Wonder, Stevie (Stevland Hardaway Morris)
1950-present · Contribution: 1963-1976
A blind child prodigy signed to Motown at age 11, became one of the most decorated recording artists in history with 25 Grammy Awards, the most ever won by a male solo artist, and produced a run of 1970s albums including Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life widely regarded among the greatest in popular music
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Impact on the world
Signed to Motown's Tamla label at age 11 and marketed as “Little Stevie Wonder,” he became, at 13, the youngest solo artist ever to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Fingertips, Pt. 2” in 1963; upon turning 21 in 1971 he negotiated an unprecedented recording contract granting him complete creative control over his music, launching what critics call his “classic period.” The five albums he released between 1972 and 1976 — Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life — made him the first Black musician to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, which he won three times in four years, a feat matched by only a handful of artists in Grammy history; Songs in the Key of Life remains one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed albums ever released. A pioneer in the use of synthesizers within popular music, Wonder also became the first Motown artist and second Black musician to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song, for 1984's “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” and led the successful campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a U.S. federal holiday; he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2014.
Life & background
Born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan, and blind since shortly after birth, Wonder was discovered at age 11 by a member of the Miracles and signed to Motown Records in 1961. He has continued recording and performing for more than six decades and remains an active musician and activist for causes including AIDS awareness and Ghanaian heritage, having received Ghanaian citizenship in 2024.
Sources
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Songwriters Hall of Fame; Encyclopædia Britannica
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