Stevland Hardaway Morris (born May 13, 1950, as Stevland Hardaway Judkins), known by his stage name Stevie Wonder,
is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and
multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy, he became one of the most
creative and loved musical performers of the late 20th century. Wonder
signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11 and has continued to
perform and record for Motown as of the early 2010s. He has been blind
since shortly after birth.
Among Wonder's works are singles such as "Superstition", "Sir Duke",
"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You";
and albums such as Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of
Life. He has recorded more than 30 U.S. top ten hits and received 25
Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist, and has sold
over 100 million albums and singles, making him one of the top 60
best-selling music artists. 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 2013,
Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists
to celebrate the U.S. singles chart's 55th anniversary, with Wonder at
number six.
A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th
century, Wonder has recorded more than 30 U.S. top ten hits and won 25
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 had ten U.S. number-one hits on the pop charts as well as 20
R&B number one hits, and has sold over 100 million records, 19.5
million of which are albums; he is one of the top 60 best-selling music
artists with combined sales of singles and albums. 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, 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, which he won for his 1984 hit single "I Just Called to Say I Love
You" from the movie The Woman in Red.
Wonder's "classic period" is generally agreed to be between 1972 and
1977. 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".
His classic 1970s albums 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'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?"