May 13, 1950

Stevie Wonder was born Steveland Hardaway Judkins. He is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. A prominent figure of 20th century popular music, Wonder has recorded more than thirty top ten hits, won twenty-five Grammy Awards (a record for a solo artist), plus one for lifetime achievement, won an Academy Award for Best Song and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame. Opera star Luciano Pavarotti once referred to him in a concert as a "great, great musical genius".

Blind from infancy, Wonder signed with Motown Records as a pre-adolescent at age twelve, and continues to perform and record for the label to this day. He has nine U.S. number-one hits to his name 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. A multi-instrumentalist, Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, talk box, harmonica, congas, drums, bongos, bass guitar, organ, melodica, and clarinet. In his early career, he was best known for his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills. Diana Ross, once called Wonder, "Motown's musical genius."

Wonder's success as a socially conscious musical performer influenced popular music. Among the musicians and performers who list Wonder as one of their major influences are Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Gloria Estefan, Alicia Keys, Tori Amos, Avia, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Kanye West, George Michael, Nik Kershaw, Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Sting, John Ondrasik (Five For Fighting), India.Arie, Musiq Soulchild, Kuhbumser, John Legend, Jason Kay (Jamiroquai), Donell Jones, Brandy, Beyoncé Knowles, John Farnham, Jon Gibson, Aaliyah, Babyface, Justin Timberlake, Craig David, Utada Hikaru, Shogo Hamada, Shunsuke Kuroda (from the J-pop group Kobukuro), Jim Underwood, and the members of Jodeci, the Neptunes, Spitting Blood, Dru Hill, and Thunder. UK soul singer Nate James sang in his international hit single "The Message": 'Let's go back in time, back to Music of My Mind, with Stevie playing piano just for you'.[7]

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 tensions such as 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, b5s, etc. in 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. In the American Idol Hollywood Performances, judge Randy Jackson repeatedly stated the difficulty of Wonder's songs. 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, 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. With the help of Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, he developed many new textures and sounds never heard before. In 1981, Wonder became the first owner of an E-mu Emulator. It was Wonder's urging that led Raymond Kurzweil to create the first electronic synthesizers that realistically reproduced the sounds of orchestral instruments; Wonder had become acquainted with the inventor as an early user and evangelist of his reading machine, the technology for which would prove instrumental in the success of the Kurzweil K250.


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Stevie Wonder

* www.steviewonder.net Official Stevie Wonder Website
* www.steviewonder.orgfree.com Stevie Wonder Website spanish
* RBMA Radio On Demand - Sound Obsession - Volume 14 - Stevie Wonder Special Pt.2 - Kirk Degiorgio (The Beauty Room, As One)
* RBMA Radio On Demand - Sound Obsession - Volume 13 - Stevie Wonder Special Pt.1 - Kirk Degiorgio (The Beauty Room, As One)
* Madison Times reviews Stevie in Chicago Stevie Wonder concert review - Chicago/Sept. 11
* Groove and Flow A downloadable .pdf version of Tim Hughes' 2003 University of Washington PhD dissertation, "Groove and Flow: Six Analytical Essays On The Music Of Stevie Wonder"
* Stevie Wonder discography at MusicBrainz
* A World of Wonder - steviewonder.org.uk
* Photo archive of Stevie Wonder by Chris Walter, from the 1960s to present day.
* Stevie Wonder Unofficial - Fan's website, lyrics, album, photos, articles and forums
* OOM Gallery - Photographs of Stevie Wonder by Pogus Caesar, from exhibition Muzik Kinda Sweet (1989)
* Stevie Wonder at Allmusic
* Higher Ground: Exploring the Harder Edge Sounds and Politics of Stevie Wonder
* [1] Free streamed audio
* Set list from Aug. 31,2007 in Woodinville, WA
* Jackson Collection with Stevie Wonder items