49 Fun Facts About Stevie Wonder

In which Michigan city was Stevie Wonder born in 1950?

Saginaw: when he was four, his mother moved the family to Detroit, where he sang in a church choir.

What condition left Stevie Wonder blind in infancy?

Retinopathy of prematurity, in which abnormal vessel growth detaches the retinas, was worsened by the oxygen-rich incubator air given to the six-weeks-early newborn.

Which Motown label signed the 11-year-old Stevie Wonder in 1961?

Tamla: Ronnie White of the Miracles had heard the boy sing and brought him to audition at Motown.

Stevie Wonder cleared his song for which 1995 rap hit only after the rapper removed the swearing?

Gangsta's Paradise: it reworks his 'Pastime Paradise', and Wonder joined Coolio to perform it at the 1995 Billboard Music Awards.

Stevie Wonder's first hit, 'Fingertips', was recorded live at which Chicago venue?

The Regal Theater: Motown split the long live track across both sides of a single, and radio stations chose Part 2, the B-side.

Which future Motown star played drums on 'Fingertips'?

Marvin Gaye: before his own hits took off, he was one of Motown's house drummers, backing Wonder and other acts.

On the live recording of 'Fingertips', a replacement bassist is heard shouting what during the encore?

What key? What key?: the bass players had just swapped over for the next act, Mary Wells, when Wonder came back for an unplanned encore.

Which Motown songwriter saved Stevie Wonder from being dropped, then co-wrote 'Uptight (Everything's Alright)'?

Sylvia Moy persuaded Berry Gordy to keep the teenager whose voice was changing, then co-wrote 'Uptight (Everything's Alright)', which reached No. 3 in early 1966.

Under what pseudonym did Wonder release his 1968 instrumental album?

Eivets Rednow, his name spelled backwards, fronted a mostly harmonica album whose 'Alfie' single peaked at No. 66 on the Hot 100 in 1968.

Which was Stevie Wonder's first-ever self-produced single?

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: taking charge as producer, he swapped Motown's usual backing singers for a vocal trio he chose himself.

Which former Motown secretary and songwriter did Stevie Wonder marry in 1970?

Syreeta Wright: they divorced in 1972, yet he kept working on her records, including Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta in 1974.

Stevie Wonder's early 1970s synthesizer co-producers had recorded together as which electronic act?

Tonto's Expanding Head Band: Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil brought their custom TONTO synthesizer, which shaped several of his celebrated 1970s albums.

Which March 1972 album began Wonder's synthesizer partnership with co-producers Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil?

Music of My Mind: it peaked at only No. 21 on the pop chart, but the same team went on to make Talking Book later that year.

Which rock band did Stevie Wonder open for on their 1972 American tour?

The Rolling Stones took Wonder out as the opening act on their 1972 American tour, exposing his new synthesizer-driven music to white rock audiences.

Which guitarist was originally meant to release 'Superstition' before Wonder?

Jeff Beck was promised the song for helping at the Talking Book sessions, but Motown rushed out Wonder's version, which hit No. 1; Beck's own version followed in 1973 on Beck, Bogert & Appice.

Wonder was nearly killed in a car crash three days after releasing which album?

Innervisions: surviving the crash deepened his faith and his sense of purpose; he said God had given him life to do more.

Which sense did Wonder partially lose as a result of his 1973 car accident?

Smell: doctors suggested plastic surgery for the scar the crash left on his forehead, but he chose to keep it as a reminder.

Which 1976 Album of the Year winner jokingly thanked Stevie Wonder for going a year without an album?

Paul Simon: Wonder had won Album of the Year the two previous years, and he won it again the year after.

Songs in the Key of Life was the first American album to do what on the Billboard chart?

Debut at No. 1: its release ran so late that Motown put out T-shirts joking that it was nearly finished.

Stevie Wonder played the harmonica solo on 'I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues' by which star?

Elton John: within weeks of his near-fatal 1973 car crash, Wonder was back onstage jamming with him.

Which Wonder song did the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover on their 1989 album Mother's Milk?

Higher Ground: after his 1973 crash, his road manager sang it into Wonder's ear as he lay in a coma, and his fingers began moving in time.

Which 1979 release was Stevie Wonder's first new album in three years?

Secret Life of Plants: to score the documentary, he had the film's producer describe each scene to him in detail.

Wonder's single 'Happy Birthday' was a vehicle for his campaign to create which national holiday?

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was the goal; 'Happy Birthday' (1980) became the anthem of the campaign, and the holiday was signed into law in 1983 and first observed in 1986.

Which 1982 No. 1 duet paired Wonder with Paul McCartney?

Ebony and Ivory: they recorded it together on Montserrat, but clashing schedules meant they filmed their parts of the video separately.

Wonder wrote the lyrics to 'Stay Gold', the theme for which 1983 Francis Ford Coppola film?

The Outsiders: the song's title echoes Johnny's parting words to Ponyboy, 'stay gold', a callback to the Robert Frost poem Ponyboy recites.

'I Just Called to Say I Love You' won an Academy Award as the theme of which film?

The Woman in Red: songwriter Lloyd Chiate later sued, claiming he had written it, but a jury sided with Wonder in 1990.

Which Chaka Khan hit features Stevie Wonder on harmonica alongside rapper Melle Mel?

I Feel for You: Prince wrote it and offered it to Patrice Rushen, who turned it down, before recording it himself in 1979.

On 'We Are the World', Stevie Wonder shared a featured duet passage with which artist?

Bruce Springsteen: the recording could gather so many stars because they were already in town for the American Music Awards.

For which Spike Lee film did Stevie Wonder record a full soundtrack album in 1991?

Jungle Fever (1991) got a full Wonder album, with singles 'Gotta Have You' and 'Fun Day'; he later wrote two songs for Lee's Bamboozled (2000).

Which Latin pop star co-headlined the 1999 Super Bowl halftime show with Wonder?

Gloria Estefan: the show even featured a cameo by E.T., there to plug its sponsor, Progressive auto insurance.

What was the title of Stevie Wonder's 2005 album, his first new studio release in ten years?

A Time to Love (October 2005) ended a decade without a new Wonder studio album; its title track is a duet with India.Arie, and his daughter Aisha sang on it.

Wonder's 2006 duet with Tony Bennett, which won a Grammy, was a version of which of his own hits?

For Once in My Life: it began as a slow ballad, and Bennett's 1967 recording charted a year before Wonder's upbeat remake became the hit.

Which 1985 Wonder single first topped Billboard's pop, R&B, dance and adult contemporary charts simultaneously?

Part-Time Lover: in the song's twist, the cheating narrator discovers that his wife has a part-time lover of her own.

Which US president awarded Stevie Wonder the Presidential Medal of Freedom?

Barack Obama presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 24, 2014; five years earlier the United Nations had named Wonder a Messenger of Peace.

Wonder's vanity label, launched in 2020, is named after which of his singles?

So What the Fuss: launching it through Republic Records ended his nearly 60-year run of releasing music on Motown.

On his 74th birthday in 2024, Stevie Wonder was granted citizenship of which country?

Ghana: he had talked about moving there since the 1990s, and in 2024 he took the oath of allegiance at Jubilee House in Accra.

Which inventor built the reading machine Wonder adopted in 1976 and later founded a synthesizer company?

Ray Kurzweil: Wonder was the first customer for his 1976 reading machine, and a question Wonder asked in 1982 led Kurzweil to found a synthesizer company.

What organ transplant did Stevie Wonder announce at a 2019 Hyde Park concert and receive that December?

Kidney: he told the crowd he was taking a break for it, and ten months after the operation he was back with two new songs.

What was Stevie Wonder's surname at birth, before it was legally changed to Morris?

Judkins: Motown also gave the boy a new stage name, launching his records as Little Stevie Wonder.

Motown paid for the teenage Stevie Wonder to attend the Michigan School for the Blind in which city?

Lansing: Motown also paid for a tutor so he could keep studying while he toured.

Which Bob Dylan song gave the teenage Stevie Wonder a No. 1 R&B hit in 1966?

Blowin' in the Wind: three years earlier, his own 'Fingertips' had kept Peter, Paul and Mary's version of it off No. 1.

Which singer's 1973 version turned 'Until You Come Back to Me', a song Wonder had shelved, into a hit?

Aretha Franklin: her version topped the R&B chart, while Wonder's own 1967 recording didn't come out until his 1977 anthology Looking Back.

Stevie Wonder wrote 'Tell Me Something Good' for which funk band?

Rufus: Chaka Khan's voice became so central that the band's next album billed it as Rufus featuring Chaka Khan.

Which 1974 single from Fulfillingness' First Finale reached No. 1 on the Hot 100?

You Haven't Done Nothin': Wonder wrapped its angry political message inside an upbeat, danceable funk groove.

In whose name did Wonder accept his 1985 Academy Award, prompting a South African radio ban?

Nelson Mandela: after South Africa banned his music, Wonder put the protest song 'It's Wrong (Apartheid)' on his next album, In Square Circle.

Which R&B group took Stevie Wonder's ballad 'Lately' to No. 4 on the Hot 100 in 1993?

Jodeci: they recorded it live for MTV's Uptown Unplugged, and their cover far outcharted Wonder's original, which peaked at No. 64.

Which 1985 charity single did Stevie Wonder record with Dionne Warwick and Gladys Knight?

That's What Friends Are For: the song wasn't new, since Rod Stewart had first recorded it in 1982 for the film Night Shift.

Which fashion designer was Wonder married to from 2001 to 2015?

Kai Millard, a fashion designer, married Wonder in 2001; they separated in 2009 and the divorce was finalised in 2015; their sons are Kailand and Mandla.

How many children does Stevie Wonder have?

Nine children by five women, the eldest Aisha (born 1975); son Mandla arrived on Wonder's own 55th birthday in 2005.