Stevie Wonder

Early life
Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1950; being the third of six children to
Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. Owing to his being born six weeks premature, the
blood vessels at the back of his eyes had not yet reached the front and their aborted growth
caused the retinas to detach. The medical term for this condition is retinopathy of prematurity,
or ROP, and while it may have been exacerbated by the oxygen pumped into his incubator,
this was not the primary cause of his blindness.

When Stevie Wonder was four, his mother left his father and moved herself and her children
to Detroit. She changed her name back to Lula Hardaway and later changed her son's surname
to Morris, partly because of relatives. Morris has remained Stevie Wonder's legal name ever
since. He began playing instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica, drums and
bass. During childhood he was active in his church choir.

Discovery and early Motown recordings

Ronnie White of The Miracles gives credit to his brother Gerald White for persistently
nagging him to come to his friend's house in 1961 to check out Stevie Wonder. Afterward,
White brought Wonder and his mother to Motown Records. Impressed by the young
musician, Motown CEO Berry Gordy signed Wonder to Motown's Tamla label with the name
Little Stevie Wonder.[1] Before signing, producer Clarence Paul gave Wonder his trademark
name after stating "we can't keep calling him the eighth wonder of the world". He then
recorded the regional Detroit single, "I Call It Pretty Music, But the Old People Call It the
Blues", which was released on Tamla in late 1961. Wonder released his first two albums, The
Jazz Soul of Little Stevie and Tribute to Uncle Ray, in 1962, to little success.

Music career
Early success: 1963–71

By age 13, Wonder had a major hit, "Fingertips (Pt. 2)", a 1963 single taken from a live
recording of a Motor Town Revue performance, issued on the album, Recorded Live: The 12
Year Old Genius. The song, featuring Wonder on vocals, bongos, and harmonica, and a young
Marvin Gaye on drums, was a #1 hit on the U.S. pop and R&B charts and launched him into
the public consciousness.

In 1964, Stevie Wonder made his film debut in Muscle Beach Party as himself, credited as
"Little Stevie Wonder". He returned in the sequel released five months later, Bikini Beach. He
performed on-screen in both films, singing "Happy Street," and "Happy Feelin' (Dance and
Shout)," respectively.
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, co-sung by his mentor, producer Clarence Paul. He also began
to work in the Motown songwriting department, composing songs both for himself and his
label mates, including "Tears of a Clown", a number one hit performed by Smokey Robinson
& the Miracles.

In 1968 he recorded an album of instrumental soul/jazz tracks, mostly harmonica solos, under
the pseudonym (and title) Eivets Rednow, which is "Stevie Wonder" spelled backwards. The
album failed to get much attention, and its only single, a cover of "Alfie", only reached
number 66 on the U.S. Pop charts and number 11 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts.
Nonetheless, he managed to score several hits between 1968 and 1970 such as "I Was Made
to Love Her"; "For Once in My Life" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". In
September 1970, at the age of 20, Wonder married Syreeta Wright, a former company
secretary for Motown and songwriter. For his next album known as Where I'm Coming From,
his newly-wed wife Syreeta gave him a helping hand with the writing and producing aspects,
with the permission of Gordy. The album flopped in the charts. Reaching his twenty-first
birthday on May 21, 1971, he allowed his Motown contract to expire.

In 1970, Wonder co-wrote, and played numerous instruments on, the hit "It's a Shame" for
fellow Motown act The Spinners. His contribution was meant to be a showcase of his talent
and thus a weapon in his on-going negotiations with Gordy about creative autonomy.

Classic period: 1972–76

Wonder independently recorded 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; the 120-page contract shattered precedent at Motown and
additionally gave Wonder a much higher royalty rate. Wonder returned to Motown in March
1972 with Music of My Mind. 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 with songs flowing together thematically. Wonder's lyrics dealt
with social, political, and mystical themes as well as standard romantic ones, while musically
Wonder began exploring overdubbing and recording most of the instrumental parts himself.
This started the so-called "classic period" of Wonder's career during the 1970s. Music of My
Mind marked the beginning of a long collaboration with synthesiser pioneers Tonto's
Expanding Head Band (Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil)

Released in the fall of 1972, Talking Book featured the number-one hit "Superstition", which
is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner clavinet
keyboard. The song, originally intended for rock guitarist Jeff Beck, features a rocking groove
that garnered Wonder an additional audience on rock radio stations. Talking Book also
featured "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", which also peaked at number-one. During the
same time as the album's release, Stevie Wonder began touring with the Rolling Stones to
reach a wider audience, and to allieviate the negative effects from pigeon holing as a result of
being an R&B artist in America. Wonder's touring with The Rolling Stones on their 1972
American Tour was also a factor behind the success of both "Superstition" and "You Are the
Sunshine of My Life". Between them, the two songs won three Grammy Awards. On an
episode of the children's television show Sesame Street that aired in April 1973, Wonder and
his band performed "Superstition", as well as an original song called "Sesame Street Song",
which demonstrated his abilities with the "talk box".

Political considerations were brought into greater focus than ever before on his next album,
Innervisions, released in 1973. The album featured "Higher Ground" (#4 on the pop charts) as
well as the trenchant "Living for the City" (#8). Both songs reached number 1 on the R&B
charts. 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. Innervisions generated
three more Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album is ranked #23 on
Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Wonder had become the most
influential and acclaimed black musician of the early 1970s.

On August 6, 1973, Wonder was in a serious automobile accident while on tour in North
Carolina, when a car he was riding in rear-ended a flatbed truck, sliding under the back of the
truck causing the bed to crash through the windshield, striking Wonder in the head. This left
him in a coma for four days and resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell and a temporary
loss of sense of taste.

Despite the setback Wonder eventually recovered all of his musical faculties, and re-appeared
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 appeared in July 1974 and set two hits high
on the pop charts: the #1 "You Haven't Done Nothin'" (a political protest song aimed at
Richard Nixon) and the Top Ten "Boogie On Reggae Woman". The Album of the Year was
again one of three Grammys won.

The same year Wonder took part in a Los Angeles jam session which would become known
by the bootleg album A Toot and a Snore in '74, likely the only known post-Beatles recording
of John Lennon and Paul McCartney playing together. He also co-wrote and produced the
Syreeta Wright album Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta.

On October 4, 1975, Wonder performed at the historical "Wonder Dream Concert" in

Kingston, Jamaica, a Jamaican Institute for the Blind benefit concert. Along with Wonder, the
three original Wailers — Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer — performed together
for the last time.

By 1975, in his 25th year, Stevie Wonder had won two consecutive Grammy Awards: in 1974
for Innervisions and in 1975 for Fulfillingness' First Finale. The following year, singer
songwriter Paul Simon won the Grammy for Album of the Year for Still Crazy After All
These Years. In his acceptance speech, Simon jokingly thanked Stevie Wonder for not
releasing an album that year, a quip that proved prophetic.

The double album-with-extra-EP Songs in the Key of Life, was released in September 1976.
Sprawling in style, unlimited in ambition, and sometimes lyrically difficult to fathom, the
album was hard for some listeners to assimilate, yet is regarded by many as Wonder's
crowning achievement and one of the most recognisable and accomplished albums in pop
music history. The album became the first of an American artist to debut straight at #1 in the
Billboard charts, where it remained for 14 non-consecutive weeks. Two tracks, became #1
Pop/R&B hits "I Wish" and "Sir Duke". The baby-celebratory "Isn't She Lovely" was written
about his newborn daughter Aisha, while songs such as "Love's in Need of Love Today"
(which years later Wonder would perform at the post-September 11, 2001 America: A Tribute
to Heroes telethon) and "Village Ghetto Land" reflected a far more pensive mood. Songs in
the Key of Life won Album of the Year and two other Grammies. The album ranks 56th on
Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

After such a concentrated and sustained level of creativity, Wonder stopped recording for
three years, releasing only the 3 LP Looking Back, an anthology of his first Motown period.
The albums Wonder released during this period were very influential on the music world: 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 Magazine'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?"

Commercial period: 1979–90

It was in Wonder's next phase that he began to commercially reap the rewards of his
legendary classic period. The '80s saw Wonder scoring his biggest hits and reaching an
unprecedented level of fame evidenced by increased album sales, charity participation, high-
profile collaborations, political impact, and television appearances.

This period had a muted beginning, for when Wonder did return, it was with the soundtrack
album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants (1979), featured in the film The Secret Life of
Plants. 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.[citation needed] In this year Wonder also wrote
and produced the dance hit "Let's Get Serious", performed by Jermaine Jackson and (ranked
by Billboard as the #1 R&B single of 1980).

Hotter than July (1980) became Wonder's first platinum-selling single 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, "All I Do", and the sentimental ballad, "Lately", which was later
covered by Jodeci and S Club 7.

In 1982, Wonder released a retrospective of his '70s work with Stevie Wonder's Original
Musiquarium, which included four new songs: 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), "Front Line", a narrative about a soldier in the Vietnam
War that Stevie Wonder wrote and sang in the 1st person, 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".

In 1983, Wonder performed the song "Stay Gold", the theme to Francis Ford Coppola's film
adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders. Often mistakenly attributed solely to Stevie
Wonder, the music is by Carmine Coppola, while Wonder wrote the lyric.

In 1983 Wonder scheduled an album to be entitled People Work, Human Play." The album
never surfaced and instead 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 both the United States and the United Kingdom, where it was placed 13th in the list of best-
selling singles in the UK published in 2002. It went on to win an Academy Award for "Best
Song" in 1985.The album also featured a guest appearance by Dionne Warwick, singing the
duet "It's You" with Stevie and a few songs of her own. The following year's In Square Circle
featured the #1 pop hit "Part-Time Lover". The album also has a Top 10 Hit with "Go Home."
It also featured the ballad "Overjoyed" which was originally written for Journey Through the
Secret Life of Plants but didn't make the album. He performed "Overjoyed" on Saturday
Night Live when he was the host. 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)" and Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call
It The Blues", all huge hits.

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. Wonder
sometimes joined in the jokes himself; in The Motown Revue Smokey Robinson presented
Wonder with an award plaque, which he pretended to read for the audience– and to notice a
spelling mistake. He was in a featured duet with Bruce Springsteen on the all-star charity
single for African famine relief, "We Are the World", and he was part of another charity
single the following year (1986), the AIDS-inspired "That's What Friends Are For". He also
played the harmonica on the album Dreamland Express by John Denver in the song "If Ever",
a song Wonder co-wrote with Stephanie Andrews. He also wrote the track "I Do Love You"
for The Beach Boys' 1985 self-titled album. Stevie Wonder also played the harmonica on a
track called "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" from "Showboat" on the "The Broadway Album"
by Barbra Streisand.

In 1986, Stevie Wonder appeared on The Cosby Show, as himself, in the episode "A Touch of
Wonder," where Theo and Denise Huxtable get in a car crash with the singer's limousine and
he invites them to his studio for a song.

In 1987, Wonder appeared on Michael Jackson's Bad album on the duet "Just Good Friends".
The song was performed live on one occasion in Sydney, Australia when Wonder made a
surprise appearance at Jackson's show at the Parramatta Stadium. Michael Jackson also sang a
duet with him titled "Get It" on Wonder's 1987 album Characters. This was a minor hit single
as were "Skeletons" and "You Will Know". In the fall of 1988, Wonder dueted with Julio
Iglesias on the hit single "My Love", which appeared on Iglesias' album Non Stop and was a
hit single on both sides of the Atlantic.

Wonder has recorded with Jon Gibson, a Christian Soul musician, in a remake of his own
song, "Have a Talk With God", covered by Gibson on which Wonder plays harmonica. The
two men met in the early 1980s through a shared music agent.

Later career: 1991–2001

After 1987's Characters LP, Wonder continued to release new material, but at a slower pace.
He recorded a soundtrack album for Spike Lee's film Jungle Fever in 1991. From this album,
singles and videos were released for "Gotta Have You" and "These Three Words". The B-side
to the "Gotta Have You" single included a recording of "Feeding Off The Love Of The Land",
the song that was played during the end credits of the movie "Jungle Fever", but was not
included on the soundtrack. A piano and vocal version of "Feeding Off The Love Of The
Land" was also released on the Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal compilation. It is
rumored that "Feeding Off The Love Of The Land" was originally intended for release on
Fulfillingness' First Finale Volume Two, a project that has never been confirmed as
completed.

Conversation Peace and the live album Natural Wonder were also released in the 1990s. The
former received its European launch at a high-profile March 1995 press conference in Paris,
where Stevie mentioned how the tearing down of The Wall between East and West Berlin and
the desire for a united Europe had played a significant part in the inspiration behind the
album.

In 1994, Wonder made a guest appearance on the KISS cover album KISS My Ass: Classic
KISS Regrooved, playing harmonica and supplying background vocals for the song "Deuce",
performed by Lenny Kravitz.

In 1996, Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life was selected as a documentary subject for
the Classic Albums documentary series. This series dedicates 60 minutes to one
groundbreaking record per feature. The same year, he performed John Lennon's song
"Imagine" in the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, held at the 1996 Summer Olympic
Games in Atlanta. The same year, Wonder performed in a remix of "Seasons of Love" from
the Jonathan Larson musical Rent which is part of the original Broadway cast recording.

In 1997, Wonder collaborated with Babyface for an emotionally-charged song about spousal
abuse (domestic violence) called "How Come, How Long" which was nominated for an
award.

In December 1999, Wonder announced that he was interested in pursuing an intraocular

retinal prosthesis to partially restore his sight. That same year, Wonder was featured on
harmonica in the Sting hit "Brand New Day".

In 2000, Stevie Wonder contributed two new songs to the soundtrack for Spike Lee's satire
based on minstrelsy, Bamboozled: "Misrepresented People" and "Some Years Ago".

Current career: 2002–present

In March 2002, Wonder performed at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter
Paralympics in Salt Lake City.

On July 2, 2005, Wonder performed in the USA part of the Live 8 series of concerts in
Philadelphia.

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.
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" was a
hit on adult-contemporary R&B radio. The album also featured 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. Wonder also performed "My Love Is on Fire" (from A
Time To Love) live on the show itself. In June 2006, Stevie Wonder made 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. He
appeared again on the last track of Snoop Dogg's new album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment,
"Conversations". The song is a remake of "Have a Talk with God" from Songs in the Key of
Life. In 2006 Wonder staged a duet with Andrea Bocelli on the latter's album Amore, offering
harmonica and additional vocals on "Canzoni Stonate". Stevie Wonder also performed at
Washington, D.C.'s 2006 "A Capitol Fourth" celebration, which was hosted by actor star
Jason Alexander.

On August 2, 2007, Stevie Wonder announced the A Wonder Summer's Night 13 concert
tour — his first U.S. tour in over ten years. This tour was inspired by the recent passing of his
mother, as he stated at the conclusion of the tour on December 9 at the Jobing.com Arena in
Glendale, Arizona. Boxer Mike Tyson appeared briefly on stage at the end of the musical
program. Wonder's musical director during this period was University of Alabama at
Birmingham professor Henry Panion, a renowned arranger, composer and conductor, and a
pioneer in the development of college music technology programs.

On August 28, 2008, the day Barack Obama accepted his party's nomination to run for
President of the United States, Wonder performed at the Democratic National Convention at
Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado. Songs included were a previously unreleased
song, "Fear Can't Put Dreams to Sleep," and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours", a song
that was used regularly during the Obama campaign.

On September 8, 2008, Wonder started the European leg of his Wonder Summer's Night
Tour, the first time he had toured Europe in over a decade. His opening show was at the
National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. During the tour, Wonder played eight UK
gigs; four at The O2 Arena in London, two in Birmingham and two at the M.E.N. Arena in
Manchester. Stevie Wonder's other stops in the tour's European leg also found him performing
in Holland (Rotterdam), Sweden (Stockholm), Germany (Cologne, Mannheim and Munich),
Norway (Hamar), France (Paris), Italy (Milan) and Denmark (Aalborg). Wonder also toured
Australia (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane) and New Zealand
(Christchurch, Auckland and New Plymouth) in October and November.

By June 2008 Wonder was working on two projects simultaneously: a new album titled The
Gospel Inspired By Lula which will deal with the various spiritual and cultural crises facing
the world, and Through The Eyes Of Wonder, an album which Wonder has described as a
performance piece that will reflect his experience as a blind man. Wonder was also keeping
the door open for a collaboration with Tony Bennett and Quincy Jones concerning a rumoured
jazz album. If Wonder was to join forces with Bennett, it would not be for the first time. The
couple's rendition of "For Once in My Life" earned them a Grammy for best pop collaboration
with vocals in 2006.They also performed "Everyday (I Have The Blues)" together on one of
Bennett's previous albums. Wonder's harmonica playing can be heard on the 2009 Grammy-
nominated "Never Give You Up" featuring CJ Hilton and Raphael Saadiq

Wonder performed on January 18, 2009 at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural
Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. On Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, Wonder
performed the song "Brand New Day" with musician Sting. The song was part of the program
for The Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, one of ten inaugural balls honoring President Barack
Obama. He performed his new song "All About the Love Again" and, with other musical
artists, "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered" in honor of the president. On February 23, 2009,
Wonder became the second recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for pop
music, honored by President Barack Obama at the White House.

On July 7, 2009, Wonder performed "Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer" and "They
Won't Go When I Go" at the Staples Center for Michael Jackson's memorial service.On
January 22, 2010, Wonder performed Bridge Over Troubled Water for the Hope for Haiti
Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief event to help victims of the earthquake in Port-
au-Prince on January 12, 2010.

On March 6, 2010, Wonder was awarded the Commander of the Arts and Letters by French
Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand who referred to him as "music's familiar genius".
Wonder had been due to have received this award in 1981, but scheduling problems prevented
this from happening. A lifetime achievement award was also given to Wonder, the same day,
at France's biggest music awards.

Accomplishments
A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has
recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards (the most
ever won by a solo artist) as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also won an
Academy Award for Best Song, and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll and
Songwriters halls of fame. He has also been awarded the Polar Music Prize.American music
magazine Rolling Stone named him the ninth greatest singer of all time. In June 2009 he
became the fourth artist to receive the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award.

He has ten U.S. number-one hits on the pop charts as well as 20 R&B number one hits, 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 label mates
and outside artists as well. Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums,
bass guitar, bongos, organ, melodica, and clavinet. In his childhood, he was best known for
his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills and vocal ability.
Wonder is the first Motown artist and second African American musician to win an Academy
Award for Best Original Song for his 1984 hit single "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from
the movie The Woman in Red.

Impact
Wonder's success as a socially conscious musical performer influenced popular music. Some
major musicians and other public figures who cite Wonder as an idol or a major influence on
them are Stevie Ray Vaughan, India.Arie, Barack Obama, Blackstreet, Gloria Estefan, Musiq
Soulchild, George Michael, The Neptunes, Luciano Pavarotti, Tupac Shakur, Will Smith,
Coolio, Snoop Dogg, Kirk Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Babyface, Kelis, Donnell
Jones, Jermaine Jackson, Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross, N'Sync, Glenn Lewis, Dru Hill,
Boyz 2 Men, Alicia Keys, Eric Hutchinson, Carrie Underwood, Elton John, John Legend,
Prince, Anthony Kiedis (lead vocalist of Red Hot Chili Peppers), Sting, Beyoncé Knowles,
Aaliyah, Brandy, Justin Timberlake, Ashanti, Shogo Hamada, Jason Kay (lead vocalist of
Jamiroquai), Utada Hikaru, Ken Hirai, Whitney Houston, Wang Leehom, Lenny Kravitz,
Glenn Hughes and Erykah Badu.

Wonder has appeared as guest musician/vocalist on numerous recordings by other artists,

including Carly Simon, Busta Rhymes, Quincy Jones, Sting, Pointer Sisters, Barbra Streisand,
Andrea Bocelli, Jeff Beck, Snoop Dogg, Elton John, Lenny Kravitz, Billy Preston, James
Taylor, Roberta Flack, Smokey Robinson, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra,
Queen Latifah, The Supremes, Babyface, The Beach Boys, Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock,
Luther Vandross, The Temptations, Gloria Estefan, Andrae Crouch, Michael Jackson,
Jermaine Jackson, John Denver, BeBe Winans, Julio Iglesias, Don Henley, Take 6, The
Flying Burrito Brothers, Rod Stewart, The Gap Band, 'NSYNC, The Manhattan Transfer,
Donna Summer, Eurythmics, B.B. King, Sergio Mendes, Jon Gibson ("Have a Talk With
God"), Paula Abdul, and Whitney Houston.

Vocalists Minnie Riperton, Deniece Williams, Carl Anderson, and Angela Winbush all began
their careers in the 1970s as backup vocalists for Wonder as part of "Wonderlove".

Wonder's songs are renowned for being quite difficult to sing. He has a very developed sense
of harmony and uses many extended chords utilizing extensions such as 9ths, 11ths, 13ths,
b5s, etc. in his compositions. Many of his melodies make abrupt, unpredictable changes.
Many of his vocal melodies are also melismatic, meaning that a syllable is sung over several
notes. In the American Idol Hollywood Performances, judge Randy Jackson repeatedly stated
the difficulty of Wonder's songs. Some of his best known and most frequently covered songs
are played in keys which are more often found in jazz than in pop and rock. For example,
"Superstition", "Higher Ground" and "I Wish" are in the key of E flat minor, and feature
distinctive riffs in the E flat minor pentatonic scale (i.e. largely on the black notes of the
keyboard).

Wonder played a large role in bringing synthesizers to the forefront of popular music. With
the help of Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, he developed many new textures and
sounds never heard before. In 1981, Wonder became the first owner of an E-mu Emulator.It
was Wonder's urging that led Raymond Kurzweil to create the first electronic synthesizers
that realistically reproduced the sounds of orchestral instruments; Wonder had become
acquainted with the inventor as an early user and evangelist of his reading machine, the
technology for which would prove instrumental in the success of the Kurzweil K250.

During the 2008 United States Presidential Election, Wonder was a strong supporter of
Barack Obama's candidacy for President.

Songs sampled by other musicians

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble covered "Superstition" and Wonder makes a cameo
appearance in the official music video for the song. The elements of "Love's In Need of Love
Today" were used by 50 Cent in the song "Ryder Music", and Warren G sampled "Village
Ghetto Land" for his song "Ghetto Village." "Pastime Paradise" would become an
interpolation for Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" while Will Smith would use "I Wish" as the
basis for the theme song to his movie, Wild Wild West. George Michael and Mary J. Blige
covered "As" in the late 90's. In 1999, Salome De Bahia made a Brazilian version of "Another
Star". Tupac Shakur sampled "That Girl" for his hit song "So Many Tears". Red Hot Chili
Peppers covered "Higher Ground" in 1989 on their "Mother's Milk" album. John Legend
covered his song "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" for the 2005 film, Hitch. Mary Mary, did
a cover of his song, "You Will Know" on their 2002 album, Incredible.

Additional songs by Stevie Wonder have also been sampled or re-made. Wonder is one of the
most sampled artists/singers ever.

Personal life
Wonder has been married twice—to Motown singer Syreeta Wright from 1970 until their
divorce in 1972; and since 2001, to fashion designer Kai Milla Morris.He has seven children
from his two marriages and several relationships.

His daughter, Aisha Morris, was the inspiration for his hit single "Isn't She Lovely." Aisha
Morris is a singer who has toured with her father and accompanied him on recordings,
including his 2005 album, A Time 2 Love. Wonder has two sons with Kai Milla Morris; the
older is named Kailand and he occasionally performs as a drummer on stage with his father.
The younger son, Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris, was born May 13, 2005, his father's
55th birthday.

In May 2006, Wonder's mother died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 76. During his
September 8, 2008 UK concert in Birmingham he spoke of his decision to begin touring again
following his loss. "I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around".

Wonder is an activist for civil rights and endorsed 2008 United States Democratic Party
presidential candidate Barack Obama, who would later be elected 44th President of the United
States, the first African American to do so. Apparently, the respect is more than mutual, as
Obama responded to a Rolling Stone interview question that asked him who his musical
heroes are by saying:

"If I had one, it would have to be Stevie Wonder. When I was just at that point where you start getting
involved in music, Stevie Wonder had that run with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness'
First Finale and Innervisions, and then Songs in the Key of Life. Those are as brilliant a set of five
albums as we've ever seen."

Children

 Aisha Morris (born April 1975) (by Yolanda Simmons)

 Keita Morris (by Yolanda Simmons)
 Kwame Morris
 Mumtaz Morris (by Melody McCulley)
 Sophia Morris
 Kailand Morris (by Kai Milla Morris)
 Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris (born May 13, 2005) (by Kai Milla Morris)
Wonder's children are by wife Kai Milla Morris, Yolanda Simmons and Melody McCulley.
He never married Simmons or McCulley.

Singles

Chart positions

Yea
Title
r US US US US UK
[55]
R&B Danc AC
e

1963 "Fingertips - Part 2" 1 - - - -

1966 "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" 3 - - - -

1966 "Blowin' in the Wind" 9 - - - -

1966 "A Place in the Sun" 9 - - - -

1967 "I Was Made to Love Her" 2 - - - 5

1968 "For Once in My Life" 2 - - - 3

1968 "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" 7 - - - -

1969 "My Cherie Amour" 4 - - - 4

1969 "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" 7 - - - 2

1970 "Never Had A Dream Come True" - - - - 5

1970 "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" 3 - - - -

1970 "Heaven Help Us All" 8 - - - -

1971 "We Can Work It Out" 13 - - - -

1971 "If You Really Love Me" 8 - - - -

1972 "Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)" 33 - - - -

1972 "Superstition" 1 - - - -

1973 "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" 1 - - - 3

1973 "Higher Ground" 4 - - - -

1973 "Living for the City" 8 - - - -

1974 "He's Misstra Know It All" - - - - 8

"You Haven't Done Nothin'"

1974 (with The Jackson 5) 1 - - - -

1974 "Boogie On Reggae Woman" 3 - - - -

1977 "I Wish" 1 - - - 4

1977 "Sir Duke" 1 - - - 2

1977 "Another Star" 32 - - - -

1977 "As" 36 - - - -

1979 "Send One Your Love" 4 - - - -

1980 "Master Blaster (Jammin)" 3 - - - 2

1980 "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" - - - - 7

1981 "Lately" - - - - 3

1981 "Happy Birthday" 7 - - - 2

1981 "That Girl" 3 - - - -

1982 "Do I Do" 7 - - - 5

1982 "Ebony and Ivory" (with Paul McCartney) 1 - - - 1

1982 "Ribbon in the Sky" - 9 - - -

1984 "I Just Called to Say I Love You" 1 1 - 1 1

1985 "Part-Time Lover" 1 1 1 1 2

"That's What Friends Are For"

1985 (with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Gladys Knight) 1 - - - -

1985 "Love Light In Flight" 17 4 6 10 -

1986 "Go Home" 10 2 1 1 -

1986 "Land Of La La" 86 19 - - -

1986 "Overjoyed" 24 8 - 1 -
1987 "Skeletons" 19 1 20 - -

1988 "Get It" (with Michael Jackson) 80 4 - - -

1988 "My Eyes Don t Cry" - 6 12 - -

1988 "You Will Know" 77 1 - - -

1989 "With Each Beat Of My Heart" - 28 - - -

1990 "Keep Our Love Alive" - 24 - - -

1991 "Fun Day (From "Jungle Fever")" - 6 - - -

1991 "Gotta Have You (From "Jungle Fever")" 92 3 - - -

1992 "These Three Words" - 7 - - -

1995 "For Your Love" 53 11 - 30 -

1995 "Tomorrow Robins Will Sing" - 60 - - -

1995 "Treat Myself" - 92 - - -

1999 "Happy Birthday" - 70 - - -

2005 "From The Bottom Of My Heart" - 52 - 25 -

2005 "Shelter In The Rain" - 93 - - -

2005 "So What The Fuss" 96 34 - 40 -

U.S. and UK albums

Chart positions

Year Album
US US UK
[56] R&B [57]

1963 Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius 1 - -

1972 Talking Book 3 - 16

1973 Innervisions 4 - 6

1974 Fulfillingness' First Finale 1 - 5

1976 Songs in the Key of Life 1 - 2

1979 Journey through the Secret Life of Plants 4 - 7

1980 Hotter than July 2 - 2

1982 Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium 4 - 8

1984 The Woman in Red 4 1 2

1985 In Square Circle 5 1 5

1987 Characters 17 1 33

1995 Conversation Peace 17 2 8

1996 Natural Wonder - 88 -

1997 Song Review A Greatest Hits Collection - 100 19

2000 At the Close of a Century - 100 -

2002 The Definitive Collection 35 28 -

Best Of Stevie Wonder: 20th Century Masters Christmas

2004 - 90 -
Collection

2005 A Time To Love 5 2 24

2007 Number 1's 171 40 23

Awards and recognition

Grammy Awards

Wonder has received 25 Grammy Awards:including a Lifetime Achievement Award

Yea
Award Title
r

1973 Best Rhythm & Blues Song "Superstition"

1973 Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male "Superstition"

"You are the Sunshine of

1973 Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male
My Life"
1973 Album of the Year Innervisions

1973 Best Producer* Innervisions

1974 Best Rhythm & Blues Song "Living for the City"

"Boogie On Reggae
1974 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
Woman"

1974 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Fulfillingness' First Finale

1974 Album of the Year Fulfillingness' First Finale

1974 Best Producer* Fulfillingness' First Finale

1976 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "I Wish"

1976 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Songs in the Key of Life[58]

1976 Best Producer of the Year* N/A

1976 Album of the Year Songs in the Key of Life

1985 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance In Square Circle

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal

"That's What Friends Are
1986 (awarded to Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys
For"
Knight, and Wonder)

1995 Best Rhythm & Blues Song "For Your Love"

1995 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "For Your Love"

1996 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award General

Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)

1998 "St. Louis Blues"
(awarded to Herbie Hancock, Robert Sadin, and Wonder)

1998 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "St. Louis Blues"

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals "Love's in Need of Love
2002
(awarded to Wonder and Take 6) Today"

"From the Bottom of My

2005 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
Heart"

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

2005 "So Amazing"
(awarded to Beyoncé and Wonder)

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals (awarded to Tony

2006 "For Once In My Life"
Bennett and Wonder)

 Between 1965 and 1980, a self-produced artist won an additional Grammy as a

producer as well as an artist.

Other awards and recognition

 1983: inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

 1984: received an Academy Award for Best Song for "I Just Called to Say I Love
You" from the movie The Woman in Red.
 1989: inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
 1996: received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
 1999: received the Polar Music Prize[46] and Kennedy Center Honors.
 2002: received the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award at UCLA's
Spring Sing.The same year, Wonder received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
 2004: received the Billboard Century Award. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine
ranked him #15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock and Roll Artists of All Time.
 2006: was inducted, as one of the first inductees, into the Michigan Walk of Fame.
The same year, Wonder received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National
Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.
 2008: Ranked at number five on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists",
making him as the third most successful male artist in the history of Billboard Hot 100
chart after Elton John and Elvis Presley.
 2009: Recipient of the second Gershwin Prize For Popular Song.
 2009: Recipient of the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award. This special award
underlines a popular artist’s extraordinary contribution to the musical world. The
Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award is in bronze, and was inspired by a self-portrait
that Miles Davis presented to the Festival in 1988.
 2009: Named a Messenger of Peace by the United Nations.