Wonder, Stevie (redirected from wonder)

Wonder, Stevie

 orig. Steveland Judkins later Steveland Morris

(born May 13, 1950, Saginaw, Mich., U.S.) U.S. soul-music singer, songwriter, and musician. Blind virtually from birth, he was a skillful performer on the piano and other instruments by age eight. The family moved to Detroit, and at 10 he signed with the fledgling Motown label. His first hit, “Fingertips, Part 2” (1963), was followed by many top-selling singles, including “Up-Tight” and “I Was Made to Love Her.” After studying composition at USC, he continued to enjoy enormous success in the 1970s and '80s with such albums as Talking Book (1972) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976) and such hits as “Superstition,” “Ebony and Ivory,” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” He has spoken out against nuclear war, worked to end apartheid in South Africa, and raised funds for his eye-disease facility, Wonderland.

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Wonder, Stevie (b. Steveland Judkins) (1950–  ) musician; born in Saginaw, Mich. A premature baby, he was blinded by receiving too much oxygen in the incubator. He began playing the harmonica at an early age and was signed to a long-term contract with Motown Records in 1960. In 1963 he released his first album, Little Stevie Wonder: The 12 Year Old Genius, and its single release "Fingertips - Pt. 2," became his first million seller. During the 1960s, while attending the Michigan School for the Blind, he had numerous hit records in the classic Motown rhythm-and-blues style. In 1971, upon his 21st birthday, he renegotiated his contract and gained full artistic control over his work. Throughout the 1970s, he became proficient in the use of synthesizers and electronic keyboards and he released a series of innovative, commercially successful albums featuring a fusion of progressive rock and soul, biting social commentary, and sentimental ballads. In 1976, he signed a contract with Motown for $13 million, the largest negotiated in recording history at that date. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was increasingly engaged in children's and civil rights causes, and he led the campaign to make Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday. He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.