Stevie Wonder Biography

Wonder was born Steveland Hardaway Judkins in Saginaw, Michingan on May 13, 1950 (he later altered his name to Steveland Morris when his mother re-married). He was born prematurely and put in an incubator %u2013 his blindness probably caused by an excess of oxygen. Wonder grew up in Detroit listening to the blues of Ray Charles, BB King and Jimmy Reed. By the age of eight he was proficient on harmonica, piano, drums and bongos. In 1960, Ronnie White of The Miracles brought Stevie to the attention of Motown Records boss Berry Gordy who signed him to the label. Stevie released his first two albums in 1962: A Tribute to Uncle Ray, which featured covers of Stevie's hero Ray Charles, and The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, an orchestral jazz album spotlighting his instrumental skills. Neither sold very well, but that all changed in 1963 with the live album The 12 Year Old Genius, which featured a new extended version of the harmonica instrumental Fingertips. Edited for release as a single, Fingertips, Pt. 2 rocketed to the top of both the pop and R&B charts, thanks to Wonder's irresistible, youthful exuberance.

Although he appeared in two movies the following year, Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach, Wonder%u2019s career was temporarily put on hold as his voice changed. He studied classical piano in the meantime, dropped the "Little" portion of his name and re-emerged in 1965 with the typically infectious hit, Uptight. Soon Wonder began to take more of a hand in his own career, co-writing the hits Hey Love, I Was Made To Love Her and For Once In My Life. Between 1965 and 1970 Wonder consolidated his position as a leading pop artist with eight hit singles. In 1970 he co-wrote the R&B chart-topper Signed, Sealed, Delivered I%u2019m Yours with singer Syreeta Wright, whom he married later that year.

1971 brought a turning point in Wonder%u2019s career. On his 21st birthday, his contract with Motown expired and the royalties set aside for him in a trust fund became available. Wonder then released his first, entirely self-produced album, Where I'm Coming From. He wrote or co-wrote every song on the album with Syreeta Wright. Gordy was reportedly unhappy with Wonder's self sufficient new direction and although the album wasn't a success, spawning just one hit single, If You Really Love Me, it was a sign of things to come. Wonder built his own recording studio, Taurus Productions, upped his royalty rate, established his own publishing company, Black Bull Music and negotiated a new deal with Motown which included him leasing his records to the label and wresting full artistic control over his recordings from Berry Gordy. Like Marvin Gaye and his groundbreaking 1971 album What's Going On, Wonder was looking beyond the fingerclickin', happy-go-lucky sound of Motown pop.

Wonder then spent a year learning and experimenting with synthesizers. His first album under his new deal, 1972's Music Of My Mind, featured all original songs written and played by Stevie. The album produced the space-funk balladry of hit single Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You) and Wonder, for the second time in his career, was heralded as a major, original talent. Around the time of the album's release, Wonder split with Syreeta Wright although the two remained friends. In 1972 Wonder took the opportunity to bring his music to a wider rock audience when he toured with the Rolling Stones.

His next album, 1973's Talking Book established Wonder as a superstar. The album perfected Stevie's astral, futuristic experiments with electronics and critics hailed it as a masterpiece. Wonder topped the charts with the insistent, driving funk of Superstition for a second No.1 single while the mellow, jazz-tinged You Are The Sunshine Of My Life would go on to become a pop standard, recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Barbara Streisand.

Wonder managed to up the ante with his next album, 1973's Innervisions. The album blew apart the boundaries between pop, rock and soul and as a concept album on the state of contemporary society, it ranks with Marvin Gaye's What's Going On as the pinnacle of socially conscious R&B. Higher Ground, He's Misstra Know It All and Living For The City all hit the UK charts and Stevie picked up a Grammy for Album of the Year. He was lucky to be alive to enjoy the success though. While being driven to a concert in N. Carolina a large timber fell on Wonder%u2019s car. Stevie sustained serious head injuries and lapsed into a coma but made a full recovery.

Perhaps mirroring his brush with death, 1974's Fulfillingness' First Finale album was more reflective and the songs more insular than Innervisions. But both Boogie On Reggae Woman and the anti-Nixon critique You Haven't Done Nothin' were US hits with the Jackson Five lending a hand. The album won Stevie a second straight Grammy for Album Of The Year.

Stevie then took a two year break where he retired to his studio to craft his masterpiece, the epic double album, Songs In The Key Of Life. Released in 1976, the album found Stevie at his most ambitious and expansive. Featuring a tribute to Duke Ellington on Sir Duke, the Coolio-filched Pastime Paradise and the paean to his daughter, Isn't She Lovely, the album spent three months in the US charts and confirmed Stevie as the biggest soul star of the 70's. The album picked up another Grammy award and marked the end of a remarkable period of creativity for the singer.

Wonder released nothing for the next three years, returning in 1979 with the experimental, largely instrumental double album, Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, released as the soundtrack to a never-released documentary. Despite including the hit Send One Your Love, the album was mostly a series of symphonic flirtations interespered with sounds of the rainforest and chirping birds.

Stevie returned to more familiar crowd pleasing ways with 1980's Hotter Than July which featured the Martin Luther King tribute Happy Birthday (part of a successful campaign to make the civil rights leader's birthday a national holiday) and the reggae-tinged Master Blaster (Jammin'). Although it wasn't up to the standard of his 70's output, fans were so grateful to have the old Stevie back, they made it his first platinum-selling album.

In 1982 Wonder teamed up with Paul McCartney for the turgid, racial harmony duet Ebony and Ivory. He also released a greatest hits set, Original Musiquarium 1 which featured four new songs including Do I Do and That Girl. In 1984, without an official follow up to Hotter Than July, Wonder contributed to the soundtrack of the Gene Wilder romantic comedy The Woman In Red. The album featured Stevie's biggest ever selling single, the No.1 hit I Just Called To Say I Love You. Cheesy and simple minded or a perfect slice of pop music? Er, you decide. Either way it won an Oscar for Best Song.

In 1985 Wonder finally released the follow up to Hotter Than July. In Square Circle was introduced by the lead off single, Part Time Lover, a Motown-ish, finger-clickin' singalong. A patchy affair, the album still went platinum.

In 1985 Stevie performed on the charity singles We Are the World by USA for Africa and That's What Friends Are For by Dionne Warwick & Friends. He returned with a new album, Characters, in 1987. In R&B quarters the album was hailed as a return to form, producing the hit Characters and a duet with Michael Jackson on Get It. The album would be his final release of the 80s. He returned in 1991 with the soundtrack to the Spike Lee film, Jungle Fever. Despite featuring some ill-advised raps, the album was greeted as a return to form.

His last studio album of new material, Conversation Peace, was released in 1995 and although it was a commercial failure it still managed to pull some musical rabbits out of the hat with the Grammy award winning single For Your Love. That same year US rapper Coolio revived Pastime Paradise for his No.1 hit Gangsta's Paradise. Stevie captialised on the renewed attention by recording a duet with Babyface, How Come, How Long in 1996.

Since then, Motown has released a number of remasters and compilations attempting to define and repackage Wonder's vast legacy. His far-reaching influence was felt in the neo-soul movement spearheaded by the likes of D'Angelo and Joe in the late '90s. and he was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame in 1989. Although his output since his 70's heyday has been patchy, Wonder remains a living legend. But whichever way you look at it, Ebony and Ivory will always stink!