Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder is the stage name of Steveland Morris, born on May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan. He is an American singer, songwriter, producer, musician, humanitarian and social activist. Although his name at birth was Steveland Judkins, he later changed his last name to Morris, his mother’s maiden name. Wonder has recorded more than 30 Top 10 hits, won nearly two dozen Grammys, including one for lifetime achievement, and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame.
Stevie 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, Nik Kershaw, India.Arie, Musiq Soulchild, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Jay Kay, and the members of Jodeci, Maroon 5, and Dru Hill.
Stevie Wonder has received 22 Grammy Awards and one Academy Award over the course of his career. In 1989, Stevie Wonder was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is also an inductee to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Wonder also received Kennedy Center Honors in 1999, and was awarded the highest honor to be received at the Billboard Music Award for the Century Award in 2004.
By 1970, Stevie Wonder had scored more major hits, including “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. Syreeta Wright died of cancer in 2004. Soon after her death, Wonder and his current wife, Kai, celebrated the birth of their son, Mandla, a name the musician says was suggested by a friend, former South African President Nelson Mandela.
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. After a number of arguments with Berry Gordy over allowing Wonder to have his own creative control, 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.
Full 1974 Stevie Wonder concert footage recently discovered.