Happy Birthday, Stevie Wonder!
Stevie Wonder has been doing this music thing for a while, and he still hasn't lost his touch. Since the 1960s, Stevie has been one of our greatest musical treasures. It'd be a disservice to overlook Wonder's entire discography. The singer turns 67 years old today (May 13).
Known as a child prodigy, Wonder kept the hits coming throughout the earlier half of his career. When he peaked, he'd set a new standard for pop music and R&B. His towering achievement is his classic period: Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions (in which Wonder plays most of the instruments), Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs in the Key of Life (which many consider to be his greatest). His art is acutely aware of social strife -- from racism ("Living for the City") to drugs ("Too High") -- but it's notable how it never loses its sense of joy.
Although his prime ended in the '70s, Wonder was still a busy force in music in the 1980s and 1990s. He scored major 80s hits like "That Girl," Ribbon In the Sky," collaborated with Michael Jackson on "Just Good Friends" off Jackson's extremely popular Bad album, wrote/produced the soundtrack for Spike Lee's hit 1991 movie Jungle Fever. There was also his contribution to the All-Star "We Are the World" charity single and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and received a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1999.
In 2016, the lauded entertainer launched a tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his masterpiece Songs In the Key of Life. He's also also working on at least one new album, his first since 2005's A Time to Love.
Watch Stevie Wonder Perform "Isn't She Lovely" & "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"
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