Black History Month: Stevie Wonder

Stevie Hardaway Judkins

          Stevie Hardaway Judkins, known by many with his stage name ‘Stevie Wonder’ was born May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan. He is an activist, multi-instrumentalist, and a singer-songwriter. Stevie became blind shortly after birth. Since he was six weeks premature, the blood vessels had not reached the front his eyes from the back, which caused the retinas to detach. The name for his blindness is retinopathy of prematurity. At the age of eleven, Stevie signed with Motown as did Michael Jackson. He is still performing and recording with Motown till this day. When Stevie was four, his mother moved him and his siblings to Detroit and her name back to Lula Hardaway and his surname to Morris.  

              Stevie’s first success was in “Fingerprints (Pt.2)” of the album Recorded Live: The Twelve Year Old Genius. The song was the #1 hit on the U.S pop and R&B charts. During the classical period, Stevie toured with The Rolling Stones. “Superstition” and “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” became huge hits when he was with The Rolling Stones. Between Wonder and the Stones, the two songs won three Grammy Awards each. In 1980 Wonder’s Hotter than July, became his first platinum-selling single album.

             On February 2006, Wonder performed at Super Bowl XL with his son on the drums. He accompanied “The Queen of Soul”, Aretha Franklin. Also in 2006, Wonder performed “My Love is on Fire” live on American Idol, one of the greatest reality shows. On January 20, 2009, Inauguration Day, wonder performed “Brand New Day” and his new song “All about the Love Again” Almost a year ago, on January 22, Wonder performed “Bridge over Troubled Water” for the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief. Our current president, Barack Obama, presented Wonder with the Gershwin Award of Lifetime Achievement.

                Any R&B/Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, or Funk lover has heard of Stevie Wonder. Of course if they listen to music in these categories, they’re more likely to listen to Wonder’s music. In my opinion, this music would apply to people that like old style jazz, and R&B. I’d love to hear other suggestions on who this would apply to also. You may listen to Wonder’s music by searching ‘Stevie Wonder’ at www.Bing.com for free, but the catch is, you may only listen to each song once every twenty-four hours.