Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm, "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music. The characteristic rhythm and feel of the boogie was then adapted to guitar, double bass, and other instruments. The earliest recorded boogie-woogie song was in 1916. By the 1930s, Swing bands such as Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Louis Jordan all had boogie hits. By the 1950s, boogie became incorporated into the emerging rockabilly and rock and roll styles. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s country bands released country boogies. Today, the term "boogie" usually refers to dancing to pop, disco, or rock music.

History

The boogie was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music and adapted to guitar. Boogie-woogie is a "style of blues piano playing characterized by an up-tempo rhythm, a repeated melodic pattern in the bass, and a series of improvised variations in the treble." Boogie woogie developed from a piano style that developed in the rough barrelhouse bars in the Southern states, where a piano player performed for the hard-drinking patrons. Wayne Schmidt remarks that with boogie-woogie songs, the "bass line isn't just a time keeper or 'fill' for the right hand"; instead, the bassline has equal importance to the right hand's melodic line. He argues that many boogie-woogie basslines use a "rising/falling sequence of notes" called walking bass line.

The origin of the term ''boogie-woogie'' is unknown, according to ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary''. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that the word is a redoubling of ''boogie'', which was used for rent parties as early as 1913. Boogie has been thought to be ancient West African vernacular for prostitute and boogie-woogie to be a sexually transmitted disease. If this is the case, hundreds of R n B songs from the 20th century take on a new coonotation. The term may be derived from Black West African English, from the Sierra Leone term "bogi", which means "to dance"; as well, it may be akin to the phrase "hausa buga", which means "to beat drums." In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the term "could mean anything from a racy style of dance to a raucous party or to a sexually transmitted disease." In Peter Silvester’s book on boogie woogie, ''Left Hand Like God — the Story of Boogie Woogie'' he states that, in 1929, “boogie-woogie is used to mean either dancing or music in the city of Detroit.�

Schmidt claims that the "earliest record of boogie woogie was Texan pianist George W. Thomas' release of ''New Orleans Hop Scop Blues'' as sheet music in 1916." Boogie hit the charts with Pine Top Smith's ''Pine Top's Boogie'' in 1929, which garnered the number 20 spot. In the late 1930s, boogie became part of the then popular Swing style, as big bands such as "Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Louis Jordan...all had boogie hits." Swing big band audiences expected to hear boogie tunes, because the beat could be used for the then-popular dances such as the jitterbug and the Lindy Hop. As well, country artists began playing boogie woogie in the late 1930s, when Johnny Barfield recorded "Boogie Woogie". The Delmore Brothers "Freight Train Boogie" shows how country music and blues were being blended to form the genre which would become known as rockabilly. The Sun Records-era rockabilly sound used "wild country boogie piano" as part of its sound.

However, by the early 1950s, boogie became less popular, and by the mid-1950s, its related form, rock & roll, became the most popular style. By the mid-1970s, the meaning of the term returned to its roots, in a certain sense, as during the disco era, "to boogie" meant "to dance in a disco style". In the 1980s, country bands such as The Charlie Daniels Band used boogie woogie in songs such as the 1988 "Boogie Woogie Fiddle Country Blues". In 1991 Brooks & Dunn released "Boot Scootin' Boogie".

Usage

The boogie groove is often used in rock and roll and country music. A simple rhythm guitar or accompaniment boogie pattern, sometimes called country boogie, is as follows :

The "B" and "C" notes are played by stretching the fourth finger from the "A" two and three frets up to "B" and "C" respectively on the same string. This pattern is an elaboration or decoration of the chord or level and is the same on all the primary triads (I, IV, V), although the dominant, or any chord, may include the seventh on the third beat (see also, degree (music)).

A simple lead guitar boogie pattern is as follows :

Boogie patterns are played with a swing or shuffle rhythm and generally follow the "one finger per fret" rule, where, as in the case directly above, if the third finger always covers the notes on the third fret, the second finger going only on the second fret, etc.

The swung notes or shuffle note are a rhythmic device in which the duration of the initial note in a pair is augmented and that of the second is diminished. Also known as "notes inégales", swung notes are widely used in jazz music and other jazz-influenced music such as blues and Western swing. A swing or shuffle rhythm is the rhythm produced by playing repeated pairs of notes in this way.

Songs

Swing-era boogie hits include the 1940 Glenn Miller song "Boog It by" (#7) and The Andrews Sisters' number two hit from that same year, "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar". In the mid-1940s, bandleader Tommy Dorsey had a number five hit with "Boogie Woogie", jump blues maestro Louis Jordan had a number six hit with "Caldonia Boogie", and Count Basie scored a number 10 hit with "Mad Boogie".

In 1948, Freddie Martin had a number six hit with "Sabre Dance Boogie" and three years later, Ernie Ford hit number four with his "Shot Gun Boogie". After several decades out of the hits catalogue, singer-actress Bette Midler hit number eight in 1973 with her cover of the song Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy; the original track, whose details Midler reproduced closely, was a 1941 national hit for the Andrews Sisters. Other well-known songs using a boogie rhythm or bass pattern include Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get a Witness" and The Shadows's "Shadoogie"; and Jerry Lee Lewis playing "Great Balls of Fire".

See also

Boogie-woogie

Boogie rock

References

Category:Rhythm Category:Blues Category:1970s slang Category:Slang

ja:ブギ no:Boogie pt:Boogie sl:Boogie sv:Boogie (TV-spel)

name	Silvan Zingg
origin	Manno, Switzerland
instrument	Piano
genre	Boogie-woogie, jazz, blues
occupation	Pianist, songwriter, producer
website	Silvan Zingg
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist }}

Silvan Zingg (born 19 March 1973) is a Swiss boogie woogie, blues and Jazz pianist and founder in 2002 of the International Boogie Woogie festival in Lugano, Switzerland.

Musical career

Silvan Zingg is called the "Boogie Woogie Ambassador". He was born in Lugano to a musical family. Before he started school, he had learned to play the piano and was particularly inspired by the work of Afro-American blues pianists. After studies as a graphic designer he decided to become a professional musician. Zingg has since performed in more than 1,000 concerts in 30 countries: Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, Greece, Monaco, Andorra, the Vatican, Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, England, Ireland, the USA, Canada, India, Arab Emirates, China, Russia, Mexico. He gave his first overseas solo concert at 18 years of age. He was the youngest pianist and only European at the Masters Of Blues & Boogie Woogie Piano Night in Charleston, South Carolina together with Jimmy Walker, Skeeter Brandon. He has performed in other American venues including the Cincinnati, Detroit, Newport Festivals. In November 2005 he performed with Chuck Berry in a sold out concert in Zurich. Silvan Zingg has played with such other Blues artists as the late Ray Charles, Memphis Slim, Sammy Price, Champion Jack Dupree, Katie Webster, Michel Petrucciani and Jimmy Walker. Silvan Zingg recorded Solo and with Trio various CDs and DVDs. His last CD "Boogie Woogie Triology" won several awards and was top selling CD on CDBaby for more than 1 year.

International Boogie Woogie festival

In 2002 Zingg initiated the International Boogie Woogie Festival in Lugano. Since then it has been held annually in April and has attracted such entertainers as Little Willie Littlefield, Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne, Carl Sonny Leyland, Mitch Woods, Axel Zwingenberger, Vince Weber, Joja Wendt, Jean Paul Amouroux and Chris Conz. In 2006, BBC World reported on the festival, which brought it world-wide attention. In November 2008 Silvan Zingg completed his first concert tour of China.

Boogie Woogie Masterclass and Lecture

In 2010 Zingg was invited to give a concert/lecture about the history of Boogie Woogie at the University of Texas in Brownsville.

Discography

1992: Boogie Must Go On (Solo CD)

1996: Changes In Boogie Woogie (with Lorenzo Milani on drums)

1998: Double Up Boogie (with Martijn Schok)

1999: New Orleans Jazz Ascona Festival Sampler-CD

2000: Boogie Woogie Duets (Live recorded on 2 January 2000 in Switzerland) (with Martijn Schok piano duets)

2000: New Orleans Jazz Ascona Festival Sampler-CD

2001: In Concert (Live aufgenommen vom Schweizer Radio RTSI)

2001: La Roquebrou Boogie Festival Sampler-CD (various artists)

2002: Fourth Annual Boogie & Blues Piano Summit Newport Sampler-CD (with Mr. B, Ricky Nye, Carl Sonny Leyland).

2003: Boogie Woogie Xmas (with Valerio Felice on drums)

2004: Boogie Woogie (with Nuno Alexandre on double bass and Valerio Felice on drums)

2007: Motor City Boogie & Blues Festival Sampler-DVD PBS- Television (USA) 1st price Gold Remy at the Houston Film Festival.

2007: Dancin' The Boogie (Live with the dancers William Mauvais and Maéva Truntzer) DVD and CD

2010: Boogie Woogie Ride CD (Live recorded in San Bernardino Switzerland)

2010: Trumpet Boogie CD (18 tracks recorded with his father Reinhard Zingg at the Trumpet, Drums, Banjo and Bluesharp)

References

External links

Official web site

International Boogie Woogie festival

Silvan Zingg's Night Train Trip (Blues Piano)

Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:Swiss jazz pianists Category:Boogie-woogie pianists

de:Silvan Zingg

name	Gene Krupa
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Eugene Bertram Krupa
born	January 15, 1909Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
died	October 16, 1973Yonkers, New York, U.S.
instrument	Drums
genre	JazzSwingDixielandBig band
occupation	DrummerComposerBandleader
years active	1920s – mid 1960s, with intermittent performances in the 1970s
associated acts	Eddie CondonBenny GoodmanLouie BellsonAnita O'Day }}

Gene Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an influential American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.

Biography

Eugene Bertram Krupa was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of Anna (Oslowski) and Bartlomiej Krupa's nine children. Bartlomiej was an immigrant from Poland, and Anna was born in Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. His siblings were Clarence, Eleanor, Casimir, Leo, Peter and Julius.

Krupa studied with Sanford A. Moeller and began playing professionally in the mid 1920s with bands in Wisconsin. He broke into the Chicago scene in 1927, when he was picked by MCA to become a member of "Thelma Terry and Her Playboys," the first notable American Jazz band (outside of all-girl bands) to be led by a female musician. The Playboys were the house band at ''The Golden Pumpkin'' nightclub in Chicago and also toured extensively throughout the eastern and central United States.

Krupa made his first recordings in 1927, with a band under the leadership of banjoist Eddie Condon and Red McKenzie: along with other recordings beginning in 1924 by musicians known in the "Chicago" scene such as Bix Beiderbecke, these sides are examples of "Chicago Style" jazz. The numbers recorded at that session were: "China Boy", "Sugar", "Nobody's Sweetheart" and "Liza". The McKenzie - Condon sides are also notable for being some of the early examples of the use of a full drum kit on recordings. Eddie Condon describes what happened in the Okeh Records studio on that day (in 'We Called It Music' - pub: Peter Davis, 1948):

Krupa's big influences during this time were Tubby Hall and Zutty Singleton. The drummer who probably had the greatest influence on Gene in this period was the great Baby Dodds. Dodds' use of press rolls was highly reflected in Gene's playing.

Quietly we waited for the playback. When it came, pounding out through the big speaker, we listened stiffly for a moment. We had never been an audience for ourselves...Rockwell came out of the control-room smiling. 'We'll have to get some more of this... (Rockwell nodded towards Krupa): didn't bother the equipment at all,' he said. 'I think we've got something,'.

Krupa also appeared on six recordings made by the Thelma Terry band in 1928 In 1929, he was part of the Mound City Blue Blowers sessions, that also included Red McKenzie, Glenn Miller, and Coleman Hawkins, which produced "Hello Lola" and "One Hour", which Krupa was credited with co-writing.

In 1929 he moved to New York City and worked with the band of Red Nichols. In 1933, Krupa first played with Benny Goodman. He became part of the Benny Goodman trio, the first popular integrated musical group in the United States. In 1934 he joined Benny Goodman's band, where his featured drum work made him a national celebrity. His tom-tom interludes on their hit "Sing, Sing, Sing" were the first extended drum solos to be recorded commercially. In 1938, Krupa performed with the Goodman Orchestra in the famous Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert.

After a public fight with Goodman at the Earl Theater in Philadelphia, Krupa left Goodman to launch his own band and had several hits with singer Anita O'Day and trumpeter Roy Eldridge.

In 1939, Gene Krupa and his Orchestra appeared in the Paramount movie ''Some Like It Hot,'' which starred [Bob Hope & Shirley Ross], performing the title song, "Blue Rhythm Fantasy," and "The Lady's in Love with You." Krupa made a memorable cameo appearance in a pivotal scene of the 1941 film ''Ball of Fire,'' in which he and his band performed an extended version of the hit "Drum Boogie," which he composed with trumpeter Roy Eldridge.

thumb|300px|Gene Krupa Drive in Yonkers, NYIn 1943, Krupa was arrested for possession of two marijuana cigarettes and was given a three-month jail sentence. Krupa was not a wealthy man and spent most of his savings defending himself of this charge and fell into a depression for several months, believing his career to be over. Then, Goodman invited him to perform with his orchestra. Audiences welcomed Krupa's performances, and while the reunion would never last, Krupa was performing again, thanks to this nudge.

Krupa soon formed his second orchestra. This one was notable for its large string section, and also featured Charlie Ventura on sax. It was one of the largest dance bands of the era, sometimes containing up to forty musicians. He also invited another drummer into the band so that he could take breaks and lead the orchestra from the front. However, audiences were not paying to see him conduct, and he gradually accepted this.

The end of the swing era

As the 1940s closed, large orchestras fell by the wayside: Count Basie closed his large band and Woody Herman reduced his to an octet. Krupa also gradually cut down the size of the band in the late 1940s, and from 1951 on led a trio or quartet, often featuring the multi-instrumentalist Eddie Shu on tenor sax, clarinet and harmonica. He appeared regularly with the ''Jazz At the Philharmonic'' shows.

Krupa also had a fleeting brush with Hollywood. Along with his musical sequence in the 1941 film comedy hit Ball of Fire, he also delivered a cameo appearance in the 1946 screen classic ''The Best Years Of Our Lives''. His athletic drumming style, timing methods and cymbal technique evolved during this decade to fit in with changed fashions and tastes, but he never quite adjusted to the Be-Bop period. In 1954, Krupa returned to Hollywood, performing, along with Louis Armstrong, "Basin Street Blues" in Jimmy Stewart's bio-pic ''The Glenn Miller Story''. He also joined fellow Benny Goodman alumni Harry James, Teddy Wilson, and Lionel Hampton in ''The Benny Goodman Story'', starring Steve Allen. In 1959, the movie biography ''The Gene Krupa Story'' was released, with Sal Mineo portraying Krupa and a cameo appearance by Red Nichols. Rainn Wilson writes for Turner Classic Movies about this film, which was most unusual for a biopic in its era. Wilson says, "More fact than fiction, The Gene Krupa Story avoids sugarcoating Krupa's life and takes a warts-and-all approach which gives the film an emotional honesty that other screen biographies often lack. In fact, Mineo's portrayal of Krupa is so needy, egocentric, manic and ruthlessly ambitious that you may find yourself rooting for his comeuppance which he receives in spades, starting with a drug bust for marijuana. Dave Frishberg, a pianist who played with Krupa, was particularly struck by the accuracy of one key moment in the film. "The scene where the Krupa character drops his sticks during the big solo, and the audience realizes that he's "back on the stuff." I remember at least a couple of occasions in real life when Gene dropped a stick, and people in the audience began whispering among themselves and pointing at Gene."

Krupa continued to perform even in famous clubs in the 1960s like the Metropole, near Times Square in New York City, often playing duets with African American drummer Cozy Cole. Increasingly troubled by back pain, he retired in the late 1960s and opened a music school. One of his pupils was Kiss drummer Peter Criss. He occasionally played in public in the early 1970s until shortly before his death. Krupa married Ethel Maguire—twice, in fact; the first marriage lasted from 1934–1942; the second one dates from 1946 to her death in 1955. Their relationship was dramatized in the biopic about him. Krupa remarried in 1959 (to Patty Bowler). He died of leukemia and heart failure in Yonkers, New York at the age of sixty-four. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Calumet City, Illinois.

Legacy

Many consider Krupa to be one of the most influential drummers of the 20th century, particularly regarding the development of the drum kit. Many jazz historians believe he made history in 1927 as the first kit drummer ever to record using a bass drum pedal. Others, however, believe this was done earlier by Baby Dodds. His drum method was published in 1938 and immediately became the standard text. He is also credited with inventing the rim shot on the snare drum.

Krupa in the 1930s prominently featured Slingerland drums. At Krupa's urging, Slingerland developed tom-toms with tuneable top and bottom heads, which immediately became important elements of virtually every drummer's set-up. Krupa also developed and popularised many of the cymbal techniques that became standards. His collaboration with Armand Zildjian of the Avedis Zildjian Company developed the modern hi-hat cymbals and standardized the names and uses of the ride cymbal, the crash cymbal, the splash cymbal, the pang cymbal and the swish cymbal.

Krupa was featured in the 1946 Warner Bros. cartoon ''Book Revue'' in which a rotoscoped version of Krupa's drumming is used in an impromptu jam session.

The 1937 recording of Louis Prima's "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra featuring Gene Krupa on drums was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In 1978, Gene Krupa became the first drummer inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame.

Krupa was mentioned in the Simpsons episode "Hurricane Neddy", when Ned Flanders parents are being told they must control Ned, Ned's father responds "We can't do it man! That's discipline! That's like tellin' Gene Krupa not to go "Boom boom bah bah bah, boom boom bah bah bah, boom boom boom bah bah bah bah, boom boom tss!"".

Rhythm, the UK's best selling drum magazine voted Gene Krupa the third most influential drummer ever, in a poll conducted for its February 2009 issue. Voters included over 50 top-name drummers.

Discography

Benny Goodman: ''The Famous Carnegie Hall Concert 1938'' (Columbia)

''Drummin´ Man'' (Charly, 1938–41) with Roy Eldridge, Anita O'Day, Benny Carter, Charlie Ventura

''Drum Boogie'' (Columbia, 1940–41)

''Uptown'' (Columbia, 1941–1949)

''Lionel Hampton/Gene Krupa'' (Forlane, 1949) with Don Fagerquist, Frank Rehak, Frank Rosolino, Roy Eldridge

''The Exciting Gene Krupa'' (Enoch's Music, 1953) with Charlie Shavers, Bill Harris, Willie Smith, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Israel Crosby

''Krupa and Rich'' (Verve, 1955) with Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich

''Gene Krupa Big Band: Drummer Man featuring Anita O'Day & Roy Eldridge'' (Verve, 1956)

References

External links

Gene Krupa at traditional-jazz.com

The Gene Krupa Reference Page

Gene Krupa Drummerworld Page

''Let Me Off Uptown: A Gene Krupa Biography'' by John Twomey

Category:1909 births Category:1973 deaths Category:American jazz drummers Category:American jazz bandleaders Category:American people of Polish descent Category:American musicians of Polish descent Category:Big band bandleaders Category:Big band drummers Category:Cancer deaths in New York Category:Deaths from leukemia Category:Dixieland drummers Category:Musicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Verve Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Swing drummers

da:Gene Krupa de:Gene Krupa es:Gene Krupa eo:Gene Krupa fa:جین کروپا fr:Gene Krupa io:Gene Krupa it:Gene Krupa he:×’'ין קרופה sw:Gene Krupa nl:Gene Krupa ja:ジーン・クルーパ no:Gene Krupa nn:Gene Krupa oc:Gene Krupa nds:Gene Krupa pl:Gene Krupa pt:Gene Krupa ru:Ð?рупа, Джин fi:Gene Krupa sv:Gene Krupa

name	Parry Gripp
background	solo_singer
birth name	Parry Gripp
birth date	September 22, 1967
birth place	Santa Barbara, California
instrument	Vocals, Guitar
genre	Rock
occupation	Musician
label	Oglio
associated acts	Nerf Herder
website
notable instruments	}}

Parry Gripp (born September 22, 1967) is a singer-songwriter as well as lead vocalist and guitarist for the pop punk band Nerf Herder.

As a songwriter, Gripp is best known for fake jingles, as in his 2005 solo album ''For Those About to Shop, We Salute You'' - a 51-track concept album mimicking various musical styles as product commercials. While it does not have one single concept, it goes through many various concept suites, such as trucks, beer, and insomnia. He also maintains a song-of-the-week website and a YouTube channel on which he creates soundtracks to internet memes as well as music videos for his own novelty songs, with titles including "Do You Like Waffles?", "Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom","Last Train to Awesometown", "Spaghetti Cat (I weep for you)", "Hamster on a Piano (Eating Popcorn)" and "Baby Monkey (Going Backwards On A Pig)". Gripp also performs the Super Hero Squad Show theme song.

Gripp also joined forces with MC Lars to perform some of the vocals, including the chorus, to 'Guitar Hero Hero (Beating Guitar Hero Doesn't Make You Slash)' a song commenting on the notion that video games like Guitar Hero take kids away from playing in bands and actually learning their instruments.

Along with faux jingles, Gripp also creates some real advertising music, such as Beatles-inspired tunes promoting the Wawa Food Markets' Breakfast Hoagiefest, and songs for the Hallmark Cards e-characters hoops&yoyo;.

On July 9, 2009 Parry Gripp debuted a new song called "The Girl at the Video Game Store" for the 1000th episode of the G4 TV program ''Attack of the Show!'' The video features the show's hosts Olivia Munn as the titular character and Kevin Pereira on drums.

Aside from his music, Gripp is the co-owner (with his sister) of the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, which was founded by his father.

Discography

Albums

''"For Those About to Shop, We Salute You"'' (2005)

''"One Donut a Day"'' (2007)

''"Do You Like Waffles"'' (2008)

''"Fuzzy Fuzzy Cute Cute: Volume 1"'' (2010)

''"This is My Ringtone"'' (2011)

''"Fuzzy Fuzzy Cute Cute: Volume 2"'' (forthcoming, expected release date 2012)

Artwork

Nathan Mazur, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based cartoonist, provided the animation for some of Gripp's music videos: "Do You Like Waffles?", "Up Butt Coconut", and "Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom". He also creates the "album art" that accompanies Parry Gripp's song-of-the-week.

See also

Nerf Herder

References

External links

Gripp YouTube channel

Category:1967 births Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Living people

fi:Parry Gripp

name	Stevie Wonder
background	solo_singer
birth name	Stevland Hardaway Judkins
alias	Stevland Hardaway Morris, Little Stevie Wonder, Eivets Rednow
born	May 13, 1950Saginaw, Michigan, United States
origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
instrument	Vocals, synthesizer, piano, keyboards, harmonica, clavinet, drums, bass guitar, congas, bongos, melodica, keytar, accordion
genre	Soul, pop, R&B;, funk, jazz
occupation	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, activist
years active	1961–present
label	Tamla, Motown
website	}}

Stevland Hardaway Morris (previously Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist. Blind since shortly after birth, Wonder signed with Motown Records' Tamla label at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day.

Among Wonder's best known works are singles such as "Superstition", "Sir Duke", "I Wish" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You". Well known albums also include ''Talking Book'', ''Innervisions'' and ''Songs in the Key of Life''. He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and received twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2008, ''Billboard'' magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's fiftieth anniversary, with Wonder at number five.

Early life

Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1950, the third of six children to Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. Owing to his being born six weeks premature, the blood vessels at the back of his eyes had not yet reached the front and their aborted growth caused the retinas to detach. The medical term for this condition is retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP, and while it may have been exacerbated by the oxygen pumped into his incubator, this was not the primary cause of his blindness.

When Stevie Wonder was four, his mother left his father and moved herself and her children to Detroit. She changed her name back to Lula Hardaway and later changed her son's surname to Morris, partly because of relatives. Morris has remained Stevie Wonder's legal name ever since. He began playing instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica, drums and bass. During childhood he was active in his church choir.

Discovery and early Motown recordings

Ronnie White of The Miracles gives credit to his brother Gerald White for persistently nagging him to come to his friend's house in 1961 to check out Stevie Wonder. Afterward, White brought Wonder and his mother to Motown Records. Impressed by the young musician, Motown CEO Berry Gordy signed Wonder to Motown's Tamla label with the name Little Stevie Wonder. Before signing, producer Clarence Paul gave Wonder his trademark name after stating "we can't keep calling him the eighth wonder of the world". He then recorded the regional Detroit single, "I Call It Pretty Music, But the Old People Call It the Blues", which was released on Tamla in late 1961. Wonder released his first two albums, ''The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie'' and ''Tribute to Uncle Ray'', in 1962, to little success.

Music career

Early success: 1963–1971

By age 13, Wonder had a major hit, "Fingertips (Pt. 2)", a 1963 single taken from a live recording of a Motor Town Revue performance, issued on the album ''Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius''. The song, featuring Wonder on vocals, bongos, and harmonica, and a young Marvin Gaye on drums, was a #1 hit on the U.S. pop and R&B; charts and launched him into the public consciousness.

In 1964, Stevie Wonder made his film debut in ''Muscle Beach Party'' as himself, credited as "Little Stevie Wonder". He returned in the sequel released five months later, ''Bikini Beach''. He performed on-screen in both films, singing "Happy Street," and "Happy Feelin' (Dance and Shout)," respectively.

Dropping the "Little" from his name, Wonder went on to have a number of other hits during the mid-1960s, including "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", "With a Child's Heart", and "Blowin' in the Wind", a Bob Dylan cover, co-sung by his mentor, producer Clarence Paul. He also began to work in the Motown songwriting department, composing songs both for himself and his label mates, including "Tears of a Clown", a number one hit performed by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles.

In 1968 he recorded an album of instrumental soul/jazz tracks, mostly harmonica solos, under the pseudonym (and title) ''Eivets Rednow'', which is "Stevie Wonder" spelled backwards. The album failed to get much attention, and its only single, a cover of "Alfie", only reached number 66 on the U.S. Pop charts and number 11 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts. Nonetheless, he managed to score several hits between 1968 and 1970 such as "I Was Made to Love Her"; "For Once in My Life" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". In September 1970, at the age of 20, Wonder married Syreeta Wright, a songwriter and former Motown secretary. Wright and Wonder co-wrote the songs on the next album, ''Where I'm Coming From'', which did not succeed in the charts. Reaching his twenty-first birthday on May 13, 1971, he allowed his Motown contract to expire.

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.

Classic period: 1972–1976

Wonder independently recorded two albums, which he used as a bargaining tool while negotiating with Motown. Eventually the label agreed to his demands for full creative control and the rights to his own songs. The 120-page contract was a precedent at Motown and gave Wonder a much higher royalty rate. Wonder returned to Motown in March 1972 with ''Music of My Mind''. Unlike most previous albums on Motown, which usually consisted of a collection of singles, B-sides and covers, ''Music of My Mind'' was a full-length artistic statement with songs flowing together thematically. Wonder's lyrics dealt with social, political, and mystical themes as well as standard romantic ones, while musically Wonder began exploring overdubbing and recording most of the instrumental parts himself. ''Music of My Mind'' marked the beginning of a long collaboration with Tonto's Expanding Head Band (Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil).

Released in late 1972, ''Talking Book'' featured the No. 1 hit "Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner clavinet keyboard. The song features a rocking groove that garnered Wonder an additional audience on rock radio stations. ''Talking Book'' also featured "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", which also peaked at No. 1. During the same time as the album's release, Stevie Wonder began touring with the Rolling Stones to alleviate the negative effects from pigeon-holing as a result of being an R&B; artist in America. Between them, the two songs won three Grammy Awards. On an episode of the children's television show ''Sesame Street'' that aired in April 1973, Wonder and his band performed "Superstition", as well as an original song called "Sesame Street Song", which demonstrated his abilities with the "talk box".

''Innervisions'', released in 1973, featured "Higher Ground" (#4 on the pop charts) as well as the trenchant "Living for the City" (#8). Both songs reached No. 1 on the R&B; charts. Popular ballads such as "Golden Lady" and "All in Love Is Fair" were also present, in a mixture of moods that nevertheless held together as a unified whole. ''Innervisions'' generated three more Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album is ranked #23 on ''Rolling Stone Magazine's'' 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Wonder had become the most influential and acclaimed black musician of the early 1970s.

On August 6, 1973, Wonder was in a serious automobile accident while on tour in North Carolina, when a car in which he was riding hit the back of a truck. This left him in a coma for four days and resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell and a temporary loss of sense of taste. Despite the setback, Wonder re-appeared in concert at Madison Square Garden in March 1974 with a performance that highlighted both up-tempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as "Living for the City". The album ''Fulfillingness' First Finale'' appeared in July 1974 and set two hits high on the pop charts: the #1 "You Haven't Done Nothin'" and the Top Ten "Boogie On Reggae Woman". The Album of the Year was again one of three Grammys won.

The same year Wonder took part in a Los Angeles jam session which would become known by the bootleg album ''A Toot and a Snore in '74''. He also co-wrote and produced the Syreeta Wright album ''Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta''.

On October 4, 1975, Wonder performed at the historical "Wonder Dream Concert" in Kingston, Jamaica, a benefit for the Jamaican Institute for the Blind.

By 1975, in his 25th year, Stevie Wonder had won two consecutive Grammy Awards: in 1974 for ''Innervisions'' and in 1975 for ''Fulfillingness' First Finale''. In 1975 he featured on the album ''It's My Pleasure'' by Billy Preston, playing harmonica on two tracks.

The double album-with-extra-EP ''Songs in the Key of Life'', was released in September 1976. Sprawling in style, unlimited in ambition, 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. The album became the first of an American artist to debut straight at #1 in the ''Billboard'' charts, where it remained for 14 non-consecutive weeks. Two tracks, became #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" (which years later Wonder would perform at the post-September 11, 2001 ''America: A Tribute to Heroes'' telethon) 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. The album ranks 56th on ''Rolling Stone Magazine'''s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

After such a concentrated and sustained level of creativity, Wonder stopped recording for three years, releasing only the 3 LP ''Looking Back'', an anthology of his first Motown period. The albums Wonder released during this period were very influential on the music world: the 1983 ''Rolling Stone Record Guide'' said they "pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade"; ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included four of the five albums, with three in the top 90; and in 2005, Kanye West said of his own work, "I'm not trying to compete with what's out there now. I'm really trying to compete with ''Innervisions'' and ''Songs in the Key of Life''. It sounds musically blasphemous to say something like that, but why not set that as your bar?"

Commercial period: 1979–1990

It was in Wonder's next phase that he began to commercially reap the rewards of his legendary classic period. The '80s saw Wonder scoring his biggest hits and reaching an unprecedented level of fame evidenced by increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations, political impact, and television appearances.

When Wonder did return, it was with the soundtrack album ''Journey through the Secret Life of Plants'' (1979), featured in the film ''The Secret Life of Plants''. Mostly instrumental, the album was composed using the Computer Music Melodian, an early sampler. Wonder toured briefly in support of the album, and used a Fairlight CMI sampler on stage. 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 #1 R&B; single of 1980).

''Hotter than July'' (1980) became Wonder's first platinum-selling single album, and its single "Happy Birthday" was a successful vehicle for his campaign to establish Dr. Martin Luther King'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", which was later covered by Jodeci and S Club 7.

In 1982, Wonder released a retrospective of his '70s 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 Stevie Wonder wrote and sang in the 1st person, and "Ribbon in the Sky", one of his many classic compositions. Wonder also gained a #1 hit that year in collaboration with Paul McCartney in their paean to racial harmony, "Ebony and Ivory".

In 1983, Wonder performed the song "Stay Gold", the theme to Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel ''The Outsiders''. Wonder wrote the lyrics.

In 1983, Wonder scheduled an album to be entitled "People Work, Human Play." The album never surfaced and instead 1984 saw the release of Wonder's soundtrack album for ''The Woman in Red''. The lead single, "I Just Called to Say I Love You", was a #1 pop and R&B; hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom, where it was placed 13th in the list of best-selling singles in the UK published in 2002. It went on to win an Academy Award for "Best Song" in 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. The following year's ''In Square Circle'' featured the #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 didn't 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".

By 1985, Stevie Wonder was an American icon, the subject of good-humored jokes about blindness and affectionately impersonated by Eddie Murphy on ''Saturday Night Live''. Wonder sometimes joined in the jokes himself such as in ''The Motown Revue'' with Smokey Robinson. He 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 also played the harmonica on the album ''Dreamland Express'' by John Denver in the song "If Ever", a song Wonder co-wrote with Stephanie Andrews. He also wrote the track "I Do Love You" for The Beach Boys' 1985 self-titled album. Stevie Wonder also played the harmonica on a track called "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" from "Showboat" on "The Broadway Album" by Barbra Streisand.

In 1986, Stevie Wonder appeared on ''The Cosby Show'', as himself, in the episode "A Touch of Wonder".

In 1987, Wonder appeared on Michael Jackson's ''Bad'' album on the duet "Just Good Friends". Michael Jackson also sang a duet with him titled "Get It" on Wonder's 1987 album ''Characters''. This was a minor hit single, as were "Skeletons" and "You Will Know". In the fall of 1988, Wonder dueted with Julio Iglesias on the hit single "My Love", which appeared on Iglesias' album ''Non Stop''.

Later career: 1991–2001

thumb|Stevie Wonder at the Grammy Awards of 1990 After 1987's ''Characters'' LP, Wonder continued to release new material, but at a slower pace. 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" and "These Three Words". 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. It is rumored that "Feeding Off The Love Of The Land" was originally intended for release on ''Fulfillingness' First Finale Volume Two'', a project that has never been confirmed as completed.

''Conversation Peace'' and the live album ''Natural Wonder'' were also released in the 1990s. The former received its European launch at a high-profile March 1995 press conference in Paris, where Stevie mentioned how the tearing down of The Wall between East and West Berlin and the desire for a united Europe had played a significant part in the inspiration behind the album.

In 1994, Wonder made a guest appearance on the KISS cover album ''KISS My Ass: Classic KISS Regrooved'', playing harmonica and supplying background vocals for the song "Deuce", performed by Lenny Kravitz.

In 1996, Stevie Wonder's ''Songs in the Key of Life'' was selected as a documentary subject for the Classic Albums documentary series. This series dedicates 60 minutes to one groundbreaking record per feature. The same year, he performed John Lennon's song "Imagine" in the closing ceremony of the Atlanta Olympic Games. The same year, Wonder performed in a remix of "Seasons of Love" from the Jonathan Larson musical ''Rent''.

In 1997, Wonder collaborated with Babyface for a song about abuse (domestic violence) called "How Come, How Long" which was nominated for an award.

In December 1999, Wonder announced that he was interested in pursuing an intraocular retinal prosthesis to partially restore his sight. That same year, Wonder was featured on harmonica in the Sting song "Brand New Day".

In 2000, Stevie Wonder contributed two new songs to the soundtrack for Spike Lee's ''Bamboozled'' album ("Misrepresented People" and "Some Years Ago").

Current career: 2002–present

In March 2002, Wonder performed at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City.

On July 2, 2005, Wonder performed in the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia.

Wonder's first new album in ten years, ''A Time to Love'', was released on October 18, 2005, after having been pushed back from first a May, and then a June release. The album was released electronically on September 27, 2005, exclusively on Apple's iTunes Music Store. 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".

Wonder performed at the pre-game show for Super Bowl XL in Detroit in early 2006, singing various hit singles (with his four-year-old son on drums) and accompanying Aretha Franklin during "The Star Spangled Banner".

In March 2006, Wonder received new national exposure on the top-rated ''American Idol'' television program. Wonder performed "My Love Is on Fire" (from ''A Time To Love'') live on the show itself. In June 2006, Stevie Wonder made a guest appearance on Busta Rhymes' new 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 new 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". Stevie Wonder also performed at Washington, D.C.'s 2006 "A Capitol Fourth" celebration.

On August 2, 2007, Stevie Wonder announced the A Wonder Summer's Night 13 concert tour—his first U.S. tour in over ten years. This tour was inspired by the recent passing of his mother, as he stated at the conclusion of the tour on December 9 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

On August 28, 2008, Wonder performed at the Democratic National Convention at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado. Songs included a previously unreleased song, "Fear Can't Put Dreams to Sleep," and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours".

On September 8, 2008, Wonder started the European leg of his Wonder Summer's Night Tour, the first time he had toured Europe in over a decade. His opening show was at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. During the tour, Wonder played eight UK gigs; four at The O2 Arena in London, two in Birmingham and two at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester. Stevie Wonder's other stops in the tour's European leg also found him performing in Holland (Rotterdam), Sweden (Stockholm), Germany (Cologne, Mannheim and Munich), Norway (Hamar), France (Paris), Italy (Milan) and Denmark (Aalborg). Wonder also toured Australia (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane) and New Zealand (Christchurch, Auckland and New Plymouth) in October and November.

By June 2008, Wonder was working on two projects simultaneously: a new album titled ''The Gospel Inspired By Lula'' which will deal with the various spiritual and cultural crises facing the world, and ''Through The Eyes Of Wonder'', an album which Wonder has described as a performance piece that will reflect his experience as a blind man. Wonder was also keeping the door open for a collaboration with Tony Bennett and Quincy Jones concerning a rumored jazz album. If Wonder was to join forces with Bennett, it would not be for the first time; Their rendition of "For Once in My Life" earned them a Grammy for best pop collaboration with vocals in 2006. Wonder's harmonica playing can be heard on the 2009 Grammy-nominated "Never Give You Up" featuring CJ Hilton and Raphael Saadiq.

Wonder performed on January 18, 2009 at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. On Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, Wonder performed the song "Brand New Day" with musician Sting. He performed his new song "All About the Love Again" and, with other musical artists, "Signed, Sealed & Delivered". On February 23, 2009, Wonder became the second recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for pop music, honored by President Barack Obama at the White House.

On July 7, 2009, Wonder performed "Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer" and "They Won't Go When I Go" at the Staples Center for Michael Jackson's memorial service. On October 29, 2009, Wonder performed at the 25th anniversary concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Among performing songs with B.B. King, Wonder performed Michael Jackson's 'The Way You Make Me Feel', during which he became emotionally distraught and was unable to perform until he regained his composure.

On January 22, 2010, Wonder performed Bridge Over Troubled Water for the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief event to help victims of the earthquake in Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010.

On March 6, 2010, Wonder was awarded the Commander of the Arts and Letters by French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand. Wonder had been due to receive this award in 1981, but scheduling problems prevented this from happening. A lifetime achievement award was also given to Wonder on the same day, at France's biggest music awards.

His 2010 tour included a two-hour set at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, a stop at London's "Hard Rock Calling" in Hyde Park, and appearances at England's Glastonbury Festival, Rotterdam's North Sea Jazz Festival, and a concert in Bergen, Norway and a concert in Dublin, Ireland at the O2 Arena on June 24.

In February 2011, the Apollo Theater announced that Stevie Wonder will be the next in line for the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame. The theater said that the singer will be inducted into the New York City institution's Hall of Fame in five months.

On June 25, 2011, Wonder performed at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

Legacy

A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards (the most ever won by a solo artist) as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also won an Academy Award for Best Song, and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame. He has also been awarded the Polar Music Prize. American music magazine Rolling Stone named him the ninth greatest singer of all time. In June 2009 he became the fourth artist to receive the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award.

He has ten U.S. number-one hits on the pop charts as well as 20 R&B; number one hits, 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. Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bass guitar, bongos, organ, melodica, and clavinet. In his childhood, he was best known for his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills and vocal ability. Wonder was the first Motown artist and second African American musician to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song for his 1984 hit single "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from the movie ''The Woman in Red''.

Classic period

Wonder's "classic period" is generally agreed to consist of the concept albums he created in the early- to mid-1970s, peaking in 1976. Some observers see in 1971's ''Where I'm Coming From'' certain indications of the beginning of the classic period, such as its new funky keyboard style which Wonder used throughout the classic period. Some determine Wonder's first "classic" album to be 1972's ''Music of My Mind'', on which he attained personal control of production, and on which he programmed a series of songs integrated with one another to make a concept album. Others skip over early 1972 and determine the beginning of the classic period to be ''Talking Book'' in late 1972, the album in which Wonder "hit his stride".

Impact

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 extensions such as ninths, elevenths, thirteenths, diminished fifths, 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. 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 minor, 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. He developed many new textures and sounds never heard before. In 1981, Wonder became the first owner of an E-mu Emulator.

Songs sampled by other musicians

Wonder has recorded with Jon Gibson, a Christian Soul musician, on a remake of his own song, "Have a Talk With God" (from the 1989 album ''Body & Soul''), covered by Gibson in which Wonder plays harmonica. The two men met in the early 1980s through a shared music agent (Bill Wolfer).

Red Hot Chili Peppers covered "Higher Ground" in 1989 on their ''Mother's Milk'' album. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble covered "Superstition" and Wonder made a cameo appearance in the official music video for the song.

De La Soul sampled "Hey Love" in their song "Talkin' Bout Hey Love" on their 1991 album De La Soul Is Dead.

"Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" was rendered by English band Incognito in 1992 and John Legend covered this song for the 2005 film, ''Hitch''. George Michael and Mary J. Blige covered "As" in the late 1990s. In 1999, Salome De Bahia made a Brazilian version of "Another Star". Tupac Shakur sampled "That Girl" for his hit song "So Many Tears".

"Pastime Paradise" would become an interpolation for Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" while Will Smith would use "I Wish" as the basis for the theme song to his movie, ''Wild Wild West''. The elements of "Love's In Need of Love Today" were used by 50 Cent in the song "Ryder Music", and Warren G sampled "Village Ghetto Land" for his song "Ghetto Village".

Mary Mary, did a cover of his song, "You Will Know" on their 2002 album, ''Incredible''. Australian soul artist Guy Sebastian recorded a cover of "I Wish" on his ''Beautiful Life'' album. In 2003, Raven-Symoné recorded a cover of "Superstition" for the soundtrack to Disney's ''The Haunted Mansion''. In 2005, Canadian singer Dave Moffatt, from the group The Moffatts, sang the song "Overjoyed" from the ''In Square Circle'' album on ''Canadian Idol''. Clay Aiken performed "Isn't She Lovely?" in the episode "My Life in Four Cameras" of ''Scrubs''.

Personal life

Wonder has been married twice: to Motown singer Syreeta Wright from 1970 until their divorce in 1972; and since 2001, to fashion designer Kai Milla Morris. He has seven children from his two marriages and several relationships.

His daughter Aisha Morris (born on February 2, 1975, with Yolanda Simmons as mother) was the inspiration for his hit single "Isn't She Lovely." Aisha Morris is a singer who has toured with her father and accompanied him on recordings, including his 2005 album, ''A Time 2 Love''. Wonder has two sons with Kai Milla Morris; the older is named Kailand and he occasionally performs as a drummer on stage with his father. The younger son, Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris, was born May 13, 2005, his father's 55th birthday. In May 2006, Wonder's mother died in Los Angeles, at the age of 76. During his September 8, 2008 UK concert in Birmingham, he spoke of his decision to begin touring again following his loss. "I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around".

Wonder's Taxi Productions owns Los Angeles radio station KJLH.

Charting discography

Top 40 singles

style="width:28px;" rowspan="2"	Year	Title	Chart positions
! style="vertical-align:top; width:30px;"	! style="vertical-align:top; width:30px;"		! style="vertical-align:top; width:30px;"	! style="vertical-align:top; width:30px;"	! style="vertical-align:top; width:30px;"
	1963	"Fingertips	Fingertips – Pt. 2"
	"Uptight (Everything's Alright)"
"Blowin' in the Wind"
	1967	"I Was Made to Love Her (song)	I Was Made to Love Her"
	"For Once in My Life"
"Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day"
"Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday"
	"Never Had a Dream Come True"
"Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours"
"Heaven Help Us All"
	"We Can Work It Out"
"If You Really Love Me"
	"Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)"
	"You Are the Sunshine of My Life"
"Living for the City"
	"He's Misstra Know It All"
"You Haven't Done Nothin'" (with The Jackson 5)
"Boogie On Reggae Woman"
"Sir Duke"
"Another Star"
	1979	"Send One Your Love"
	"Master Blaster (Jammin')"
"I Ain't Gonna Stand for It"
	"Do I Do"
"Ebony and Ivory" (with Paul McCartney)
"Ribbon in the Sky"
	1984	"I Just Called to Say I Love You"
	"Part-Time Lover"
"That's What Friends Are For" (with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Gladys Knight)
"Love Light in Flight"
	"Go Home"
"Land of La La"
	1987	"Skeletons (Stevie Wonder song)	Skeletons"
"My Eyes Don't Cry"
"You Will Know"
	1989	"With Each Beat of My Heart"
	1990	"Keep Our Love Alive"
	1992	"These Three Words"
	1995
	"So What the Fuss"
"From the Bottom of My Heart"

U.S. and UK albums

{|class="wikitable" |- ! style="width:28px;" rowspan="2"| Year ! style="width:250px;" rowspan="2"| Album ! colspan="3"| Chart positions |- ! style="vertical-align:top; width:30px;"| US ! style="vertical-align:top; width:30px;"| US R&B; ! style="vertical-align:top; width:30px;"| UK |- |1963 |''Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius'' | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| – | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |1966 |''Up-Tight'' | style="text-align:center;"| 33 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |1966 |''Down to Earth'' | style="text-align:center;"| 72 | style="text-align:center;"| 8 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |1967 |''I Was Made to Love Her'' | style="text-align:center;"| 45 | style="text-align:center;"| 7 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |1968 |''For Once in My Life'' | style="text-align:center;"| 50 | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |1969 |''My Cherie Amour'' | style="text-align:center;"| 34 | style="text-align:center;"| 3 | style="text-align:center;"| 17 |- |1970 |''Signed, Sealed, and Delivered'' | style="text-align:center;"| 25 | style="text-align:center;"| 7 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |1971 |''Where I'm Coming From'' | style="text-align:center;"| – | style="text-align:center;"| 7 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |1972 |''Music of My Mind'' | style="text-align:center;"| 21 | style="text-align:center;"| 6 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |1972 |''Talking Book'' | style="text-align:center;"| 3 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 16 |- |1973 |''Innervisions'' | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 6 |- |1974 |''Fulfillingness' First Finale'' | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 5 |- |1976 |''Songs in the Key of Life | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 |- |1979 |''Journey through the Secret Life of Plants'' | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| 7 |- |1980 |''Hotter than July'' | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 |- |1982 |''Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 8 |- |1984 |''The Woman in Red'' | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 |- |1985 |''In Square Circle'' | style="text-align:center;"| 5 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 5 |- |1987 |''Characters'' | style="text-align:center;"| 17 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 33 |- |1995 |''Conversation Peace'' | style="text-align:center;"| 17 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| 8 |- |1996 |''Natural Wonder'' | style="text-align:center;"| – | style="text-align:center;"| 88 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |1996 |''Song Review A Greatest Hits Collection'' | style="text-align:center;"| – | style="text-align:center;"| 100 | style="text-align:center;"| 19 |- |2000 |''At the Close of a Century'' | style="text-align:center;"| – | style="text-align:center;"| 100 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |2002 |''The Definitive Collection'' | style="text-align:center;"| 35 | style="text-align:center;"| 28 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |2004 |''Best Of Stevie Wonder: 20th Century Masters Christmas Collection'' | style="text-align:center;"| – | style="text-align:center;"| 90 | style="text-align:center;"| – |- |2005 |''A Time to Love'' | style="text-align:center;"| 5 | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| 24 |- |2007 |''Number 1's'' | style="text-align:center;"| 171 | style="text-align:center;"| 40 | style="text-align:center;"| 23 |}

Awards and recognition

Grammy Awards

Wonder has received 25 Grammy Awards: including a Lifetime Achievement Award

!Year

|	Award	Title
1973	Grammy Award for Best R&B; Song>Best Rhythm & Blues Song
1973	Grammy Award for Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance>Best R&B; Vocal Performance, Male
1973	Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance>Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male
1973	Grammy Award for Album of the Year>Album of the Year
1973	Best Producer*
1974	Best Rhythm & Blues Song
1974	Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance
1974	Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
1974	Grammy Award for Album of the Year>Album of the Year
1974	Best Producer*
1976	Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance
1976	Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
1976	Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical>Best Producer of the Year*
1976	Album of the Year
1985	Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance
1986	Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal>Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal ''(awarded to Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Wonder)
1995	Best Rhythm & Blues Song
1995	Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance
1996	Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
1998	Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)>Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) ''(awarded to Herbie Hancock, Robert Sadin, and Wonder)
1998	Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance
2002	Grammy Award for Best R&B; Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals>Best R&B; Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals ''(awarded to Wonder and Take 6)
2005	Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
2005	''(awarded to Beyoncé Knowles>Beyoncé and Wonder)
2006	Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals ''(awarded to Tony Bennett and Wonder)

Between 1965 and 1980, a self-produced artist won an additional Grammy as a producer as well as an artist.

Other awards and recognition

1983: inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. 1984: received an Academy Award for Best Song for "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from the movie ''The Woman in Red''. 1989: inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 1996: received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. 1999: received the Polar Music Prize and Kennedy Center Honors. 2002: received the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award at UCLA's Spring Sing. The same year, Wonder received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. 2004: received the Billboard Century Award. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock and Roll Artists of All Time. 2006: was inducted, as one of the first inductees, into the Michigan Walk of Fame. The same year, Wonder received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. 2008: Ranked at number five on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists", making him as the third most successful male artist in the history of ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. 2009: Recipient of the second Gershwin Prize For Popular Song. 2009: Recipient of the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award. This special award underlines a popular artist’s extraordinary contribution to the musical world. The Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award is in bronze. 2009: Named a Messenger of Peace by the United Nations.

See also

Best selling music artists

List of number-one hits (United States)

List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones

List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)

References

External links

Official site

Never That Simple: Stevie Wonder—By Robert Christgau

Category:1950 births Category:African American drummers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:African American pianists Category:African American record producers Category:African Americans' rights activists Category:American child singers Category:American composers Category:American funk drummers Category:American funk keyboardists Category:American funk singers Category:American harmonica players Category:American male singers Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American rhythm and blues keyboardists Category:American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters Category:American soul keyboardists Category:American soul singers Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Blind musicians Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Living people Category:Motown artists Category:Musicians from Detroit, Michigan Category:Musicians from Michigan Category:People from Saginaw, Michigan Category:Rhythm and blues pianists Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Soul drummers Category:United Nations Messengers of Peace

ar:ستÙ?Ù?Ù? وندر az:Stiv Vonder bg:Стиви УондÑ?Ñ€ ca:Stevie Wonder cs:Stevie Wonder cy:Stevie Wonder da:Stevie Wonder de:Stevie Wonder et:Stevie Wonder es:Stevie Wonder eo:Stevie Wonder eu:Stevie Wonder fa:استیوی واندر fr:Stevie Wonder ga:Stevie Wonder gl:Stevie Wonder ko:ì?¤í‹°ë¹„ ì›?ë?” hr:Stevie Wonder io:Stevie Wonder id:Stevie Wonder it:Stevie Wonder he:סטיבי וונדר ka:სტივი უáƒ?ნდერი sw:Stevie Wonder la:Stevie Wonder lv:StÄ«vijs Vonders hu:Stevie Wonder nl:Stevie Wonder ja:スティーヴィー・ワンダー no:Stevie Wonder nn:Stevie Wonder pl:Stevie Wonder pt:Stevie Wonder ro:Stevie Wonder ru:Стиви Уандер simple:Stevie Wonder sk:Stevie Wonder sr:Stivi Vonder fi:Stevie Wonder sv:Stevie Wonder tl:Stevie Wonder th:สตีวี วันเดอร์ tr:Stevie Wonder uk:Стіві Вандер vi:Stevie Wonder yo:Stevie Wonder zh:å?²æ??夫·汪达