Stevie Wonder, born Stevland Hardaway Morris, has a distinguished career spanning six decades. Though blind shortly after his birth, he started in the music industry as the Motown child prodigy known as "Little Stevie Wonder," releasing the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper "Fingertips" in 1963. It earned him recognition as the youngest artist to land a number one hit, being only 13 years old at a time.
The prolific singer-songwriter has helped define music for the following decades with his experimental brand of music built upon his Motown and soul experience. To complete the Stevie Wonder experience, here are some of his vinyl records to add to your collection.
Signed, Sealed And Delivered [LP]
Stevie Wonder's 1970 album was described by Robert Christgau in 1970 as the "most exciting LP by a male soul singer in a very long time, and it slips into no mold, Motown's included," and owning it will tell you why.
Its title track topped the charts upon release and also featured a funky sitar-guitar in the intro. The twelve-track vinyl also contains his cover of The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" written by the Lennon-McCartney duo. Also listen to his early hits" Never Had a Dream Come True," "Sugar," and "Heaven Help Us All."
Talking Book [LP]
By 1972, Stevie Wonder was already at his fifteenth studio album with the "Talking Book." In Wonder history, this album marks the beginning of his "classic period," characterized by the synthesizer-fused keyboard he uses in the songs.
This 70s album contains the timeless classics "You Are The Sunshine of My Life" and "Superstition." The Book also spawned the duet "I Believe (When I Fall in Love)" written and performed by Wonder together with Yvonne Wright. This song featured in the 2000 dramedy film High Fidelity as well as the unrelated Hulu series of the same name.
Songs in the Key of Life
Where "Talking Book" opens the chapter that is the "classic period," "Songs in the Key of Life" marks its end. The double vinyl album contains twenty-one tracks plus a four-song add-on EP, the ambitious and talked-about Stevie Wonder album debuted at the top of the Pop Albums Chart upon its release.
Get a glimpse of "Little Stevie's" childhood life with "I Wish," or get into the mood with the upbeat romance in "Another Star." Enjoy the range and variety only Wonder can offer with "Songs in the Key of Life."
Innervisions
Back to another landmark of the classic period, his sixteenth album is seen as an influential work with his transition to lyrical maturity and the heavy yet welcome use of the synthesizer, basically making Wonder a one-man-band.
Every song in the nine-track "Innervisions" was introspective on a wide range of topics, from "Too High" being about drug use to his criticism of the Nixon administration in "He's Misstra Know-It-All."
Original Musiquarium I [2 LP]
The Musiquarium is the creme de la creme of Stevie Wonder's work up to that point in his career, collecting eleven Top 40 songs with five album tracks and four previously-unreleased songs, spanning 1972 to 1982.
A good start for new Wonder fans, the Musiquarium contains "Superstition" and "You Are the Sunshine of my Life" from his "Talking Book." It also contains his Billboard Hot 100 toppers "I Wish" and "Sir Duke."
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