![]() And just days after its release on Innervisions, “Higher Ground” gained even more significance, when Wonder spent four days in a coma after a near-fatal car accident.Ī joyous, brassy paean to Wonder’s jazz heroes: Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and “the king of all”, Duke Ellington. What caused the rush of creative genius that enabled Wonder to write and record this funky meditation on reincarnation in just three hours? He described it as “a feeling that something was going to happen”. This exuberant single represents Motown in all its mid-Sixties pomp it gave Stevie his first UK hit, as he began to find his own unmistakable sound. ![]() A compassionate humanitarian, Wonder’s contribution to worthy causes is legendary and, most of all, as the man himself might say, “He’s got soul.” This is my pick of Stevie Wonder’s 20 greatest songsĪfter his initial success with “Fingertips”, Wonder trod water until he was 15 and released the marvellous “Uptight” to remind everyone of his precocious talent. Wonder continued to make great music well into the Eighties – if his output since hasn’t quite matched his earlier touchstone recordings, well, even a genius has to take the occasional day off. As he gained greater autonomy in the Seventies, his pioneering fusion of rock and soul, using synthesisers, clavinet, and jazz and blues-influenced rhythms within a pop framework, led to some of the finest music of the rock era. Having signed to Motown’s Tamla label, he played a huge part in its success in the early Sixties. His precocious talent was clear for all to see when he rose to fame aged 11, as the child prodigy Little Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder, perhaps the greatest artist to grace the Motown label, celebrates his 70th birthday on 13 May.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |