1960s: Singles as a youth In 1961, at the age of 11, Wonder sang his own composition, "Lonely Boy", to
Ronnie White of
the Miracles; White then took Wonder and his mother to an audition at
Motown, where CEO
Berry Gordy signed Wonder to Motown's Tamla label. Because of Wonder's age, the label drew up a rolling five-year contract in which royalties would be held in trust until Wonder was 21. He and his mother would be paid a weekly stipend to cover their expenses: Wonder received $2.50 () per week, and a private tutor was provided when Wonder was on tour. Wonder was put in the care of producer and songwriter Clarence Paul, and for a year they worked together on two albums.
Tribute to Uncle Ray was recorded first, when Wonder was still 11 years old. Mainly covers of
Ray Charles's songs, the album included a Wonder and Paul composition, "Sunset".
The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie was recorded next, an instrumental album consisting mainly of Paul's compositions, two of which, "Wondering" and "Session Number 112", were co-written with Wonder. Feeling Wonder was now ready, a song, "Mother Thank You", was recorded for release as a single, but then pulled and replaced by the Berry Gordy song "I Call It Pretty Music, But the Old People Call It the Blues" as his début single; released summer 1962, it almost broke into the
Billboard 100, spending one week of August at 101. Two follow-up singles, "Little Water Boy" and "Contract on Love", both had no success, and the two albums, released in reverse order of recording—
The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie in September 1962 and
Tribute to Uncle Ray in October 1962—also met with little success. At the end of 1962, when Wonder was 12 years old, he joined the
Motortown Revue, touring the "
Chitlin' Circuit" of theaters across America that accepted black artists. At the
Regal Theater, Chicago, his 20-minute performance was recorded and released in May 1963 as the album
Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius. The song, featuring a confident and enthusiastic Wonder returning for a spontaneous encore that catches out the replacement bass player, who is heard to call out "What key? What key?", was a No. 1 hit on the
Billboard Hot 100 when Wonder was aged 13, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. The single was simultaneously No. 1 on the R&B chart, the first time that had occurred. His next few recordings were not successful; his voice was changing as he got older, and some Motown executives were considering canceling his recording contract. During 1964, Wonder appeared in two films as himself,
Muscle Beach Party and
Bikini Beach, but these were not successful either. Motown producer/songwriter
Sylvia Moy persuaded label owner Berry Gordy to give Wonder another chance. He also began to work in the Motown songwriting department, composing songs both for himself and his label mates, including "
The Tears of a Clown", a No. 1 hit for
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (it was first released in 1967, mostly unnoticed as the last track of their
Make It Happen LP, but eventually became a major success when re-released as a single in 1970, which prompted Robinson to reconsider his intention of leaving the group). '' advertisement, June 17, 1967 In 1968, Wonder recorded an album of instrumental soul/jazz tracks, mostly harmonica solos, under the title
Eivets Rednow, which is "Stevie Wonder" spelled backward. The album failed to get much attention, and its only single, a cover of Burt Bacharach's and Hal David's "
Alfie", only reached number 66 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and number 11 on the
Adult Contemporary chart. Nonetheless, he managed to score several hits between 1967 and 1970 such as "
I Was Made to Love Her", In 1969, Wonder participated in the
Sanremo Music Festival in Italy with the song "Se tu ragazzo mio", in conjunction with
Gabriella Ferri. Between 1967 and 1970, he recorded four 45 rpm singles and an Italian LP. Wonder's appearance at the 1969
Harlem Cultural Festival opens the 2021 music documentary,
Summer of Soul. Wonder plays a drum solo during his set.
1970s: Classic period and
Malcolm Cecil, whose work and custom-built synthesizer defined the sound of Wonder's four albums between 1972 and 1974. Pictured at the
National Music Centre, Canada, in 2024. synthesizer, as used by Wonder. The front panel still shows the
braille labeling In September 1970, at the age of 20, Wonder married
Syreeta Wright, a songwriter and former Motown secretary. Wright and Wonder worked together on the next album, ''
Where I'm Coming From'' (1971), Wonder writing the music, and Wright helping with the lyrics. Wonder and Wright wanted to "touch on the social problems of the world", and for the lyrics "to mean something". Also 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. Reaching his 21st birthday on May 13, 1971, Wonder allowed his Motown contract to expire. Around the release of ''Where I'm Coming From
, Wonder became interested in synthesizers after hearing the album Zero Time'' by the
electronic group
Tonto's Expanding Head Band, which consisted of
Robert Margouleff and
Malcolm Cecil. He hired them as
associate producers after meeting them in
New York in May 1971. The trio quickly recorded a large amount of material, featuring a predominantly electronic sound due to the extensive use of Margouleff and Cecil's custom-built
modular synthesizer, the
TONTO synthesizer. The instrument combined several synthesizers, including the
ARP 2600,
Oberheim SEM, and the
Moog. The album's lyrics addressed social and political issues alongside romantic themes. Critics praised the album, viewing it as a further step towards artistic maturity and self-expression. It peaked at No. 21 on the
Billboard 200 and number six on the R&B chart. Two singles were released: "
Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)" in April and "Keep On Running" in August, which peaked at No. 33 and 90 on the
Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Co-writer
Yvonne Wright would also return on later projects. Wonder played as
support act on
The Rolling Stones's June–July
American Tour 1972, helping his music
cross over to white audiences. it is generally considered to showcase a more mature and introspective Stevie Wonder, and it was acclaimed by critics. The album featured the single "Superstition", which became Wonder's first number-one hit on the Hot 100 in a decade and is regarded as one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the
Hohner Clavinet. The album also included "
You Are the Sunshine of My Life", which likewise reached number one on the Hot 100. The two songs earned three
Grammy Awards between them at the
1974 ceremony. The album was Wonder's most commercially successful to date, peaking at number three on the
Billboard 200 and becoming his first album to reach the top of the R&B chart, where it remained for three weeks. Wonder's next album
Innervisions, released in August 1973, featured "
Higher Ground" (No. 4 on the pop charts) as well as the trenchant, racially conscious "
Living for the City" (No. 8).
Innervisions generated two more Grammy Awards at the 1974 ceremony:
Best Engineered Recording – Non-Classical, presented to Cecil and Margouleff, and his first
Album of the Year; He was rushed to the hospital, where he lay in a coma for four days. The injury resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell, a temporary loss of his sense of taste, and a bump on the forehead. He was transported to Los Angeles after two weeks for continued treatment before returning to New York in September. Despite orders from his doctor to refrain from performing, Wonder made a surprise appearance at an
Elton John concert in
Boston Garden on September 25, and in November played at a homecoming benefit for
Shaw University in
Raleigh, North Carolina. Shaw was facing financial difficulties, so Wonder, who was a member of the university's board of trustees, rallied other acts including
Exuma,
Labelle, and
the Chambers Brothers to join the concert, which raised more than $10,000 for the school's scholarship fund. Wonder embarked on a European tour in early 1974, performing in France at the
Midem convention in
Cannes, in England at the
Rainbow Theatre in London, and on the German television show
Musikladen. On his return to the United States, he played a sold-out concert at
Madison Square Garden in March 1974, highlighting both up-tempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as "
Living for the City". He also co-wrote and produced the 1974 Syreeta Wright album
Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta. On October 4, 1975, Wonder performed at the historic "
Wonder Dream Concert" in
Kingston, Jamaica, a benefit for the Jamaican Institute for the Blind. In 1975, he played harmonica on two tracks on
Billy Preston's album ''
It's My Pleasure''. By 1975, at the age of 25, Wonder had won two consecutive
Grammy Awards: in 1974 for
Innervisions and in 1975 for ''Fulfillingness' First Finale
. In 1976, when Paul Simon won the Album of the Year Grammy for his Still Crazy After All These Years'', he wryly noted: "I'd like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn't make an album this year." The double album-with-extra-
EP,
Songs in the Key of Life, was released in September 1976. Sprawling in style and sometimes lyrically difficult to fathom, the album was hard for some listeners to assimilate, yet is regarded by many as Wonder's crowning achievement and one of the most recognizable and accomplished albums in pop music history. Two tracks became No. 1 Pop/R&B hits: "
I Wish" and "
Sir Duke". The baby-celebratory "
Isn't She Lovely" was written about his newborn daughter Aisha, while songs such as "
Love's in Need of Love Today" and "Village Ghetto Land" reflected a far more pensive mood.
Songs in the Key of Life won Album of the Year and two other Grammys. Until 1979's ''
Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants", his only further 1970s release was the retrospective three-disc album Looking Back'' (1977), an anthology of his early Motown period.
1980s: Increased cultural and political presence The mainly instrumental soundtrack album ''
Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants"'' (1979), was composed using an early music sampler called a
Computer Music Melodian. It was also his first
digital recording, and one of the earliest popular albums to use the technology, which Wonder used for all subsequent recordings. Wonder toured briefly with an orchestra in support of the album, and used a
Fairlight CMI sampler onstage. In this year Wonder also wrote and produced the dance hit "
Let's Get Serious", performed by
Jermaine Jackson and ranked by
Billboard as the No. 1 R&B single of 1980.
Hotter than July (1980) became Wonder's first platinum-certified album, and its single "
Happy Birthday" was a successful vehicle for his campaign to establish
Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a
national holiday. The album also included "
Master Blaster (Jammin')", "
I Ain't Gonna Stand for It", and the sentimental ballad, "
Lately". In 1982, Wonder released a retrospective of his 1970s work with ''
Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium'', which included four new songs: the ten-minute
funk classic "
Do I Do" (which featured
Dizzy Gillespie), "
That Girl" (one of the year's biggest singles to chart on the R&B side), "
Front Line", a narrative about a soldier in the
Vietnam War that Wonder wrote and sang in the first person, and "
Ribbon in the Sky", one of his many classic compositions. He also gained a No. 1 hit that year in collaboration with
Paul McCartney in their paean to racial harmony, "
Ebony and Ivory". Also in 1982, Wonder invited inventor
Raymond Kurzweil to his Los Angeles recording studio, Wonderland, and asked if "we could use the extraordinarily flexible computer control methods on the beautiful sounds of acoustic instruments?" In response, and with Wonder as musical advisor, Kurzweil founded
Kurzweil Music Systems, which unveiled the
Kurzweil K250 in 1984. Incidentally, on the occasion of his 35th birthday, Stevie Wonder was honored by the
United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid for his stance against racism in South Africa that same year (1985). The album also featured a guest appearance by
Dionne Warwick, singing the duet "It's You" with Stevie and a few songs of her own. Following the success of the album and its lead single, Wonder made an appearance on
The Cosby Show, in the episode "A Touch of Wonder", where he demonstrated his ability to sample. The following year's
In Square Circle featured the No. 1 pop hit "
Part-Time Lover". The album also has a Top 10 Hit with "Go Home". It also featured the ballad "
Overjoyed", which was originally written for
Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants", but did not make the album. He performed "Overjoyed" on
Saturday Night Live when he was the host. He was also featured in
Chaka Khan's cover of
Prince's "
I Feel For You", alongside
Melle Mel, playing his signature harmonica. In roughly the same period he was also featured on harmonica on
Eurythmics' single "
There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)" and
Elton John's "
I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues". Wonder was in a featured duet with
Bruce Springsteen on the all-star charity single for African famine relief, "
We Are the World", and he was part of another charity single the following year (1986), the AIDS-inspired "
That's What Friends Are For". He played harmonica on the album
Dreamland Express by
John Denver in the song "If Ever", a song Wonder co-wrote with Stephanie Andrews; wrote the track "I Do Love You" for
the Beach Boys' 1985
self-titled album; and played harmonica on "
Can't Help Lovin' That Man" on
The Broadway Album by
Barbra Streisand. In 1987, Wonder appeared on
Michael Jackson's
Bad album, on the duet "Just Good Friends". Jackson also sang a duet with him entitled "
Get It" on Wonder's 1987 album
Characters. This was a minor hit single, as were "
Skeletons" and "
You Will Know", both songs becoming his final number one R&B singles. Wonder played harmonica on a remake of his own song, "Have a Talk with God" (from
Songs in the Key of Life in 1976), on
Jon Gibson's album
Body & Soul (1989).
1990s: Jungle Fever and 1996 Olympics Wonder continued to release new material, but at a slower pace. In 1990, he participated in
Whitney Houston's album ''
I'm Your Baby Tonight'', contributing the duet "
We Didn't Know", which reached the top 20 of the
Billboard R&B chart. He recorded a soundtrack album for
Spike Lee's film
Jungle Fever in 1991. From this album, singles and videos were released for "Gotta Have You", "Fun Day" (remix only), "These Three Words" and "Jungle Fever". The B-side to the "Gotta Have You" single was "Feeding Off the Love of the Land", which was played during the end credits of the movie
Jungle Fever but was not included on the soundtrack. A piano and vocal version of "Feeding Off the Love of the Land" was also released on the ''
Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal compilation. Conversation Peace and the live album Natural Wonder'' were released in the 1990s. In 1992, Wonder went to perform at
Panafest, a new international festival of music held biennially in
Ghana; it was during this trip that he composed many of the songs featured on
Conversation Peace, and he would describe in a 1995 interview the powerful impact his visit to that country had: "I'd only been there for 18 hours when I decided I'd eventually move there permanently." In 1994, as co-chair of Panafest that year, he headlined a concert at the
National Theatre in
Accra, Ghana's capital city. Among his other activities, Wonder played harmonica on the track "
Deuce" (sung by
Lenny Kravitz) for the 1994 tribute album
Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved; sang at the
1996 Summer Olympics closing ceremony; collaborated in 1997 with
Babyface on "
How Come, How Long", a song about domestic violence that was nominated for a Grammy Award; and played harmonica on
Sting's 1999 "
Brand New Day". In early 1999, Wonder performed in the
Super Bowl XXXIII halftime show. In May 1999,
Rutgers University presented Wonder with an
honorary doctorate degree in fine arts. In December 1999, Wonder announced that he was interested in pursuing an
intraocular retinal prosthesis to partially restore his sight.
Into the 21st century: Later career and collaborations In 2000, Wonder contributed two new songs to the soundtrack for
Spike Lee's
Bamboozled album ("Misrepresented People" and "Some Years Ago"). Wonder continues to record and perform; though mainly occasional appearances and guest performances, he did do two tours, and released one album of new material, 2005's
A Time to Love. In June 2006, Wonder made a guest appearance on
Busta Rhymes' album
The Big Bang, on the track "Been through the Storm". He sings the refrain and plays the piano on the
Dr. Dre- and
Sha Money XL–produced track. He appeared again on the last track of
Snoop Dogg's 2006 album
Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, "Conversations". The song is a remake of "Have a Talk with God" from
Songs in the Key of Life. In 2006, Wonder staged a duet with
Andrea Bocelli on the latter's album
Amore, offering harmonica and additional vocals on "
Canzoni Stonate". Wonder also performed at Washington, D.C.'s 2006
A Capitol Fourth celebration. His other key appearances include performing at the opening ceremony of the
2002 Winter Paralympics in
Salt Lake City, the 2005
Live 8 concert in Philadelphia, the pre-game show for
Super Bowl XL in 2006, the
Obama Inaugural Celebration in 2009, and the opening ceremony of the
2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece. Wonder's first new album in 10 years,
A Time to Love, was released in October 2005 to lower sales than previous albums, and lukewarm reviews—most reviewers appearing frustrated at the end of the long delay to get an album that mainly copied the style of Wonder's "classic period" without doing anything new. The first single, "
So What the Fuss", was released in April. A second single, "
From the Bottom of My Heart", was a hit on adult-contemporary R&B radio. The album also featured a duet with
India Arie on the title track "A Time to Love". In 2006, Wonder also recorded a duet with
Tony Bennett, a rendition of "For Once in My Life", which earned them a Grammy Award for
Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. On September 8, 2008, he started the European leg of his Wonder Summer's Night Tour, the first time he had toured Europe in more than a decade. His opening show was at the
National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, in the
English Midlands. During the tour, he played eight UK gigs; four at the
O2 Arena in London (filmed in HD and subsequently released as a live-in-concert release on DVD and Blu-Ray,
Live at Last), two in Birmingham and two at the
M.E.N. Arena in Manchester. His 2010 tour included a two-hour set at the
Bonnaroo Music Festival in
Manchester, Tennessee, a stop at the
Hard Rock Calling festival in
Hyde Park, London, and appearances at England's
Glastonbury Festival, Rotterdam's
North Sea Jazz Festival, a concert in
Bergen, Norway, and a concert in
Dublin, Ireland, at
The O2 on June 24. In October 2020, Wonder mentioned both
Through the Eyes of Wonder and
The Gospel Inspired by Lula as projects in development. None of the albums have yet been released. presenting Wonder with the
Gershwin Prize in 2009|250x250px Wonder's harmonica playing can be heard on the 2009 Grammy-nominated "Never Give You Up", featuring CJ Hilton and
Raphael Saadiq. Wonder sang at the
Michael Jackson memorial service in 2009, at
Etta James' funeral, in 2012, a month later at
Whitney Houston's memorial service, and at the funeral of
Aretha Franklin in 2018. In 2013, Wonder revealed that he had been recording new material for two albums,
When the World Began and
Ten Billion Hearts, in collaboration with producer
David Foster. The albums have not seen release. Wonder appeared on singer
Celine Dion's studio album
Loved Me Back to Life (2013), performing a cover of his 1985 song "Overjoyed", and played harmonica on "Make It Look Good", a track from
Mariah Carey's studio album
Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (2014). He was also featured on two tracks on
Mark Ronson's 2015 album
Uptown Special, and the track "
Stop Trying to Be God" on
Travis Scott's 2018 album
Astroworld. In October 2020, Wonder announced that he had a new
vanity label released via
Republic Records, So What the Fuss Records, marking the first time his music was not released through Motown Records. The announcement was paired with the release of two singles: "
Can't Put It in the Hands of Fate", a "socially-conscious" funk track, and "Where Is Our Love Song", whose proceeds will go towards the organization
Feeding America. In June 2021, Wonder appeared in the documentary
Summer of Soul, directed by Ahmir "
Questlove" Thompson, showing the
Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969. In never-before-seen footage, a young 19-year-old Stevie Wonder is seen performing in front of thousands of people in Harlem. His performance shown in the documentary included "
It's Your Thing" by
the Isley Brothers and a drum solo. Wonder talks about the turning point made in his career during this time and how this helped him get out of being seen as just a child star. In September 2021, Wonder's duet with Elton John, "Finish Line", was released as a single. In October 2022, Wonder celebrated his 50th anniversary of his project
Talking Book. On August 30, 2024, Wonder released his first new song in four years, "Can We Fix Our Nation's Broken Heart". On July 3, 2025, he headlined at the
Lytham Festival, in
Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, UK. ==Legacy==