Stevie Wonder did not let his disability stop his success in life. Blind sense infancy, as a result of receiving too much oxygen in the incubator as a premature baby, Stevie showed an early gift for music. He overcame many obstacles to still become successful in his music career. He always found a way to preach and guild threw his music and affects the lives around him. Stevie recorded more than thirty top ten hits and was awarded with two Grammy awards, which are the most by any male solo artist.
Stevie showed his blindness disability could not overcome his dreams. Stevie had a very early development of music. First, with a church choir in Detroit, where he and his family had moved to when he was four years old, He developed his love through music with many instruments including the harmonica, piano, and drums, He learned to play the harmonica, piano and drums by age nine and by the time he was ten, his singing and other musical skills were known throughout his neighborhood.
When the family moved to Detroit, impressed adults made his talents known to the owners of Motown Records, who gave him a recording contract when he was age twelve. He was just 11 years old when he was discovered by Ronnie White of the Motown band, the Miracles. An audition followed with Motown founder, Berry Gordy Jr. , who didn’t hesitate to sign the young musician to a record deal. In 1962, the newly renamed Little Stevie Wonder, working with a Motown songwriter, released his debut album, Little Stevie Wonder the Twelve Year Old Genius.
The record, which included the hit “Fingertips”, was an immediate hit. It is one of my mother’s favorite songs. But rather than rest on his pre-successful people the hard working Wonder, who would go on to study classical piano, pushed to improve his musicianship and songwriting capabilities. Beginning in 1967, he began writing more of his own material. In 1968, he recorded an album of instrumental soul/jazz tracks, mostly harmonica solos. The album was called Eivets Rednow, which is “Stevie Wonder” spelled backwards. The album failed to get much attention.
Reaching his twenty-first birthday on May 13, 1971, he allowed his Motown contract to expire. In 1970, Wonder co-wrote, and played numerous instruments on the hit “It’s a Shame” for fellow Motown act The Spinners. His contribution was meant to be a showcase of his talent and thus a weapon in his ongoing negotiations with Gordy about creative autonomy. (Stevie Wonder) Wonder independently recorded two albums, which he used as a bargaining tool while negotiating with Motown. Eventually the label agreed to his demands for full creative control and the rights to his own songs.
The 120-page contract was a precedent at Motown and gave Wonder a much higher royalty rate. Wonder returned to Motown in March 1972 with “Music of My Mind”. Unlike most previous albums on Motown, which usually consisted of a collection of singles, and covers, “Music of My Mind” was a full-length artistic statement with songs flowing together thematically. Wonder’s lyrics dealt with social, political, and mystical themes as well as standard romantic ones, while musically Wonder began exploring overdubbing and recording most of the instrumental parts himself.
Music of My Mind marked the beginning of a long collaboration. (Lodder, Stevie) After such a concentrated and sustained level of creativity, Wonder stopped recording for three years. The albums Wonder released during this period were very influential on the music world. The 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide said they “pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade” Rolling Stone magazine’s 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included four of the five albums, with three in the top 90.
The 1980s saw Wonder scoring his biggest hits and reaching an unprecedented level of fame evidenced by increased album sales, charity participation, political impact, and television appearances. “Hotter than July” became Wonder’s first platinum-selling single album. (Wonder Stevie) Wonder has recorded more than thirty U. S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards (the most ever won by a solo artist) as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also won an Academy Award for Best Song and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame. He as also been awarded the Polar Music Prize. American music magazine Rolling Stone named him the ninth greatest singer of all time. In June 2009, he became the fourth artist to receive the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award. Stevie Wonder was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends online Hall of Fame in 2005. He has ten U. S. number-one hits on the pop charts as well as twenty R&B number one hits, and album sales totaling more than 100 million units. Wonder has recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles, and writes and produces songs for many of his label mates and outside artists as well.
Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bass guitar, bongos, organ, melodica, and clavinet. In his childhood, he was best known for his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills and vocal ability. Stevie Wonder was the first Motown artist and second African American musician to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. (Wonder Stevie) Wonder’s songs are renowned for being quite difficult to sing. He has a very developed sense of harmony and uses many extended chords utilizing extensions such as ninths, elevenths, thirteenths, etc. n his compositions. Many of his melodies make abrupt, unpredictable changes. Many of his vocal melodies are also melismatic, meaning that a syllable is sung over several notes. Some of his best known and most frequently covered songs are played in keys which are more often found in jazz than in pop and rock. For example, “Superstition”, “Higher Ground” and “I Wish” are in the key of E flat minor, and feature distinctive riffs in the E flat minor pentatonic scale (i. e. largely on the black notes of the keyboard).
Wonder played a large role in bringing synthesizers to the forefront of popular music. He developed many new textures and sounds never heard before. They may not have good eyesight like you and me, but they are not daunted; instead they struggled to move ahead and ventured into business to be on par with normal persons. Their determination and perseverance paid off and today they are standing proud with the success. (Stevie Wonder) Stevie Wonder has been making music and impacting lives for more than four decades.
His life has impacted the history of one of the most remarkable periods of American music culture. But Stevie Wonder long ago crossed over from pop icon to a leader deeply committed to making a social impact in both America’s communities and around the world. He secured a place in U. S. History with his successful drive to make a difference. “We Are the World” fundraiser for hunger is working with American Express to lead the “Charge against Hunger” by raising more than $150 million to feed nearly six million hungry Americans yearly.
Songwriter, singer, producer, poet, musician, and performer throughout his career, this pop star is impossible to categorize. But one thing is certain, Stevie Wonder is a legendary artist. Bibliography 1) “Stevie Wonder”. Encyclop?dia Britannica. Encyclop?dia Britannica Online. Encyclop?dia Britannica Inc. , 2012. Web. 14 May. 2012 2) “Wonder, Stevie. ” Contemporary Black Biography. 2006. Encyclopedia. com. 14 May. 2012 <http://www. encyclopedia. com>. 3) Lodder, Steve, Stevie Wonder: A Musical Guide to the Classic Albums, San Francisco, CA: Backbeat, 2005
