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Stevie Wonder Is Born

Stevie Wonder is born Stevland Morris in Saginaw, Michigan.

Born six weeks premature, Wonder is kept alive in an incubator, but is rendered blind when he's exposed to too much oxygen. The condition doesn't hold him back. He shows his aptitude for music early on when he first touches the keys on a neighbor's broken-down piano. By the time he's 11 years old, he's recording his first two albums at Motown: The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie and Tribute to Uncle Ray. At 13, he becomes the youngest artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 when his single "Fingertips (Part 2)" hits #1. But the easy success of the early '60s grows harder by the end of the decade when Little Stevie's voice begins to change and he can no longer be marketed as a musical boy wonder. The '70s mark a turning point for the former child prodigy as he grows into his maturing sound and begins experimenting with synthesizers and electronic instruments. His albums aren't merely collections of singles, as is expected, but conceptual pieces that explore romantic, social, and political themes. Talking Book (1972) features the #1 hits "Superstition" and "You Are The Sunshine of My Life"; Innervisions (1973) boasts "Higher Ground" (#4) and "Living For The City" (#8); Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) introduces "You Haven't Done Nothin'" (#1) and "Boogie On Reggae Woman" (#3); and the ambitious double album Songs In The Key Of Life brings forth the chart-topping singles "I Wish" and "Sir Duke" as well as the blissful track "Isn't She Lovely," an ode to his newborn daughter, Aisha. Wonder remains a radio staple in the ensuing decades with hits like "Lately," "Ebony and Ivory" (with Paul McCartney), "Part-Time Lover," and the star-studded charity singles "We Are The World" and "That's What Friends Are For." The worldwide chart-topper "I Just Called To Say I Love You" also earns Wonder an Academy Award for Best Original Song for its use in the 1984 movie The Woman In Red. Meanwhile, the singer is using his celebrity for a worthy cause. Since 1968, the year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Wonder has been rallying for a federal holiday to honor the late civil rights leader. In 1981, he hosts the Rally for Peace Press Conference in Washington, D.C. - where he performs his King-inspired song "Happy Birthday" - which helps Martin Luther King Day become a reality in 1983. Although he doesn't achieve the same level of commercial success in the 21st century, Wonder is regarded as an innovator in pop and R&B and an overall legendary performer. But the singer says his music is just as much about teaching himself as it is about teaching others. "My music has always been a lesson for me," he tells Oprah Winfrey. "I'll write a song, then later think, 'Did that come from me?' It came from God through me."

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