What do you know, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones are not the only pop legends commemorating 50 years in the business of making music. Soul superstar Stevie Wonder also launched his career in 1963. It was in July of that year when Motown Records, then the home of the Supremes, The Miracles, The Temptations and others released a single titled Fingertips — Part 2 with the remarkable vocals by a 13-year-old boy named Stevie Wonder.
The song was an instant hit. It would mark the beginning of a long string of songs that would define the next decades for most of us. It served to introduce one of the most prolific, influential and most talented artists ever known with one of the most successful careers in the history of popular music. He was the first artist to get the full creative control of his recordings included in his contract and also the first-ever to be signed to a lifetime deal.
Get a load of this hit list: Uptight, Everything’s All Right, Nothing’s Too Good For My Baby, With A Child’s Heart, Blowing In The Wind, I Was Made To Love Her, I’m Wondering, Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day, For Once In My Life, My Cherie Amour, Yester Me, Yester You, Yesterday, Never Had A Dream Come True, Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours, Heaven Help Us All, If You Really Love Me, We Can Work It Out Superstition, Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You), You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, Higher Ground, Living In The City, He’s Misstra Know It All.
All In Love Is Fair, Don’t You Worry About A Thing, You Haven’t Done Nothing Yet, Boogie On Reggae Woman, I Wish, Isn’t She Lovely, Sir Duke, Another Star, As, Send One Your Love, Master Blaster (Jammin’), Happy Birthday, Lately, That Girl, Do I Do, Ribbon In The Sky, I Just Called To Say I Love You, Love Light In Flight, Part Time Lover, Go Home, Overjoyed, Land Of La La, Skeleton, For Your Love, From The Bottom Of My Heart, etc., etc.
Wow! And those are just the big hit singles. What about the album cuts like Happy Man, Too Shy To Say, I Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer; or the songs he wrote for others, like the poignant Tears Of A Clown for Smokey Robinson; the duets he recorded, Ebony And Ivory with Paul McCartney, Just Good Friends with Michael Jackson, My Love with Julio Iglesias, For Once In My Life with Tony Bennett and So Amazing with Beyoncé; the more than duets, We Are The World with an all-star cast and where Stevie did a duet with Bruce Springsteen and That’s What Friends Are For with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Gladys Knight.
I should also mention the years he kept winning the Grammy for Album of the Year that other artists took to checking his schedule before releasing their own albums, 1974 for Inner Visions, 1975 for Fulfillingness First Finale and 1977 for Songs In The Key Of Life. Back then, they all feared Stevie; the time when he also invaded the Academy Awards and got a Best Song Oscar for I Just Called To Say I Love You which was used in the movie Lady In Red in 1984; or his just as prolific harmonica playing which can be heard in Barbra Streisand’s Can’t Help Loving That Man, in Brand New Day by Sting and There Must Be An Angel Playing With My Heart by The Eurythmics.
Those are not all that Stevie Wonder has accomplished these past 50 years. The kid who was born blind in 63 years ago actually changed the way pop songs were produced. Think of the concept album, Stevie perfected that. Think of how a lot of artists now not only sing, but also produce, arrange and if they can also play all the required instruments for their songs. Stevie started that, too.
Then in a way, he also changed the structure of the pop song. Of course, I have heard a lot of singers complain about what he did. Stevie’s songs are difficult to sing. He has this fantastic vocal range that allows him to take on any key and still sound good. Then he also has this proficiency and love for jazz that makes his melodies unpredictable. Want to sing a Stevie song? Better have it rearranged to avoid going off-key.
And before I forget, may I also mention that Stevie, also a famous philanthropist and humanitarian, was one of those artists who faced the British invasion head-on during the ’60s and won. He helped keep the Motown label going and the American music industry afloat.