A Overview of the Music of Stevie Wonder

Dick Bigems

The Beginning

• Stevie Wonder’s career dates all the way back to 1961, starting his career at the mere age of 11 by signing to the then up and coming Motown.

• His first hit came in the form of “Fingertips (Pt. 2)” in 1963, which emphasized Wonder’s talent as a harmonica and bongo player, as well as singer.

• At this point, Stevie was projected by the label as a child prodigy with his stage name being “Little Stevie Wonder”. They’d eventually drop the “little” moniker for his next single, “Uptight”, released in 1964.

The ‘60s Motown Sound

• Throughout the ‘60s, Stevie continued to deliver hits to Motown. Not only did he perform, he also wrote songs such as “Tears of a Clown” for Smokey Robinson and co-wrote his own hits “I Was Made to Love Her” and “My Cherie Amour”.

• Much of Stevie’s music at this time fit within what has been referred to as “The Motown Sound”, a rather simple and distinctive melodic structure which was usually marked by prominent bass-lines and a call-and-respond singing style.

• Artists in Motown at the time did not have much creative control over their own music. Most songs performed were written and/or produced by someone other than their selves. Wonder was no exception, as shown in the production credits of his Down to Earth album.

The ‘70s and Creative Control• By the ‘70s Stevie Wonder had become one of Motown’s biggest

stars, but still did not have total creative control over his albums. • To convince Motown into giving him what he wanted, he showcased

his talent by composing hits for himself in “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” and The Spinners’ “It’s a Shame” (not only by writing, but also by playing numerous instruments on the records).

• Eventually, Motown conceded to his demands and thus Stevie released Where I’m Coming From (1971), his first album he fully produced and wrote for himself. Though it did not top the charts, it proved Stevie’s talent as an legitimate, self-made musician.

Songs like “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer”, displayed Wonder’s great songwriting ability.

Music of My Mind and the Start of the “Classic Period”

• The next phase of Wonder’s career has been called the “classic period” by many critics, where each of his albums released during the early to mid ‘70s are considered to be classic.

• It’s debatable where exactly where this “classic period” begins, but most will agree that either Where I’m Coming From or his following album, Music of My Mind (1972), are the starting points.

• Unlike any of his previous work, Music of My Mind is the first time his audience hears him fully experiment with the instrumentation of his records by using the rather sparse and sporadic synthesizer.

• Also unlike his previous works, each song on this album was thematically connected together into an overall concept, most evident in the song “Superwoman” which transitions between two different songs on one single track.

• “Stevie Wonder released Music of My Mind, his first truly unified record and, with the exception of a single part on two songs, the work of a one-man-band.” (AllMusic) Wonder played everything from drums, harmonica, to keyboard on this album, as he would on many of his later releases.

Music of My Mind serves as a significant landmark in Wonder’s career, by experimenting with his music’s instrumentation (almost totally done by himself) and not using conventional song patterns.

Music of My Mind

Continued.

Talking Book and Mass Appeal

• Released only seven months later in ’72, was Wonder’s next effort, Talking Book.

• With the hit single “Superstition”, Stevie regained his popularity on the charts earning himself another number one, simultaneously showing the general public his new style of music as the song is distinctly marked by it’s clavinet keyboard.

• Further pushing the acclaim of the album was the next single, “You are the Sunshine of My Life”, which probably gives a more wholesome representation of the album’s primary subject matter – love (mainly romantic).

• Other tracks such as “You & I” and “I Believe” show the high hopes of Wonder while he’s in love, which many can probably relate to, while other songs such as “Maybe Your Baby” and “Blame It On the Sun” show love in a state of turmoil.

Innervisions• Continuing his success, Wonder released Innervisions (1973), which

won his first Grammy for Album of the Year.• The album displayed how Wonder was gradually evolving as an artist

through it’s socially conscious subject matter, most evident in it’s two leading singles, “Higher Ground” and “Living for the City”.

• Other songs an the album deal with topics such as drugs (“Too High”) to the common theme of love (“All is Fair in Love”), while the title track “Visions” displays Wonder’s view of what would be an ideal world.

Fulfillingness’ First Finale

• “If Talking Book deals primarily with love of woman and Innervisions with love of humanity, FFF concerns the love of God.” (Rolling Stone)

• With more gospel induced undertones and perhaps a less pronounced funk driven vibe, FFF (1974) still managed to help solidify Wonder’s placement in the music world as a artist who could both appeal to black and white audiences, thus making him a prominent figure in pop music.

• As one of his bolder political statements, “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” topped the charts as a number one hit helping him attain his second Grammy for Album of the Year, as an artist who proved he wasn’t afraid to express his opinions.

• Also with the single “Boogie on Reggae Woman” (which was more funk sounding than reggae), Wonder gained another hit.

• In the same year, he wrote another popular song for Chaka Khan & Rufus in the form of the funky “Tell Me Something Good”.

Songs in the Key of Life

• Songs in the Key of Life (1976) represents quite possibly the culminating release in Wonder’s career as a double album that encompasses all of his musical ambitions and experimentations of the time.

• Unlike his previous three albums where he basically made an album like an “one-man-band” playing most of the instruments and such, Wonder enlisted the help of many other people on this album for the bulk of the material being produced.

• Because of the large amount of musical diversity being covered on this album, Songs in the Key of Life lacks a cohesive sound that Wonder’s previous albums had, but it stood as a testament to his range and scope as an artist.

Songs in the Key of Life Continued.

• Key singles like the jazzy, horn-infused “Sir Duke” and the reminiscent, up-beat “I Wish” pushed forth Songs in the Key of Life’s notability.

• Other songs on the album displayed his full extent of musical creativity with synthesized, classical-like tracks such as “Village Ghetto Land” and “Pastime Paradise” which deliver socially conscious messages similar to those made on his Innervisions album.

From the dedication to his newborn daughter, “Isn’t She Lovely?” to the Brazilian-flavored “Another Star”, Wonder covered a lot of musical ground with this project and was quite possibly Wonder’s most ambitious to date.

Closing of the “Classic Period”

• After winning his third Grammy for Album of the Year for Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder capped off what most observers would regard as the pinnacle of his musical career.

• Wonder would lessen the volume of material that he’d produce from this time on, kind of coasting off his previous successes. In a way it opened up Stevie to experiment even more musically than before, as he would with his next album, Journey through the Secret Life of Plants (1979), which, as the title suggests, is themed after plants.

• Being that Journey was just suppose to serve as a soundtrack to a movie, the album was mostly comprised of instrumentals and saw Wonder further test the technology of his music, as this album was one of the first to be recorded digitally.

• The album was not a critical success. Many of the arrangements were synthesized compositions which were hard for fans to understand, but the album did produce a lesser hit in the song “Send One Your Love”.

The ‘80s and Commercial Resurgence

• Wonder’s next release, Hotter than July (1980), brought him back to prominence commercially, being propelled by the reggae/Bob Marley-inspired single, “Master Blaster”.

• The album also included the MLK tribute song “Happy Birthday” used to campaign for a national holiday be put in place in honor of the civil rights activist, as well as the more subtle “Lately” which showed Wonder’s talent as a balladeer and the slight shift in how his music began to appeal to older audiences.

• During this time, Stevie continued to makepopular songs, examples being in the form of synthpop-R&B hit, “That Girl”, the danceable “Do I Do”, and soothing ballad, “Ribbon in the Sky”, all on the compilation album Original Musiquarium I (1982).

Commercial Resurgence Continued.

• Enlisted by Paul McCartney, Stevie scored another hit with “Ebony and Ivory”, a song about racial harmony.

• Two years later, Wonder would make another movie soundtrack titled The Woman in Red (1984) that would generate one of his bigger hits in the form of the saccharine “I Just Called to Say I Love You”.

• His following musical effort, In Square Circle (1985), exhibited Wonder fully immersed into electronically produced music. The pioneering Stevie had done in the early seventies with synthesizers had already became commonplace in eighties with artists such as Michael Jackson and Prince. Still he managed to make successful singles with the lively pop song, “Part-Time Lover” and sentimental “Overjoyed”.

The ‘80s and On...

• For the remainder of his career Wonder didn’t really produce any major hits, partly due to the fact that his musical output wasn’t nearly as high as it was in previous years.

• In 1987 he released Characters, a somewhat disappointing album, both commercially and critically, as it was met with mixed reviews and charted relatively low in comparison to his other work.

• With the promotion of synthesizer and electronic generated sounds, Wonder was a innovative and trailblazing musician in the ‘70s, but here we see him as an artist who’s sort of a victim of his own creation, using too much for his own good, stylistically following the likes of Michael Jackson instead of making truly original strides of his own.

• Again Stevie would make a soundtrack album, this time for the Spike Lee joint Jungle Fever (1991) in which the title track received mild success.

• As his latest two albums, Wonder has released Conversation Peace (1995) and A Time to Love (2005), both of which have been moderately successful.

Legacy

• Given his tremendous influence on music, Stevie Wonder is arguably one of most admired artists of the 20th century, and as a person who pushed musical boundaries, he has had altered the course of pop and R&B music as we know it.

• Winning 22 Grammy awards (the most by any solo artist), selling more than 100 million albums, and being inducted into both the Rock & Roll and Songwriters Hall of Fame among other things, Wonder has received a extraordinary amount of recognition for his musical contributions.

Conclusion.• Stevie Wonder was an artist that grew up before our eyes, from being just a gifted

kid stuck in the Motown framework to a full-grown musician leading the world of R&B music, eventually turning into an seasoned pop icon.

• Quite remarkable is Wonder’s longevity as an artist, as one can see/hear his significant imprint on music spanning for three decades, leaving a lasting impression that has and can be felt for decades after.

• It is also important to emphasize the pure skill and talent that was necessary for making his records. While being blind might’ve be very limiting in some respects, one might say Stevie took advantage of his disability, gaining a heightened sense of sound, propelling him to play an multitude of different instruments such as the keyboard, harmonica, drums, and bass guitar at a early age. It was also this that probably contributed to his sense of music which assisted in his producing ability, meanwhile giving him a more unique outlook on life that evidently showed in his lyrics which were always optimistic and positive.

• As previously referenced, Wonder has written and produced a good portion of music outside of his own discography, with his name being credited in the material of the likes of Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Michael Jackson, Jeff Beck, and many others. Through the years many artists have covered sampled his songs.

Works Cited

• Bush, John. "Music of My Mind by Stevie Wonder on AllMusic." AllMusic. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

• Emerson, Ken. "Fulfillingness' First Finale | Album Reviews | Rolling Stone."Rollingstone.com. Jann S. Wenner, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

• “Stevie Wonder” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 June 2013. 06 Apr. 2013