Wonder went on to have a number of other hits during the mid-
1960s, including "
Uptight (Everything's Alright)", "With a Child's Heart", and "
Blowin' in the Wind", a
Bob Dylan cover which was one of the first songs to reflect Wonder's social consciousness. He also began to work in the Motown songwriting department, composing songs both for himself and his labelmates.
By
1970, Wonder had scored more major hits, including "
I Was Made to Love Her", "
For Once in My Life", "
My Cherie Amour", and "
Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)". Besides being one of the first songs on which Wonder serves as both songwriter and producer, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" is one of the main showcases for his backup group
Wonderlove, a trio which included at various times
Minnie Riperton,
Deniece Williams,
Lynda Laurence, and
Syreeta Wright, whom Wonder married on
September 14,
1970. Wonder and Wright divorced eighteen months later, but they continued to collaborate on musical projects.
Besides
Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder was one of the few Motown stars to contest the label's factory-like operation methods: artists, songwriters, and producers were usually kept in specialized collectives with little or no overlap, and artists had no creative control. Wonder argued with Berry Gordy over creative control a number of times. As a compromise, Motown released an album under the name "Eivets Rednow" (Stevie Wonder backwards). Arguments continued and, Wonder allowed his Motown contract to expire, and he left the label on his twenty-first birthday in
1971. His final album before his departure was
Where I'm Coming From, which Gordy had strongly fought against releasing.
Classic period, 1972-1976
Wonder independently recorded and released two albums, which he used as a bargaining tool while negotiating with Motown. Eventually, the label agreed to his demands for full creative control and the rights to his own songs, and Wonder returned to Motown in March 1972 with
Music of My Mind, an album which is considered a classic of the era. Unlike most previous artist LPs on Motown, which usually consisted of a collection of singles,
b-sides, and covers,
Music of My Mind was an actual LP, a full-length artistic statement, and began a string of five albums released over a period of less than five years, that make up what is generally considered Stevie Wonder's classic period.
October 1972's
Talking Book featured the #1 pop and R&B hit "
Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive examples of the sound of the
clavinet. Featuring a rocking groove that was partly inspired by and then covered by rock guitarist
Jeff Beck, "Superstition" gained Wonder an additional audience on rock radio stations. That audience was further exposed to Wonder when he opened for
The Rolling Stones on their much-heralded 1972 U.S. tour. Wonder's pop following was not neglected, however, as "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" followed to #1 on the pop charts and has been a staple love song for the decades since. Between them the songs won three Grammy Awards.
Wonder's critical and popular acclaim only increased less than a year later, in August 1973, when Wonder released what is often called his best album,
Innervisions. Political considerations were brought into greater focus than ever before, with the driving, percolating "
Higher Ground" (#4 on the pop charts) followed by the memorable epic "
Living for the City" (#8), which found Wonder more evocatively describing a time and place in American life than he would anywhere else in his career. Popular ballads such as "Golden Lady" and "All in Love is Fair" were also present, in a mixture of moods that nevertheless held together as a unified whole. The album generated three more Grammy Awards, including
Album of the Year.
On
August 6,
1973, just days after the release of
Innervisions, Wonder was in a serious
automobile accident while on tour, when a log from a truck went through a passenger window and struck him in the head. This left him in a
coma for a while and resulted in a permanent loss of his sense of
smell.
Despite the setback, Wonder eventually recovered all of his musical facilities, and reappeared in concert at
Madison Square Garden in March 1974 in a performance that highlighted both up-tempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as "Living for the City". The album
Fulfillingness' First Finale then appeared in July 1974 with a more personal, introspective outlook, but nevertheless sent two hits high on the pop charts. The Album of the Year was again one of three Grammys won.
On
October 5,
1975, Wonder performed the historical
Wonder Dream Concert in
Kingston, Jamaica, a benefit concert for the
Jamaican Institute for the Blind. Along with Wonder
Bob Marley,
Peter Tosh and
Bunny Wailer, the three original "
Wailers", performed together for the last time.
Wonder then focused his attentions on what he intended as his
magnum opus, the
double album-with-extra-
EP Songs in the Key of Life, released in September 1976. Sprawling in style, unlimited in ambition, and sometimes lyrically difficult to fathom, the album was hard for some listeners to fully assimilate. Two tracks fairly jumped out of the radio with energy, however, becoming the #1 hits "
I Wish" and "
Sir Duke". "
Isn't She Lovely" was a future
wedding and
bar mitzvah fixture, while songs such as "Love's in Need of Love Today" (which years later Wonder would perform at the post-
September 11 America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon) and the
classical "Village Ghetto Land" reflected a far more pensive mood. "Pastime Paradise" would become an interpolation for
Coolio's "
Gangsta's Paradise" (one of the most popular hits of the 1990s). Yet again Wonder was awarded Album of the Year, along with two other Grammys.
Possibly exhausted by this concentrated and sustained level of creativity, Wonder was not heard from again for three years. Nevertheless his output during this stretch had left its mark: the 1983
Rolling Stone Record Guide said that these albums "pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade";
Rolling Stone's 2003 list of
the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included four of the five, with three in the top 90; while in 2005
Kanye West said of his own work, "I'm not trying to compete with what's out there now. I'm really trying to compete with
Innervisions and
Songs in the Key of Life. It sounds musically blasphemous to say something like that, but why not set that as your bar?"
[Jones, Steve (Aug 21, 2005). "West hopes to register with musical daring". USA Today. ]Later career, 1979-present
When Wonder did return, it was with a
soundtrack album for the never-finished
film Journey through the Secret Life of Plants (1979). Mostly instrumental, the album was panned at the time of its release but has come to be regarded by some critics as an unusual classic.
Hotter than July (
1980) became Wonder's first platinum selling album, and its single "
Happy Birthday" was a successful vehicle for his campaign to establish Dr.
Martin Luther King's birthday as a
national holiday. The album also included "Master Blaster (Jammin')", his tribute to
Bob Marley, and the sentimental ballad, "Lately", which was later covered by 1990s
R&B act
Jodeci.
In
1982, Wonder released a retrospective of his '70s work with
Original Musiquarium and included three more hit singles in his catalogue, including the ten-minute
funk classic "Do I Do" (which included legendary jazz trumpeter
Dizzy Gillespie), "That Girl" (one of the year's biggest singles to chart on the
R&B side) and "Ribbon in the Sky", one of his many classic compositions. Wonder also gained a #1 hit that year in collaboration with
Paul McCartney in their paean to racial harmony, "
Ebony and Ivory".
1984 saw the release of Wonder's soundtrack album for
The Woman in Red. The lead single, "
I Just Called to Say I Love You", was a #1 pop and R&B hit in the US; it is biggest-selling single ever in the
United Kingdom. It was placed 13th in the
all-time list of best-selling singles in the UK issued in
2002, and it won an
Academy Award for "Best Song" in 1985. The following year's
In Square Circle featured the #1 pop hit "Part-Time Lover". He was also featured in
Chaka Khan's cover of
Prince's "I Feel For You", alongside
Melle Mel, playing his signature harmonica, which was a huge hit. In roughly the same period he was also featured on harmonica on
Eurythmics' single, "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)."
By 1985 Stevie Wonder was an American icon, the subject of good-humored jokes about blindness and affectionately impersonated by
Eddie Murphy on
Saturday Night Live. Thus it was only natural that he was in a featured duet with
Bruce Springsteen on the all-star charity single for African famine relief, "
We Are the World", and that he was part of another charity single the following year, the AIDS-targeted "
That's What Friends Are For".
After
1987's
Characters LP, Wonder continued to release new material, albeit at a slower pace. He recorded a soundtrack album for
Spike Lee's film
Jungle Fever in
1991, and released both
Conversation Peace and the live album
Natural Wonder during the same decade. In December
1999, Wonder announced that he was interested in pursuing an intraocular retinal prosthesis to partially restore his sight. [
1]
Wonder's first new album in ten years,
A Time to Love, was released on
October 18,
2005, after having been pushed back from first a May, and then a June release. The album was released electronically on
September 27, 2005, exclusively on
Apple's iTunes Music Store; see External links below. The first single, "So What the Fuss", was released in April and features Prince on
guitar and background vocals from
En Vogue. A second single, "From the Bottom of My Heart" is a current hit on adult-contemporary
R&B radio. The album also features a duet with
India Arie on the title track "A Time to Love".
Wonder performed at the pre-game show for
Super Bowl XL in Detroit in early 2006, singing various hit singles (with his four-year-old son on drums) and accompanying Aretha Franklin during "
The Star Spangled Banner".
In March 2006, Wonder received new national exposure on the top-rated
American Idol television program. Each of 12 contestants were required to sing one of his songs, after having met and received guidance from him. (Some of the contestants idolized Wonder, while others showed little familiarity with his work.) Wonder also performed "My Love Is on Fire" live on the show itself. Most recently, in June 2006, Stevie Wonder will make a guest appearance on
Busta Rhymes' new album,
The Big Bang on the track "Been through the Storm" he sings the refrain and plays the piano on the
Dr. Dre and
Sha Money XL produced track.
Stevie Wonder also performed at the Nation's Capital's 2006 "A Capital Fourth" celebration, which was hosted by actor star
Jason Alexander.
Producer and songwriter for others
Besides creating his own material, Stevie Wonder has written and produced a number of songs for other artists. Among his most significant compositions or co-compositions are "
The Tears of a Clown" by
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, "It's a Shame" by
The Spinners, " "I Can't Help It" by
Michael Jackson, "Tell Me Something Good" by
Rufus &
Chaka Kahn, and "You Are My Heaven" by
Roberta Flack &
Donny Hathaway. He has also collaborated with
Quincy Jones,
Barbra Streisand,
Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds,
B.B. King,
The Supremes,
The Temptations,
Dionne Warwick,
Julio Iglesias, and former
Musical Youth lead singer Dennis Seaton.
Impact
Wonder's success as a socially conscious musical performer was significantly influential to both
R&B and
pop music. Among the musicians and performers who list Wonder as one of their major influences are
Mariah Carey,
Mary J. Blige,
Kanye West,
George Michael,
Jermaine Jackson,
Michael Jackson,
Nik Kershaw,
India.Arie,
Musiq Soulchild,
Alicia Keys,
John Legend,
Jay Kay,
Donell Jones and the members of Jodeci,
Maroon 5,
the Neptunes, and
Dru Hill Babyface,
Prince,
Beyonce KnowlesWonder's songs are renowned for being hard and demanding to sing. There are many 9th, 11th and 13th chords. His melodies make abrupt, unpredictable changes. His songs are
melismatic, meaning that a syllable of a word is sung over different notes. Such qualities allow only skilled singers to show the skills. In the American Idol Hollywood Performances, judge Randy Jackson repeatedly stated the difficulty of Wonder's songs.
Personal life
Wonder has seven children. His last child, Mandla Kadjay Carl Steveland Morris, was born on
May 13,
2005, and is the second child of Wonder and his current wife, fashion designer Kai Milla Morris. He is an active supporter of the United States
Democratic Party.
US and UK Top Ten singles
Twenty-six of Stevie Wonder's singles, listed below, reached the Top Ten in either the
United States or the
United Kingdom.
* 1963: "
Fingertips - Part 2" (US #1)
* 1965: "
Uptight (Everything's Alright)" (US #3)
* 1966: "
Blowin' in the Wind" (US #9)
* 1966: "
A Place in the Sun" (US #9)
* 1967: "
I Was Made to Love Her"(US #2)
* 1968: "
For Once in My Life" (US #2)
* 1968: "
Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" (US #9)
* 1969: "
My Cherie Amour" (US #4)
* 1969: "
Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" (US #7)
* 1970: "
Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" (US #3)
* 1970: "
Heaven Help Us All" (US #9)
* 1971: "
If You Really Love Me" (US #8)
* 1972: "
Superstition" (US #1)
* 1973: "
You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (US #1)
* 1973: "
Higher Ground" (US #4)
* 1974: "
Living for the City" (US #8)
* 1974: "
You Haven't Done Nothin'" (with
The Jackson 5) (US #1)
* 1974: "
Boogie On Reggae Woman" (US #3)
* 1977: "
I Wish" (US #1)
* 1977: "
Sir Duke" (US #1)
* 1979: "
Send One Your Love" (US #4)
* 1980: "
Master Blaster (Jammin)" (US #5)
* 1982: "
Ebony and Ivory" (duet with
Paul McCartney) (US #1)
* 1982: "
That Girl" (US #4)
* 1984: "
I Just Called to Say I Love You" (US #1, UK #1)
* 1985: "
Part-Time Lover" (US #1, UK #3)
* 1985: "
Go Home" (US #10)
Top Ten US and UK Albums
Twelve of Stevie Wonder's albums, listed below, reached the Top Ten in either the
United States or the
United Kingdom.
* 1963:
Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius (US #1)
* 1972:
Talking Book (US #3)
* 1973:
Innervisions (US #4, UK #8)
* 1974:
Fulfillingness' First Finale (US #1, UK #5)
* 1976:
Songs in the Key of Life (US #1, UK #2)
* 1979:
Journey through the Secret Life of Plants Soundtrack (US #4, UK #8)
* 1980:
Hotter than July (US #3, UK #2)
* 1982:
Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium (US #4, UK #8)
* 1984:
The Woman in Red Soundtrack (US #4, UK #2)
* 1985:
In Square Circle (US #5, UK #5)
* 1995:
Conversation Peace (UK #8)
* 2005:
A Time to Love (US #5)
Wonder has received 21
Grammy Awards
[Search for "Stevie Wonder" at Grammy.com]:
| Year ¦¦ Award> | Title |
|---|
| 1973 | Best Rhythm & Blues Song | "Superstition" |
| 1973 | Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male | "Superstition" |
| 1973 | Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male | "You are the Sunshine of My Life" |
| 1973 | Album of the Year | Innervisions |
| 1974 | Best Rhythm & Blues Song | "Living for the City" |
| 1974 | Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male | "Boogie On Reggae Woman" |
| 1974 | Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male | Fulfillingness' First Finale |
| 1974 | Album of the Year | Fulfillingness' First Finale |
| 1976 | Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male | "I Wish" |
| 1976 | Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male | Songs in the Key of Life |
| 1976 | Best Producer of the Year | N/A |
| 1976 | Album of the Year | Songs in the Key of Life |
| 1985 | Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male | In Square Circle |
| 1986 | Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal
(awarded to Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Wonder) | "That's What Friends are For" |
| 1995 | Best Rhythm & Blues Song | "For Your Love" |
| 1995 | Best Male R&B Vocal Performance | "For Your Love" |
| 1998 | Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)
(awarded to Herbie Hancock, Robert Sadin, and Wonder) | "St. Louis Blues" |
| 1998 | Best Male R&B Vocal Performance | "St. Louis Blues" |
| 2002 | Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
(awarded to Wonder and Take 6) | "Love's in Need of Love Today" |
| 2005 | Best Male Pop Vocal Performance | "From the Bottom of My Heart" |
| 2005 | Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
(awarded to Beyoncé and Wonder) | "So Amazing" |
Wonder has also received an
Academy Award for Best Song for "
I Just Called to Say I Love You" from
The Woman in Red. In
1989, Wonder was inducted to the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is also an inductee to the
Songwriters Hall of Fame. Wonder received the
Polar Music Prize and
Kennedy Center Honors in
1999. In 2002, he was presented with the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award at UCLA's Spring Sing. He was awarded the
Billboard Music Award for the Century Award in
2004, and was one the first inductees into the
Michigan Walk of Fame.
*
Best selling music artists *
List of number-one hits (United States)*
List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)*
www.steviewonder.net Official Stevie Wonder Website
*
A World of Wonder - steviewonder.org.uk*
Photo archive of Stevie Wonder by Chris Walter, from the 1960s to present day.*
OOM Gallery - Photographs of Stevie Wonder by
Pogus Caesar, from exhibition Muzik Kinda Sweet (1989)
*
Stevie Wonder Lyrics
