Stevie Wonder

He was born six weeks early in Saginaw, Michigan, in May 1950, and the combination of prematurity and the oxygen in the hospital incubator produced retinopathy of prematurity, which stopped his eyes growing and left him blind. His mother divorced when he was four and took her children to Detroit, where he sang in the choir at Whitestone Baptist and was a soloist at eight. At 11 he sang a song of his own to Ronnie White of the Miracles, who walked him and his mother into Motown. Berry Gordy signed him, renamed him Little Stevie Wonder, and had his surname legally changed to Morris. Because of his age the contract held the royalties in trust until he turned 21 and paid him 2.50 dollars a week.

A 20-minute set recorded at the Regal Theater in Chicago produced a single that hit number one on the pop chart when he was 13, the youngest artist ever to do it, and topped the R&B chart the same week, which had never happened before. His voice broke, the hits stopped, and Motown discussed dropping him. On his 21st birthday he let the contract lapse and came back with control of his records. He heard an album by Tonto's Expanding Head Band, hired its two members and their room-sized synthesizer, and made Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs in the Key of Life in five years. He won Album of the Year three times in four. Paul Simon, taking the award in 1976, thanked him for not making a record that year.

The prodigy years were paid for at 2.50 dollars a week while the money sat in trust, and Motown put him in two beach-party pictures before deciding his changed voice might not be worth keeping. Then, on August 6, 1973, three days after Innervisions came out, a car his cousin was driving on Interstate 85 in North Carolina went into the back of a flatbed farm truck. He had a fractured skull and a brain contusion, lay in a coma for four days, permanently lost part of his sense of smell, and was back onstage within seven weeks against his doctors' orders. The other cost is arithmetic. In the 30 years after Conversation Peace in 1995 he released exactly one album of new songs, and announced at least four more that never arrived.

The 25 Grammys and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are the smaller part. "Happy Birthday", on Hotter than July in 1980, was written to force a national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr., and it worked. Detroit renamed a stretch of his childhood street for him in 2016, and Newcastle upon Tyne gave him the freedom of the city in 2023, specifically for the King campaign. He first played Ghana in 1992 and said within 18 hours that he meant to move there. On his 74th birthday, in May 2024, Ghana made him a citizen. In July 2026, at 76, he said the album he first announced six years earlier was finally coming.

Stevie Wonder's life against the full span of the corpus — the fading end marks a life still in progress.

• Talking Book album
  Superstition, and the Clavinet riff everyone can hum 1972
• Innervisions album
  Released three days before the crash that nearly killed him 1973
• Fulfillingness' First Finale album
  His second Album of the Year in two years 1974
• Songs in the Key of Life album
  A double album with an extra EP, and Isn't She Lovely for his newborn daughter 1976
• Hotter than July album
  Happy Birthday was the vehicle for the King holiday campaign 1980
• I Just Called to Say I Love You song
  The first Academy Award for Best Original Song won by a Motown artist 1984

• 1961 aged ~11 Signed to Motown's Tamla label at 11 Royalties held in trust until 21, and 2.50 dollars a week in the meantime.
• 1963 aged ~13 Goes to number one at 13, the youngest artist ever to top the chart It topped the pop and R&B charts in the same week, which no record had done before.
• May 13, 1971 aged 21 Lets his Motown contract expire on his 21st birthday He came back with creative control of his own records.
• August 6, 1973 aged 23 Fractures his skull in a crash on Interstate 85 and lies in a coma four days The car hit the back of a flatbed farm truck. He lost part of his sense of smell for good.
• 1976 aged ~26 Releases Songs in the Key of Life His third Album of the Year in four years.
• 1980 aged ~30 Hotter than July carries the campaign for a King holiday
• 1985 aged ~35 Wins the Academy Award for Best Original Song The first Motown artist to do it.
• November 24, 2014 aged 64 Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom
• May 13, 2024 aged 74 Takes the oath as a citizen of Ghana on his 74th birthday He had said he meant to move there after his first visit in 1992.

• Martin Luther King Jr. 1929–1968
  Baptist minister and civil rights leader whose nonviolent activism ended legal segregation in America. campaigned for a holiday in his name
• Ray Charles 1930–2004
  Singer and pianist who fused gospel, blues, jazz, and country into a foundational sound of soul and modern American popular music. covered him at 11
• Barack Obama b. 1961
  44th President and first African American to hold the office, known for the Affordable Care Act. awarded him the Gershwin Prize and the Medal of Freedom
• Michael Jackson 1958–2009
  Performer whose recordings, choreography, and music videos redefined global pop stardom. recorded with
• Marvin Gaye 1939–1984
  Singer-songwriter whose Motown recordings expanded soul music through intimacy, political commentary, and studio experimentation. label mate at Motown