"Everybody say 'yeeaaah!'"

Words like “star” and “legend” don’t really adequately describe the likes of Stevie Wonder. He is simply a musical icon, perhaps one of the most naturally talented singers and musicians to ever emerge from the recording industry. From his first hit at the age of 12 years old to today, Stevie has proven time and time again to be one of the most formidable forces in the industry. And while so many artists eventually become shells of their former self, Stevie remains in top form to this day, selling out almost everywhere he performs and delighting fans with a catalog of music that is seemingly endless.

Although he was born blind, little Steveland Morris never seemed to lack a vision of where and what he wanted to be. By the ripe old age of 10, he had grown proficient at numerous musical instruments and was showing off his remarkable voice to stunned Detroit, Michigan churchgoers. A year later, he caught the attention of Motown founder Berry Gordy who promptly signed the boy prodigy. He would soon be known as Little Stevie Wonder, and within a year, he had landed his first of many #1 hits, with an energetic little romp called “Fingertips (Pt. 2)” He accompanied his vocal track with bongos and a virtuoso performance on the harmonica.

Spending his days around the prolific Motown studios, Stevie tapped the best musicians of the genre and was soon mastering the piano and drums as well. Throughout the remainder of the 60s, he landed numerous hits, including the #3 offering in 1965, “Uptight (Everything’s Alright),” a cover of the Bob Dylan tune, “Blowin’ in the Wind” in 1966, two consecutive #2 hits in 1967 and 68, “I Was Made to Love Her” and “For Once in My Life” and a #4 hit in 1969 with My Cherie Amour.” Perhaps most amazing was that, by this time, he was writing all of his own material – all while still in his teens.

Stevie (who had long since dropped the “Little” from his name) turned 21 in 1970 and by that time, he was being given unprecedented creative control over his music. He produced the next album, Signed, Sealed, Delivered, and the title track rose to #3. He followed with another album the next year called Where I’m Coming From, and scored another hit with “If You Really Love Me.”

Then he proceeded to reinvent himself, delving into the prominent use of synthesizers and handling most of the musical duties unassisted. All of this was represented in his next album, 1972’s Music of My Mind, which took the approach of having all the tracks be a coherent package, rather than just an assortment of catchy songs. And what would a Stevie Wonder album be without a hit single, this time around, it was the haunting, latin flavored “Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You.) The album would mark Stevie’s transition from mere pop star to musical visionary. And what followed was simply masterful.

Following in the footsteps of his last album, Stevie released Talking Book in the same year, and quickly landed a pair of #1 hits. First there was the funky clavinet laden “Superstition”, then a jazzier offering in the ballad “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” a song that would go on to become a standard, covered by numerous artists over the years. At the end of the year, the amazingly prolific performer was involved in a serious car accident while working on what would become perhaps his finest work. The album that followed in 1973, titled Innervisions, took his soulful style and injected a dose of social consciousness into the mix. This stellar compilation of music included such instant classics as “Living For The City” and “Higher Ground,” both of which instantly rose into Top-10 positions on the charts, as well as the less lofty, but equally energetic “Don’t You Worry About A Thing.” Critics and fans alike hailed the album as a masterpiece and it garnered him the first five of what would eventually grow to 26 Grammy Awards on his shelf.

Showing no signs whatsoever of slowing down, Wonder followed up Innervisions with Fulfillingness’ First Finale. This time, the number-one hit would be “You Haven’t Done Nothin”, in which Stevie called upon some old Motown buddies, The Jackson Five to lend a hand with the background vocals. He also scored a #5 hit with his journey into Jamaican music with “Boogie on Reggae Woman.” Wonder clearly had perfected the musical Midas touch, most evident in his taking of another 3 Grammy Awards, including his second consecutive Album of the Year.

Wonder would head into the recording studio again, this time for almost two years, and emerge in 1976 with his latest ambitious offering, Songs In The Key Of Life. Number-One hits followed; two of them to be exact – the horn-laden “Sir Duke” and a funky pop offering called “I Wish”. Other notable tracks on the double album included the gentle ballad, “Knocks Me Off My Feet” and another politically tinged social commentary, “Pastime Paradise” (which would later be resurrected by means of heavy sampling for the Coolio hit, “Gangsta’s Paradise.”) For his efforts, Stevie was awarded four more Grammy Awards, including his third Album of the Year award.

Stevie ended his triumphant decade with a new challenge, as he set out to compose a film score for the first time. The resulting double album of material, Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, was primarily comprised of instrumental tracks but still managed to find its way to the charts with a beautiful ballad called “Send One Your Love” which rose to #5. And into the next decade, he came out of the gate with Hotter Than July, which rose to the #2 album spot, thanks in part to another venture into the land of reggae with “Master Blaster (Jammin’) and a tribute to Martin Luther King called “Happy Birthday.” Stevie would use the song extensively in his goal to see Martin Luther King Day become a National Holiday.

With most artists, this might be the time in their career that they start cooling off creatively. Not Stevie. In 1982, he released Original Musiquarium 1. From the jazzy jubilance of “Do I Do” featuring jazz trumpet icon Dizzy Gillespie, to the sultry “That Girl,” Wonder quickly proved that his hit-making prowess had not dulled in the slightest. The same year, he joined forces with another artist who knew a thing or two about hit records named Paul McCartney and the two released a musical call to racial unity called “Ebony and Ivory” which, of course, went to #1. And then, Wonder was back in the studio, recording another film soundtrack for The Woman In Red. The result was a megahit, the playful “I Just Called To Say I Love You.”

It would be an uncharacteristic five years before Stevie Wonder would release a new album, but In Square Circle would continue in the hit-making tradition. The shuffling, synth-heavy “Part Time Lover” dominated the #1 spot on the charts, while the beautifully flowing ballad, “Overjoyed” stayed comfortably in the Top-30. The album added another Grammy to Stevie’s growing collection. The same year, he lent his talents to a song that benefited AIDS research called “That’s What Friends Are For” and shared the spotlight with Elton John, Dionne Warwick and Gladys Knight. Add another Grammy to the list. He also contributed to a massive undertaking called USA For Africa, joining dozens of artists for the recording of “We Are The World.”

But wait, there’s more! 1987 brought with it a new Wonder album called Characters which followed tradition with another #1 R&B single “You Will Know.” Four years later, he would enter into the 90s by composing his third film score, for the Spike Lee-produced Jungle Fever. Both it and the previous album perched at the #1 position. Stevie’s next album, Conversation Piece went gold and earned him another Grammy Award but it would be another 10 years before he released a new album, 2005’s A Time to Love, featuring the hit “From the Bottom of my Heart.” Meanwhile, Stevie often shows up as a guest on recordings for other artists, some of which include Sting, Busta Rhymes’, Beyonce, Take 6, Herbie Hancock and operatic singer Andrea Bocelli. Many of those contributions have also earned the singer Grammy Awards.   

And Stevie shows no signs of slowing down. Besides recently finishing an ambitious tour, he is currently working on two new albums simultaneously, The Gospel Inspired By Lula and Through The Eyes Of Wonder. He also received a Grammy Award recently for his duet with jazz legend Tony Bennett on a remake of “For Once In My Life.”

With over 30 Top-10 hits under his belt, including 21 that made it to #1, an astounding 26 Grammy Awards (which is the record for a solo artist, by the way) and an Academy Award, not to mention that he has sold over 150-million records in his lifetime, Stevie Wonder is simply one of the most prolific and successful performers the world has ever known. And the scariest part is, he is still adding to those accomplishments and may continue to do so for the foreseeable future. That’s not just a career, that’s a legacy unlike anything the pop world has ever seen, and one that is unlikely to ever be topped.