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Stevie Wonder

One Record Label

In his 53-year career, he has only recorded for one record label: Tamla, a Motown offshoot.1)

Keyboard Playing

He does not use his right thumb when playing keyboards.2)

Blowin' The Wind

His cover of Bob Dylan's “Blowin' in the Wind” hit No. 9 on the pop chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart in 1966.3)

Education

Stevland Morris (his legal name) received his education at the Michigan School for the Blind in Lansing.4)

Youngest

With “Fingertips” recorded live in concert in 1963, he became the youngest person to top Billboard's Hot 100 at the age of 13.5)

Grammys

He has received 25 Grammy Awards. Only conductor Georg Solti (31) and producer Quincy Jones, as well as bluegrass queen Alison Krauss, have more (27 each).6)

Consecutive Wins

He is the first musician to have won the Grammy for album of the year three times in a row, for “Innervisions” in 1973, “Fulfillingness' First Finale” in 1974, and “Songs in the Key of Life” in 1976.7)

Isn't She Lovely

Wonder penned “Isn't She Lovely” for his 1976 album “Songs in the Key of Life” to commemorate the birth of his daughter Aisha. Aisha Morris is now a backing vocalist, joining her father on a tour in which he performs the whole record.8)

One Night Perfomances

He once played in three places in one night in the late 1960s: the Carter Barron Amphitheatre in Washington, D.C.; the Lincoln Memorial (for an event organized by First Lady Pat Nixon); and in Baltimore, standing in for an ailing Marvin Gaye after an hour-long, high-speed limousine trip.9)

Harmonica

His harmonica may be heard on albums released in 2015 by Mark Ronson, Donny Osmond, and Melissa Manchester.10)

Writing For Others

Hits he's written for other artists include Smokey Robinson's “Tears of a Clown,” the Spinners' “It's a Shame,” Rufus' “Tell Me Something Good,” and Jermaine Jackson's “Let's Get Serious”.11)

No.1 Hits

He has ten No. 1 pop hits and twenty No. 1 R&B songs to his credit, but only three of his albums have reached the top of Billboard's chart.12)

The Ed Sullivan Show

A 30-piece orchestra was performing the tune Wonder was going to perform that night at a rehearsal for “The Ed Sullivan Show” in the late 1960s. He halted the players and informed the conductor that one of the saxophonists had the improper arrangement. The sax player's tone was half a tone lower than everyone else's. The conductor had missed it.13)

Oscar

In 1985, he received an Academy Award for best song for “I Just Called to Say I Love You” from “The Woman in Red”.14)

Rolling Stones

In 1972, he opened for the Rolling Stones on their STP Tour.15)

stevie_wonder.txt · Last modified: 2022/05/16 01:27 by eziothekilla34