Stevie Wonder Facts

Stevie Wonder was born on May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan.  He is a singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist from the United States of America.  He has been blind for his entire life, but when he was only eleven years old, he was signed to Motown Records.  Today he continues to record and perform for the same label.  He has had a total of over thirty U.S. top ten hits as well as winning twenty-two Grammy Awards in his lifetime, which is the most that has ever been won by a male solo musical artist.  He was named a UN Messenger of Peace in December of 2009. 

Stevie Wonder's life began in Saginaw, Michigan, where he was the third of six children born to his parents, Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway Morris.  He was born prematurely, and due to his premature birth, his blood vessels at the back portion of his eyes had not reached the front, and the aborted growth resulted in detached retinas.  The is called retinopathy of prematurity, and it may have even been made worse as a result of oxygen being pumped into his incubator.  When he was four years old, his mother left his father and moved the family to Detroit.  Here his mother changed her name back to Lula Hardaway Morris.  Today Morris is Wonder's legal name.  Stevie Wonder began to play the piano when he was seven years old, and by the time he was nine years old, he had mastered it.  While a child, Stevie was also very involved in the choir at his church.  He also taught himself how to play the drums and the harmonica, which he had mastered by the time he was ten years old.  He also learned how to play the bass in his early years.

When Stevie was eleven years old, he was discovered by a relative of Ronnie White of The Miracles.  White was impressed by Stevie and brought him and his mother to Motown Records where he was signed by CEO Barry Gordy under the name Little Stevie Wonder.  His first two albums were released, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie and Tribute to Uncle Ray had little success.

However, by the time Steve was 13 years old, he had a big hit, called "Fingertips (Part 2)."  Stevie made his first film debut in Muscle Beach Party and in the sequel Bikini Beach.  After dropping the Little from his name, he had a number of hits during the middle of the 1960s, which included "With a Child's Heart," Uptight (Everything's Alright)," and "Blowing in the Wind."  Stevie Wonder had several huge hits between 1968 and 1970, such as "I Was Made to Love Her," "For Once in My Life," and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours."  When Stevie was twenty years old, he married Syreeta Wright, who was a songwriter and former company secretary for Motown.  His next album was called Where I'm Coming From, and she helped him with the writing and producing of this album, but it was a chart flop.  When he was twenty-one years old, he allowed his contract with Motown to expire.  He then created two independently recorded albums in order to use them as a bargaining tool when negotiating with Motown. 

Motown later agreed to his demands to have complete creative control as well as the rights to his own songs.  The contract gave Wonder a high royalty rate, and he returned to Motown in 1972 with Music of My Mind.  His lyrics on this album were associated with political, social, and mystical themes along with romantic ones.  He also began to experiment with overdubbing and recording the instrumental parts himself.   His album, Talking Book had the hit "Superstition," which is one of his most distinctive singles.  This song gave him another audience on rock radio stations too.  Wonder toured with The Rolling Stones on their 1972 American Tour.  The two songs, "Superstition" and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" won Wonder three Grammy Awards.  His next album, Innervisions, was released in 1973, and it had songs such as "Higher Ground" and "Living for the CIty," and both of these singles got to number one on the R&B charts.  This album had a focus on politics.  In 1973, Stevie Wonder was in a serious car wreck when the car he was riding in rear-ended a flatbed truck and it slid under the back of the truck.  This caused the bed to crash through the windshield of the vehicle, hitting Stevie Wonder in the head.  As a result of the accident, Stevie was in a coma for a total of four days and he also lost part of his sense of smell and temporarily lost his ability to taste.  

Stevie Wonder has managed to record over 30 top ten hits in the United States and has won twenty-two Grammy Awards.  He has been a very prominent figure in the music industry.  He has received a Lifetime Achievement Award and an Academy Award for the Best Song.  He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  The magazine, Rolling Stone, has rated him as the ninth best singer of all time.  Over his career, his album sales have totaled more than 100 million units.  He has written and produced songs for himself and for others.  He is also able to play the synthesizer, harmonica, piano, drums, congas, bongos, bass guitar, melodica, organ, and clavinet. 

His childhood brought him acclaim for his harmonica work, but now he is best known for his vocals and his keyboard skills.  Stevie Wonder is also known as the first Motown artist as well as only the second African American musician to be able to win an Academy Award for the Best Original Song, and he earned this for "I Just Called to Say I Love You," from 1984.  Many artists today claim that Stevie Wonder was an influence for them.  His songs are known as being very challenging to sing.  He has an amazing sense of harmony and uses extended chords in his compositions.  Many of his songs make abrupt or unpredictable changes, which are difficult for many singers to emulate.  Stevie Wonder has also been instrumental in bringing about the use of synthesizers into popular music. 

Stevie Wonder has been married two times.  He was married to Motown singer Syreeta Wright from 1970 until 1972 when the couple divorced.  In 2001, he married designer Kai Milla Morris.  Stevie has seven children in total from his two marriages and other relationships.  Aisha Morris was born in 1975 by Yolanda Simmons.  Keita Morris was born by Yolanda Simmons as well.  Kwame Morris and and Sophia Morris are two other children.  Mumtaz Morris is born by Melody McCulley.  Finally, Kailand Morris and Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris were born by his current wife, Kai Milla Morris.  His first child, Aisha Morris, was the inspiration for "Isn't She Lovely."  She toured with her father.  In May of 2006, Stevie's mother passed away at the age of 76 in Los Angeles.  Stevie Wonder has been an activist for civil rights and did support Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.  Obama has stated that his musical hero would have to be Stevie Wonder.