“Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.” — Stevie Wonder.
Like the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan, the sounds of Stevland Hardaway Morris are part of pop and rock’s DNA. Perhaps his influence is even more far-reaching than theirs, having certainly also informed the songwriting, arrangement and singing of ’80s and ’90s soul and R&B, and the grooves of hip hop.
Born in 1950 and signed to Motown in 1960, Little Stevie seemed able to get a tune or rhythm out of any instrument he laid his hands on, and in full public gaze grew into Stevie Wonder, experiencing the highs and lows of adult life – marriage, parenthood, divorce, bereavement and, from the age of 13, stardom. Over time he has created a body of albums, a catalogue of songs, to bear comparison with any artist in any genre.
TOP TEN ALBUMS
1 of 1010. A Time 2 Love - Stevie Wonder
Fans had been waiting rather too long for Wonder's genius to reappear as he entered his mid-fifties. A trail of false starts, with fine if fleeting moments, (In Square Circle, Characters, Conversation Peace) was all there was to show until the 2005 comeback. Delayed by a Hurricane Katrina-based song, bolstered by a legion of duettists (Kim Burrell especially impressive on opener If Your Love Cannot Be Moved) and other collaborators, A Time 2 Love was more of a piece with his better '70s albums, balancing (now milder) socio-political comment with the romantic. His daughter, Aisha, duets on two tracks. She had first appeared on a Stevie Wonder record as the gurglin' subject of 1976's Isn't She Lovely.
2 of 109. Early Classics - Stevie Wonder
Little Stevie's early albums, and many of those recorded in the '60s after he'd dropped the qualifier, are typical Motown confections of the time, standards mixed with covers of Jobete catalogue songs and contemporary hits. It's a period best approached via a hits collection. Rather than Greatest Hits Vol 1 or 2, this budget set gives a broader picture of his growth from '12-year-old genius' to hit-making shaver, including Uptight, Fingertips and I Was Made To Love Her. But the best is 1975's 3LP 1975 Anthology in any format_._ At The Close Of A Century (4CDs) is a deluxe career-spanner; 2CD Definitive is a cheaper option.
3 of 108. Signed Sealed Delivered - Stevie Wonder
On the cusp of his great leap into legend, Signed Sealed And Delivered bears the clear imprint of the impatient Wonder as he exuberantly bids farewell to the teenager in him now that his voice has settled into its mature pitch. His singing, particularly on the joyously assertive title track, is as confident as can be, and there's a hugely infectious cover of The Beatles' We Can Work It Out. Heaven Help Us All presages the songs he'd write about the human condition and both I Can't Let My Heaven Walk Away and Never Had A Dream Come True are top-drawer Wonder romancers of the day.
4 of 107. Hotter Than July - Stevie Wonder
Although for many this is the album where, creatively, Wonder's talent began to soften and dissipate, Hotter Than July still has plenty of pleasures to share. Although with Lately he begins to veer too close to the maudlin, the song is nonetheless touching, while the first side of the original vinyl LP – Did I Hear You Say You Love Me, All I Do, Rocket Love, I Ain't Gonna Stand For It – flows as smoothly as anything from his '70s heyday. The reggae tribute Master Blaster (Jammin') and Martin Luther King Day campaign-starter Happy Birthday are the overt message songs at a time when disco and a vapid pop had made such tracks unfashionable.
5 of 106. Where I’m Coming From - Stevie Wonder
Critiques of the Wonder catalogue often portray the explosion of his cast-iron '70s classics as somehow unforeseeable. Yet both Signed Sealed And Delivered and Where I'm Coming From had laid down indelible markers (nothing so obvious exists in, say, Marvin Gaye's pre-*What's Going On work). This album's very title denotes a personal work, and the songs essentially break down into those of the mind (Look Around, Do Yourself A Favor) and those of the heart (the exuberance of If You Really Love Me, the heartache of Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer). The album was released a month before his 21st birthday.
6 of 105. Fulfillingness’ First Finale - Stevie Wonder
The fourth and final salvo in the exhausting, brilliant 1972-74 series of releases is not quite as watertight as the two immediately preceding it (Talking Book and Innervisions), which is perhaps not surprising in view of the pace at which Wonder was working. But at least two compositions here rank with his best: the sublime ballad Creepin' (also exquisitely covered by Luther Vandross) and the Nixon-scorning You Haven't Done Nothin'. Crowd-pleaser Boogie On Reggae Woman is here too. Since *Fulfillingness…, Wonder releases have been somewhat less frequent and reliable.
7 of 104. Music Of My Mind - Stevie Wonder
The music of Wonder's mind circa 1972 revolved around love and sex – hot topics for most 21-year-olds. The resultant record is a deep well of warm feelings – Love Having You Around, I Love Everything About You, Sweet Little Girl and Happier Than The Morning Sun are all almost daft in their diligent optimism about life and love. Wonder wrote all of the music himself, or co-wrote it, and played almost all of it too. Key track is Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You) and Girl Blue reins in the passion on this, his first adult breakthrough. Follow-up Talking Book arrived just seven months later.
8 of 103. Talking Book - Stevie Wonder
Wonder's command of his music between 1971-76 was so complete that there is a compelling case to be made for any of the top three as Number 1. He has by now toured with The Rolling Stones, opening up the US white rock audience to his music, and is now in full command in the studio with synthesizer expertise sucked up like a sponge from Margouleff & Cecil while his Wonderlove band are a red-hot outfit. Fresh material draws on soul, pop, funk, rock and jazz, from the still-sensational Superstition through the album's melody-rich ballads and love songs such as Lookin' For Another Pure Love, Maybe Your Baby, Tuesday Heartbreak and You And I. It's all gold.
9 of 102. Songs In The Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder
After his extraordinary outpouring of standards-in-the-making written and recorded between 1970-74, Wonder was due a bit of downtime, but just two years on, here comes a double album of astonishing breadth and high quality. Indeed, there was so much to fit on the four vinyl sides, an extra EP was slipped in to accommodate Wonder's prolific inspiration. From the cute Isn't She Lovely through the bravura Ellington tribute, Sir Duke, and I Wish, another typical piece of good-to-be-alive Stevie, to a brooding Pastime Paradise, here's the full Wonder menu.
10 of 101. Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
The glorious high-point of Wonder's veritable Andes of 1970s recording peaks, Innervisions offsets the melodically rich romancers (Golden Lady, All In Love Is Fair) with his hardest-hitting social comments: the gritty vérité of Living For The City, wherein a country cousin gets mugged by the metropolis, and the sardonic He's Misstra Know-It-All, a post-Watergate dissection of Nixonian political chicanery. The remainder charts a spiritual quest in which the inspirational funk of Higher Ground, the profound meditation of Visions, the hypocrisy-bashing Jesus Children Of America, and fusion-tinged drug-warning Too High play their part in a beyond-perfect whole.
An inquisitive, avaricious consumer of music in all styles, he’s a master of the romantic ballad form and of driving funk, while his songs of biting social documentary and political comment leave the listener uplifted by optimism and aspiration. The musical lessons of jazz and gospel, pop and rock, Broadway and Hollywood, Africa and the Caribbean have all found a willing pupil in Wonder and a home in his music.
The critical period in his development came at the end of the ’60s. In 1967 I Was Made To Love Her marked him as a composer of special talent, and in 1970 came co-writing credits on hits for The Detroit Spinners (It’s A Shame, which he co-produced) and The Miracles (Tears Of A Clown). His own hits and obvious untapped potential helped him profitably renegotiate his contract to win artistic freedom.
A new instrument was the catalyst for Wonder’s next stage. The synthesizer broadened his musical palette and narrowed the control exerted on his music essentially down to himself, with co-producers Malcolm Cecil and Bob Margouleff. Several masterpieces followed, until his pace slowed after a near-fatal road crash in August 1973. As his music tells us, Wonder may be blind, but that doesn’t mean he can’t see.