Stevie Wonder (born May 13, 1950, as Stevland Hardaway Judkins Morris in Saginaw, Michigan) is an American soul and pop singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He achieved his first successes starting in 1961 with the Motown label, where he still releases his albums today.
In the early 1970s, he rose to become one of the most successful entertainers in the USA. He is considered a “renovator” of black music, whose genres – spiritual, blues, R&B, soul, funk – he mastered and developed. Particularly the years 1971 to 1976 with the albums Music of My Mind, Talking Book (1972), Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974), and Songs in the Key of Life (1976) are considered his most artistically significant phase.
At the same time, Stevie Wonder became increasingly politically engaged; with his 1980 campaign for human rights, he achieved that Martin Luther King’s birthday has been a holiday in the USA since 1986. Wonder has been awarded several times with the most important awards in the entertainment industry, such as the Grammy, Oscar, or Golden Globe. In 1989, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his contributions to soul music. Additionally, he has been a UN Peace Ambassador since 2009.
Childhood, Youth, and the 1970s
Stevie Wonder is the third of six children of songwriter Lula Mae Hardaway (1930–2006), his father was Calvin Judkins. Wonder was born premature and was incubated with high concentrations of oxygen. This led to retinopathy of prematurity and ultimately to blindness. When Wonder was four, the family moved to Detroit, where he sang in the church choir. At the age of nine, he mastered the piano, harmonica, and drums.
In 1961, he was discovered by Ronnie White of The Miracles. He helped him secure an audition with Motown chief Berry Gordy, who then signed him to a contract. Little Stevie Wonder recorded his first records in 1962: A Tribute to Uncle Ray (with covers of Ray Charles) and The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie. His first success came in 1963 with the title Fingertips, Part 2, in which Stevie Wonder played the harmonica and sang. The song was recorded live at a Motor Town Revue, with a young Marvin Gaye on drums. The accompanying album, The 12 Year Old Genius, became Motown’s first number one LP. At 14, Wonder’s voice broke. He studied classical piano at the Michigan School for the Blind at that time.
At 18, Wonder began to have a significant influence on the composition and arrangement of his music for the first time: “For Once in My Life” (1968) and “My Cherie Amour” (1969) reached high positions in the charts both as albums and single hits. In the early 1970s, he was one of the most successful musicians at Motown. He seized the opportunity to establish his own recording studio, significantly increase his royalties, and gain greater control over his music. He founded his own label, Black Bull Music. Over the years, he developed his own style and had a lasting influence on soul music.
From 1970 to 1972, Stevie Wonder was married to singer and songwriter Syreeta Wright. He also produced her first two albums and co-wrote numerous songs with her (Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours, 1970; Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer, 1971; Come Back As A Flower, 1979). Syreeta’s first Top 20 hit in the UK, Your Kiss Is Sweet (1975), was also written by the two. Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer was covered by Joan Baez and Phil Collins (album Going Back). Syreeta also contributed as a background singer on Wonder’s songs.
In 1972, Wonder released the album Talking Book, which features outstanding soul and funk tracks such as You Are the Sunshine of My Life and Superstition. Superstition is regarded by many keyboardists as a masterclass in funky clavinet playing. On the song Lookin’ for Another Pure Love on this album, he was supported by guitarist Jeff Beck. In the same year, the album Music of My Mind was also released, which he largely recorded on his own, except for the guitar in the piece Superwoman, played by Buzz Feiten, and the trombone in the first piece as well as the background vocals.
In 1973, the album Innervisions followed with the hit Living for the City. In 1974, the album Fulfillingness’ First Finale was released, followed by Songs in the Key of Life in 1976, which included several hits such as Sir Duke, I Wish, As, and Another Star. Additionally, this album featured the song “Pastime Paradise,” which served as inspiration and a sample source for the rapper Coolio’s 1995 title “Gangsta’s Paradise.” Wonder was supported on this album, among others, by 19-year-old Greg Phillinganes and by Herbie Hancock on keyboards as well as George Benson on guitar. In 1979, he bought the radio station KJLH in Los Angeles for two million US dollars and founded the operator company Taxi Productions.
Civic engagement
The artist increasingly became involved in the American civil rights movement for the equality of African Americans.
In 1982, Ebony and Ivory was released, a song by Paul McCartney that topped the charts in numerous countries. The title means “Black and White,” which in turn symbolizes the peaceful coexistence of all people. To illustrate the theme, McCartney (“white”) sang the song as a duet with Stevie Wonder (“black”). Ultimately, Wonder’s involvement brought him back into the public eye and gave him an opportunity to pursue his civil rights activism.
The Oscar he received in 1984 for the song “I Just Called to Say I Love You” from the film “The Woman in Red” was dedicated to the apartheid victim Nelson Mandela.
Later Productions and Performances In 1987, he sang the duet “Just Good Friends” with Michael Jackson on his album “Bad.” His increasingly infrequent record productions were criticized by critics as being below the artist’s potential. For his 1995 solo album “Conversation Peace,” he took eight years. In the meantime, he worked on the soundtrack for Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever, with whom he is friends and for whose wedding he also played in 1992.
In 2005, after a long hiatus, he gained significant attention again with the funk single “So What the Fuss,” featuring Prince on guitar and the group En Vogue as backing vocals. The critically acclaimed new album A Time 2 Love was released in October 2005. In 2007, Wonder, together with Tony Bennett, won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration for their joint song “For Once in My Life.”
In 2007 and 2008, Wonder went on a world tour again after a ten-year break, which also took him to Germany in the autumn of 2008. The concerts were enthusiastically received by both the audience and the critics. In January 2009, he released the song “All About the Love Again” for the inauguration of the President of the United States, Barack Obama. Previously, he had strongly supported Obama during the election campaign. In early 2009, the DVD Live at Last: A Wonder Summer’s Nite was released. In September 2014, Stevie Wonder announced that he would be going on a multi-week tour of the USA in November/December 2014, the program of which would consist exclusively of songs from his 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life. As early as December 2013, on the occasion of his annual benefit concert House Full of Toys, he had performed the entire album with some guest musicians. This tour was continued in 2015 in both March/April and from September to November within the USA and Canada. So far, the only European concert with this program took place in July 2016 in London’s Hyde Park.
During the Christmas season of 2015, Stevie Wonder sang the song “Someday at Christmas” together with soul singer Andra Day for a commercial by the American company Apple. On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death on April 4, 2018, Stevie Wonder launched the #DreamStillLives campaign. Stevie Wonder is trying to revive the memory of the dream of an America without racism. The campaign is supported by 70 celebrities such as Barack Obama, Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen.
Performances at Honors
At the memorial service on July 7, 2009, following the death of Michael Jackson, he gave a speech and sang his two songs “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer” and “They Won’t Go When I Go.”
Similarly, Stevie Wonder spoke at Whitney Houston’s memorial service on February 19, 2012, and then sang “Ribbon in the Sky”; he had changed some lines of his song in honor of the deceased.
In June 2012, he performed at Buckingham Palace on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.
On the occasion of Prince’s death (April 21, 2016), a tribute evening in honor of the musician took place on October 13, 2016, at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where Wonder also performed, among others.
Private life
Wonder’s marriage to Syreeta Wright ended in divorce in 1972. They remained friends until Syreeta’s death in 2004. In 2001, Wonder married fashion designer Karen Millard. In the fall of 2012, he announced his separation from his wife; the marriage was divorced in October 2015. Since July 2017, he has been married to Tomeeka Robyn Bracy.
Wonder is the father of nine children with six women. He has a daughter (*1975) and a son (*1977) with secretary Yolanda Simmons, another son (*1983) with Melody McCulley, another daughter and another son (*1988) with two mothers whose names are not publicly known, two sons (*2001, 2005) from his relationship with fashion designer Kai Millard Morris, and another daughter (*2013) with Tomeeka Robyn Bracy. At a concert on November 9, 2014, the singer stated that his current wife Tomeeka was almost 41 years old (*1973). In 2014, his ninth child was born, a daughter. Since 2014, he has been a vegan.
At a concert in London’s Hyde Park in July 2019, Stevie Wonder announced that he would undergo a kidney transplant in September 2019.
Harmonica
- 1975 Steppin’ in It (Herbie Hancock)
- 1982 Samurai (Djavan)
- 1983 Spice of Life (The Manhattan Transfer)
- 1983 I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues (Elton John)
- 1984 I Feel for You (Chaka Khan)
- 1985 There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart) (Eurythmics)
- 1985 I Do Love You (The Beach Boys)
- 1987 As Time Goes By (Carly Simon)
- 1998 St. Louis Blues (Herbie Hancock)
- 1994 Deuce (Kiss My Ass (Tribute album); with Lenny Kravitz)
- 1999 Brand New Day (Sting)
- 1999 In a Rush (BLACKstreet)
- 2005 Expressions of Love (Raul Midón)
- 2006 Canzoni Stonate (Andrea Bocelli)
- 2012 Only our Hearts (Paul McCartney)
- 2018 Stop trying to be God (Travis Scott)
Awards
In 1999, he received the “unofficial Nobel Prize for Music,” the Polar Music Prize.
Stevie Wonder has received 25 Grammys to date. In 1985, he was awarded the Golden Globe for the soundtrack to the film The Woman in Red. For its title song “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” he also received an Oscar for Best Song at the 57th Academy Awards in 1984. On February 25, 2009, he was awarded the prestigious Gershwin Prize by American President Barack Obama. In 2014, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Rolling Stone ranked Wonder 15th on its list of the 100 Greatest Musicians of All Time, 9th on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, and 10th on its list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.
