2.2 1970–1979: Seventies albums and classic period.
In 2009, he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and In 2014, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday in the U.S. Wonder has been inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. He has won 25 Grammy Awards (the most by a solo artist) and one Academy Award ( Best Original Song, for the 1984 film The Woman in Red). Wonder is one of the world's best-selling musicians, with sales of over 100 million records worldwide. This was his first digital recording and one of the earliest popular albums to use the technology, which Wonder used for all subsequent recordings. In 1979, Wonder used Computer Music Inc.'s early music sampler, the Melodian, on his soundtrack album Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants".
#Discography stevie wonder series#
His "classic period", which culminated in 1976, was marked by his funky keyboard style, personal control of production, and use of integrated series of songs to make concept albums. He is also the only artist to have won the award with three consecutive album releases. His works Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976) all won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making him the tied-record holder for the most Album of the Year wins, with three. His "classic period" began in 1972 with the releases of Music of My Mind and Talking Book, the latter featuring " Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner Clavinet keyboard. Wonder's critical success was at its peak in the 1970s. In 1963, the single " Fingertips" was a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when Wonder was 13, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart.
#Discography stevie wonder professional#
He also helped drive the genre into the album era, crafting his LPs as cohesive, consistent socially conscious statements with complex compositions.īlind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder. A virtual one-man band, his use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of R&B. Wonder is credited as a pioneer and influence to musicians across genres such as rhythm and blues, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz. It was praised by critics and fans alike, further cementing his status as a musical legend who still has more magic to share.Stevland Hardaway Morris (born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. In late 2005, he released A Time To Love, his first new album in ten years. His voice, harmonica and keyboards are as instantly recognizable as his trademark sway, able to make you laugh and boogie with joy, or cry over the unbridled emotion of his compositions. He may have seemed like just a singles artist when performing his Motown hits during his teens, but on albums like Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life Wonder proved to be a complex and complete artist, painting colorful political, spiritual and soulful journeys with a variety of guest artists and his own multi-instrumental skills. Despite other artists' attempts at appropriating his style, Wonder is undoubtedly one of the most individual and astounding songwriters of our time, composing on such a grand scale that albums flow with harmonious ease, incorporating jazz, reggae, fusion, rock, funk and soul. At any given hour, on any college campus anywhere, it is possible to hear "Superstition" blaring out of a fresh-faced funk newcomer's dorm room.