A World of Wonder: Stevie Wonder spreads his vision through the music of his mind.

A River City Examiner Exclusive

By Byron Lee

He is a consummate musician and his contributions to the American songbook are incomparable. Recently, he received an honor from another groundbreaking figure. For this edition of the River City Examiner, we will profile the career of Stevie Wonder.

Steveland Judkins Hardway was born May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan, the third of five children (4 boys, 1 girl) born to Lulu Mae Hardaway. Blind as a result of premature birth, Hardaway was still active as a youth, climbing trees and, with assistance, riding a bicycle. When Steveland was still a baby, his parents split, and Lulu Mae moved all of the children to Detroit. There, little Stevie was exposed to R&B music via a radio program titled ≥Sundown.≤ He soon started banging on tin cans in the kitchen and playing a four-hole harmonica.

His musical palate was eventually expanded by the incorporation of the piano, the bongo, and the standard harmonica and drums. He furthered his music education by singing in the church choir, but he kicked out for singing rock-n-roll.

A friend of the youngster, who happened to be a younger brother of Ronnie White, a member of the Miracles (later to be known as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles), told his older sibling about Stevie, who was, by then Steveland Morris, now taking the name of his mother's second husband.

White took Stevie to the studio at Hitsville, USA, which would eventually become Motown Records, where he would soon find Wonder, every day after school, playing nearly every instrument his touched. Producer Mickey Stevenson, upon observing the child, said "Thatπs boys a wonder!≤ The name stuck, and people who came in and out of the studio started calling Little Stevie ≥The Boy Wonder.≤ Barry Gordy, the head of Motown, finally saw the book for himself, signed him to the label, and christened him with the stage name ≥Little Stevie Wonder.≤

Now a professional act, the child toured for 2 weeks a month on the road, meeting with a tutor for a few hours, each day. Wonder would soon gain a positive reputation not just known for his animated stage presence, but for his harmonica playing. A 1963 recording entitled ≥Fingertips≤ (Pt. 2) would capture his live energy perfectly. The harmonica playing and the young boy's high-pitched urgings for crowd-participation, made the song a smash hit. Other hits Wonder would have for Motown, during this time included ≥For Once in My Life≤ ≥A Place in the Sun≤ and ≥My Cherie Amour.≤ (To this day, Wonder makes guest appearances on other peopleπs albums strictly playing harmonica, playing on songs by acts such as The Eurythmics, John Denver, Elton John, Lenny Kravitz, and Raphael Saadiq.)

As the years and the hits flew by, Wonder, who dropped the name ≥Little≤ in the late 60πs, began to resent having his creativity harnessed by the Motown hit machine. Slowly, he stared taking control of his career. After the 1966 single ≥Uptight≤ many of the songs he recorded for Motown listed him, at least partially, as a songwriter, and the 1970 album ≥Signed, Sealed, and Delivered≤ was entirely produced by Wonder.  He let his contract with the label expire, after the release of 1970's ≥Where I'm Coming From.≤ While looking for a label, Wonder wrote and played almost every instrument for The Spinnersπ hit ≥Itπs A Shame.≤ Many have suggested that the song was meant as a demonstration of the talent Motown would be missing, if Wonder were to sign elsewhere.

If that indeed was the plan, it worked. In 1972, Wonder resigned with Motown, his new contract giving him more money, full artistic autonomy, and complete control over his bookings.

When he turned 21, he took the one million that was in the trust Motown kept for him (Many have speculated that Wonder made much more than that.), rented out studio space in New York, and released a lot of the ideas that had be pent up inside for years. The result was the critically-heralded 1-man LP ≥Music Of My Mind.≤ Wrote Don Heckman of the New York Times ≥One-man recordings have been tried by other performersäbut no one has brought off the complicated trick of playing most—or all—of the parts better than Wonder in this collection. After a few minutes of the first track, one promptly forgets all about the technical legerdemain and settles down to hear a constantly provocative flow of musical ideas, good humor, artistic invention, and solid swing.≤ (Wonder also pioneered the format of the LP with ≥Music Of My Mind,≤ a collection of songs diverse in sound, but unified in theme.) Most notable about the album was the fact that despite Wonderπs use of ARP and Moog synthesizers, the music still had an organic feel.

Fulfilling the promise of ≥Music of My Mind≤ was ≥Talking Book.≤ Diving deeper into synth use, while welcoming guitarists Ray Parker, Jr., Jeff Beck and Buzzy Feton, Wonder provided the hits ≥Superstition≤ and ≥You Are the Sunshine of my Life,≤ along with the tender album closer ≥I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever).≤ The success of these songs, along with a tour that found Wonder opening for rock act The Rolling Stones, helped Wonder obtain a crossover audience. Wonderπs follow up, ≥Innervisions,≤ which included the Richard Nixon kiss-off ≥Heπs Misstra Know-It-All,≤ the anti-drug ≥Too High,≤ the small town boy walks urban landscape narrative ≥Living For The City≤ and the funky social rallying cry ≥Higher Ground,≤ would only bolster his fame

The good times would come to a frightening halt on August 6, 1973.  A vehicle Wonder was traveling in collided with a logging truck. Wonder was hit in the forehead by several logs, leaving him in a coma for several days. He eventually made a nearly full recovery. (He still deals with a partial loss of smell.)

Able to record once more, Wonder released ≥Fulfillingnessπ First Finale≤ in 1974. The album found Wonder providing the funky single ≥Boogie On Reggae Woman≤ and working over Tricky Dick one more time with ≥You Havenπt Done Nothinπ.≤ The album was another strong entry in his canon.

On the heels of this artistic liberation, Wonder signed a seven-year, 13 million contract, in 1975, then the most lucrative contract of its kind. The follow up proved to be worth every penny. ≥Songs In the Key of Life,≤ a double album released in 1976, was, in many peopleπs eyes, the culmination of the artistic strides Wonder had made before. Every dimension of Wonderπs songwriting was on display.  Fans of the socially-consciousness singer/songwriter enjoyed ≥Black Man,≤ ≥Past Time Paradise≤ and ≥Village Ghetto Land,≤ supporters of the romantic Wonder loved ≥As≤ and ≥Knocks Me Off My Feet,≤ those experiencing parenthood for the first time related to ≥Isnπt She Lovely≤ (Wonderπs dedication to his newborn daughter, Aisha) and the musically reverential relished ≥Sir Duke≤ a top-tapping tribute to the then-recently deceased iconic composer Duke Ellington. ≥Song In The Key of Life≤ continues to be viewed as Stevie Wonderπs definitive artistic statement.

On top of the world, it was Wonderπs ability, like that of all great popular performers before him, to have people from all walks of life project their identity and experiences on to him. Jack Slater acknowledged this fact in a 1969 New York Times piece (as quoted in the American Songwriter encyclopedia), when he wrote that Wonder was "all things to all who hear him: the child prodigy who made the transition to adulthood as a productive musician, the blind seer apocalyptically exposing America's injustices, the sightless man-child who still manages to smile, the musician who refused to accept the tyranny and paternalism of corporate recording interests, the black flower-child ruled by visions and astrological signs, the blind nature-boy telling us that the only thing that matters is to love and be loved in return, the black brother who 'made it,' who is still 'for real,' and finally--and perhaps most burdensome of all--the young man who has become, as some whites tell him, an example and inspiration for his people."

(Putting a stamp on this period is the fact that ≥Innervisions,≤ ≥Fulfillingnessπ First Finale,≤ and ≥Songs in the Key of Life≤ all won Grammyπs for Album of the Year in the respective years they were nominated for the honor.)

In addition to his work in the studio, Wonder became a noted for his activism. In 1980, he successful rallied for a holiday to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Wonder dedicated an entire album to King (≥Hotter Than July≤), with the song ≥Happy Birthday≤ explicitly stating his desire for the holiday.)

Since then, Wonder has worked for AIDS awareness and an end to apartheid, drunk driving, and domestic violence.  Furthermore, at a 1993 dedication of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. (a school sponsored by Wonder, in conjunction with Motown records), he decried what he felt was the misogyny of some rap music, saying ≥It is totally out of the question for men to continue to talk about women and call then bitches.≤ (Wonder has also spoken out against the use of the n-word.)

Wonderπs increased social involvement came at a simultaneously prosperous and controversial time for Wonder. He was at his commercial peak, having his first platinum selling album (≥Hotter Than July≤) and winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song for ≥I Just Called To Say I Love You" (from "The Woman In Red.") Yet many of the fans Wonder earned in the 70's were disconcerted with his latter output. By this time, Wonder, like many black artists, had embraced the synclavier, a synthesizer device that allowed an artist to create and arrangement music strictly on a soundboard, resulting in a frustratingly processed sound. Many felt that, in fully embracing the machine, Wonder was playing a role in lowering the standard for musicianship than he had helped raise. (The synclavier is the device that was used in the famous 1986 episode of ≥The Cosby Show≤ where he samples The Huxtable Family's voices.)

 Furthermore, some fans had found that Wonder's songwriting to have become oversimplified and excessively sentimental. (This point of view is best expressed by Wonder fan and cultural observer Paul Tatara (of wallofpaul.com), who feels that the latter day Wonder writes, ≥greeting cards instead of songs.≤) Although he would have hits such as the tender ballads ≥A Ribbon in the Sky≤ and ≥Overjoyed,≤ the racial reconciliation duet ≥Ebony and Ivory≤ (with Paul McCartney) and the festive ≥Do I Do,≤ which featured legendary trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, many of Wonderπs fans view this period as a low point in Wonderπs career.

Wonder experienced a bit of resurgence in popularity in 1991 when he provided the soundtrack to Spike Leeπs  film ≥Jungle Fever,≤ which focused on an interracial romance. While some critics took issue with what they found to be the simplicity of the lyrics and arrangements, others lauded Wonderπs transcendence of the racial polarization of Leeπs film to focus on the euphoric frenzy of love. 

Although the pace of his output has slowed down in recent years, he has a legacy that is beyond reproach. In addition to the work he has recorded on his own, the artists that Wonder has either written for, or collaborated with, is as diverse a collection of acts one can find anywhere. These artists include Smokey Robinson, Prince, Jermaine Jackson, Babyface, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Lenny Kravitz, Paul McCartney, John Denver, Beach Boys, Sting, Julio Iglesias, and Tony Bennett.

Furthermore, in what has become the modern stamp of longevity, Wonder has had other artists use his work. Coolio's 1996 smash ≥Gangsta's Paradise≤ borrows heavily from ≥Past Time Paradise,≤ Will Smith's 1999 hit ≥Wild Wild West≤ utilizes "I Wish," and 2 pac's 1996 single "So Many Tears" includes a clipped portion of the harmonica solo from "That Girl." Other artists who have covered, sampled, or otherwise reworked a song from Wonder's catalog are George Michael, Mary J. Blige, Ja Rule, and John Legend, among others.

Most recently, Wonder engaged himself in a collaboration of a different nature. During the lengthy 2008 presidential campaign trail, Wonder started expressing his support for the young senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. As the race heated up, Wonder started playing at Obama's campaign stops. Then, Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered" was heard both when Obama accepted his party's nomination at the Democratic National Convention and at many locations on the night of November 4th, when Barack Hussein Obama won the White House. (Obama reciprocates the admiration. In a Rolling Stone interview, the President cited Wonder's classic run of albums (from ≥Music of My Mind≤ through ≥Songs in the Key of Life≤) as being crucial in cultivating Obama's musical tastes. "That's as impressive a set of five albums as I've ever seen," Obama said. (The Obamaπs used Wonderπs ≥You and I≤ for the first dance at their wedding.) )

Soon after Obama took office, it was announced that Wonder would be the second recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin award for popular song. (Paul Simon was the first, in 2007.)  2 days before receiving the Award, Wonder displayed why he is such a national treasure, premiering a commissioned piece entitled ≥Sketches Of A Life,≤ consisting of nine movements and written for a full orchestra (with music for, of course, a harmonica).

It is apropos that such a distinct and important musical journey as Wonderπs would include a stop at the White House, while it is housing an historic occupant. Wonder, like said officer holder, is one of a kind and of great importance. Many have wondered, including some of the staff behind the paper you are holding in your hands, right now, if, aside from Prince, there will be another black artist with mass appeal, the fearlessness to express themselves however they please, the ability to write a song (in the traditional sense), and the talent to play so many instruments proficiently.

This immense talent was a vehicle to communicate Wonderπs vision.

That vision was so strong that it improved all of ours.