Stevie Wonder, Part 1 (1950-1971)

Welcome to another edition of Rock and Roll Flashback podcasts!  This podcast episode is Part 1 of a three part series of podcasts that I am recording about the extensive career of one of the most influential musicians of the past 60 years:  Stevie Wonder!  Part 1 will review Stevie's early life and career from 1950 through 1971.

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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Rock On!

Transcript

Thank you for that introduction, and welcome to another edition of Rock and Roll Flashback podcasts!  This podcast episode is Part 1 of a three part series of podcasts that I am recording about the extensive career of one of the most influential musicians of the past 60 years:  Stevie Wonder!  Part 1 will review Stevie's early life and career from 1950 through 1971.

Stevie Wonder was born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13th, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan.  He lost his sight shortly after birth due to retinopathy of prematurity.  After his family moved to Detroit in 1954, Stevie began singing in the church choir.  He quickly became a musical prodigy, learning piano, drums, and harmonica - all by the age of nine.  Around 1961 his surname was legally changed from Judkins to Morris.  Then, while performing for some of his friends in 1961, he was discovered by Ronnie White of the Miracles.  White arranged an audition for Stevie with Berry Gordy at Motown.  Gordy immediately signed the eleven year old and teamed him with producer/songwriter Clarence Paul under the new name Little Stevie Wonder.  Little Stevie released his first two albums in 1962.  One LP was called A Tribute to Uncle Ray, which featured Ray Charles covers.  The other LP was entitled The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie.  It was an orchestral jazz album, featuring  Stevie's skills on piano, harmonica, and assorted percussion.  Neither LP sold very well.

However, the next year would become a break-out year for Little Stevie.  His live 1963 album, called The 12 Year Old Genius, featured a new, extended version of the harmonica instrumental "Fingertips."  The single edit, "Fingertips, Pt. 2" went to the top of both the pop and the R&B charts.  Meanwhile, The 12 Year Old Genius LP became Motown's first chart-topping album.  Little Stevie would chart a few more singles over the next year, but none on the level of "Fingertips, Pt. 2."  

In 1964 Stevie dropped the "Little" portion of his stage name.  Then on November 22nd, 1965 Tamla released the single "Uptight (Everything's Alright)".  The song, which Stevie co-wrote, peaked at #3 on the US Billboard Pop Singles chart in early 1966.  "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" also reached #1 on the R&B chart for five weeks.  Billboard ranked it as the 59th biggest American hit of 1966.  "Uptight" garnered Wonder his first two career Grammy Award nominations for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance.

By then Stevie Wonder was beginning to take more of a hand in his own career.  He co-wrote his next several hits, all of which made the R&B Top Ten.  "Hey Love" reached #9 in 1967 on the R&B chart.  "I Was Made to Love Her" peaked at #2 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in July 1967.  The song spent four non-consecutive weeks at #1 on the R&B chart.  "I Was Made to Love Her"  also reached #5 in the UK, making it Stevie Wonder's first top-10 hit in that country.  

Then on October 15th, 1968 Tamla released Stevie's version of "For Once in My Life".  The song was a huge success, hitting #2 on both the pop and R&B charts.  Wonder's version of the track is often singled out by bassists as one of the greatest examples of James Jamerson's playing style.  No two bars of Jamerson's improvisational bass lines were played alike during the whole song!  Stevie Wonder's 1968 album, also called For Once in My Life, was significant in that he co-wrote about half of the material and, for the first time, co-produced several tracks.  Two other singles from the LP made the R&B Top Ten.  "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" reached #1 in the R&B chart and #9 in the Billboard Hot 100.  "You Met Your Match" reached #2 in the R&B chart and #39 in the Billboard Hot 100.

1969 would find Stevie with another pop and R&B Top Five hit.  The single "My Cherie Amour" was released on January 28th, and it reached #4 on the Billboard pop chart in August, becoming Wonder's 8th Top 10 hit.  It also hit #4 on the R&B chart.  During the summer of 1969 Wonder performed at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.  In 2021 Questlove produced a music documentary about that 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.  His documentary was called Summer of Soul, and Stevie Wonder can be seen playing a drum solo during his set.  On August 29th, Motown released Stevie's eleventh studio album, entitled My Cherie Amour.  The LP reached #12 in the UK albums chart and #34 in the US pop albums chart.  Another single released from the album was "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday".  It peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 the weeks of December 13th and 20th, becoming Wonder's 9th Top 10 single of the 1960's.  In November 1969, "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" reached #2 on the UK singles chart, making it at that time, Wonder's biggest UK hit.  At the end of 1969, the single "My Cherie Amour" was ranked #32 by Billboard for the year.  

In 1970, Wonder received his first-ever co-production credit for his 12th studio album, Signed, Sealed & Delivered.  Stevie co-wrote the LP's title track with singer-songwriter Syreeta Wright, whom he married later that year.  Released on August 7th, the album featured four hits that charted on the Billboard Hot 100: "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" at #3, "Heaven Help Us All" at #9, "Never Had a Dream Come True" at #26, and "We Can Work It Out" at #13.  The single "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" also spent six weeks at #1 on the R&B chart.  The album hit #25 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, as well as #7 on the R&B Albums chart.  As a bonus that year, two other Motown artists had major success with songs Stevie co-wrote: the Spinners with "It's a Shame" and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles with "Tears of a Clown."

On April 9th, 1971, a month before his 21st birthday, Wonder released Where I'm Coming From, his first entirely self-produced album.  This marked the first time he wrote or co-wrote every song on an LP and was the first time his keyboard and synthesizer work dominated his arrangements.  Berry Gordy was reportedly not fond of the work.  The LP wasn't a major commercial success, although the single, "If You Really Love Me", peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, #4 on the R&B chart, and #10 on the Easy Listening chart.

On his 21st birthday, Stevie's contract with Motown expired, and the royalties set aside in his trust fund became available to him.  Wonder used proceeds from his trust fund to build his own recording studio and to enroll in music theory classes at USC.  He negotiated a new deal with Motown that dramatically increased his royalty rate and established his own publishing company, Black Bull Music.  Thus he would be able to retain the rights to his music.  Also he would maintain full artistic control over his future recordings .

By 1971 Stevie Wonder had already become a soul music giant, a beloved American icon, and an indisputable genius of popular music.   His ability to blend rhythm and blues with pop sensibilities made him a household name, paving the way for an even more illustrious career ahead.  

This concludes the first of three Rock and Roll Flashback podcasts about the musical genius that is Stevie Wonder!  In this episode, Stevie Wonder, Part 1, I discussed Stevie's early life and career from 1950 through 1971.  To learn more about the illustrious career of Stevie Wonder, be sure to check out Parts 2 and Parts 3 of my Stevie Wonder series here on Rock and Roll Flashback podcasts!  So for now, I'm Jumpin' John McDermott!  And until next time, Rock On!