Editing Stevie Wonder (section)

=== 1970s: Classic albums period ===

[[File:Oberheim 4-voice prototype.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The first prototype of the [[Oberheim Four Voice]] synthesizer, as used by Wonder. The front panel still shows the [[braille]] labeling.]]

In September 1970, at the age of 20, Wonder married [[Syreeta Wright]], a songwriter and former Motown secretary. Wright and Wonder worked together on the next album, ''[[Where I'm Coming From]]'' (1971), Wonder writing the music, and Wright helping with the lyrics.<ref name=Davis>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VXSaGI4-SZ8C&pg=PA72 |page=72|title=Stevie Wonder: Rhythms of Wonder|last= Davis|publisher=Pavilion Books|year= 2006|isbn=9781861059659}}</ref> Around this time, Wonder became interested in utilizing synthesizers after hearing albums by [[electronic music|electronic]] group [[Tonto's Expanding Head Band]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stubbs |first1=David |title=Future Sounds: The Story of Electronic Music From Stockhausen to Skrillex |date=2018 |publisher=Faber & Faber |location=London|pages=177–179 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oa0wtAEACAAJ |access-date= May 10, 2019|isbn=9780571346974 }}</ref> Wonder and Wright wanted to "touch on the social problems of the world", and for the lyrics "to mean something".<ref name=Davis/> The album was released at around the same time as [[Marvin Gaye]]'s ''[[What's Going On (album)|What's Going On]]''. As both albums had similar ambitions and themes, they have been compared; in a contemporaneous review by [[Vince Aletti]] in ''Rolling Stone'', Gaye's was seen as successful, while Wonder's was seen as failing due to "self-indulgent and cluttered" production, "undistinguished" and "pretentious" lyrics, and an overall lack of unity and flow.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/where-im-coming-from-19710805 |title=Review: Where I'm Coming From and What's Going On |date=August 5, 1971|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|author-link=Vince Aletti|first= Vince |last= Aletti}}</ref> Also in 1970, Wonder co-wrote (and played numerous instruments on) the hit "[[It's a Shame (The Spinners song)|It's a Shame]]" for fellow Motown act [[The Spinners (U.S. band)|the Spinners]]. His contribution was meant to be a showcase of his talent and thus a weapon in his ongoing negotiations with Gordy about creative autonomy.<ref>{{cite AV media notes |title=The Very Best of Spinners |others=The Spinners |year=1993 |first=Kevin|last= Phinney |page=3 |type=CD booklet |publisher= Rhino Records}}</ref> Reaching his 21st birthday on May 13, 1971, Wonder allowed his Motown contract to expire.<ref>{{cite book|last=Posner|first=Gerald|author-link=Gerald Posner|title=Motown: Music, Money, Sex and Power|date=2003|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-375-50062-6|page=254}}</ref>

During this period, Wonder independently recorded two albums and signed a new contract with Motown Records. The 120-page contract was a precedent at Motown and gave Wonder a much higher [[Music Royalties|royalty]] rate.<ref name="rshrr80"/> He returned to Motown in March 1972 with ''[[Music of My Mind]]''. Unlike most previous albums on Motown, which usually consisted of a collection of singles, [[B-side]]s and covers, ''Music of My Mind'' was a full-length artistic statement with songs flowing together thematically.<ref name="rshrr80"/> Wonder's lyrics dealt with social, political, and mystical themes as well as standard romantic ones, while musically he began exploring overdubbing and recording most of the instrumental parts himself.<ref name="rshrr80"/> ''Music of My Mind'' marked the beginning of a long collaboration with [[Tonto's Expanding Head Band]] ([[Robert Margouleff]] and [[Malcolm Cecil]]),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tontosexpandingheadband.com/ |title=Tonto's Expanding Head Band |access-date=October 18, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w7bly |title=Radio 4 Programmes – Stevie's Wonder Men |publisher=BBC |date=November 30, 2010 |access-date=September 13, 2011}}</ref> and with lyricist [[Yvonne Wright]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ace/writer/76500582/WRIGHT%20YVONNE%20LOWRENE |title=ACE Repertory |website=Ascap.com |date= |access-date=September 20, 2021}}</ref>

Released in late 1972, Wonder's album ''[[Talking Book]]'' featured the No. 1 hit "[[Superstition (song)|Superstition]]",<ref name="rsrg833">{{cite book|title=The New Rolling Stone Record Guide|title-link=The New Rolling Stone Record Guide|publisher=[[Random House]]/[[Rolling Stone Press]]|year=1983|isbn=0-394-72107-1|editor1-last=Marsh|editor1-first=Dave|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstoner00mars/page/556 556–557]|editor2-last=Swenson|editor2-first=John}}</ref> which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner [[Clavinet]] keyboard.<ref>{{cite web|title=The history of the Hohner Clavinet|url=http://www.clavinet.de/en/history.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090101090102/http://www.clavinet.de/en/history.html|archive-date=January 1, 2009|access-date=October 18, 2008|work=World of Clavinet}}</ref> ''Talking Book'' also featured "[[You Are the Sunshine of My Life]]", which also peaked at No. 1. During the same time as the album's release, Wonder began touring with the [[Rolling Stones]] to alleviate the negative effects from being pigeonholed as an R&B artist in America.<ref name="Werner-2004"/> His touring with the Stones was also a factor behind the success of both "Superstition" and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life".<ref name="rshrr80"/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia| title = Stevie Wonder – Biography| access-date = October 13, 2008 | encyclopedia = The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/steviewonder/biography/| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216164954/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/steviewonder/biography| url-status=dead| archive-date=February 16, 2006}}</ref> Between them, the two songs won three [[Grammy Awards]].<ref name="Grammy">{{cite web|title=Stevie Wonder – Artist Profile|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/stevie-wonder|access-date=January 13, 2020|work=Grammy.com}}</ref> On an episode of the children's television show ''[[Sesame Street]]'' that aired in April 1973,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1046111/ |title="Sesame Street" Episode 4.109 (1973) |work=IMDb.com |date=April 12, 1973 |access-date=October 13, 2008 }}</ref> Wonder and his band performed "Superstition", as well as an original called "Sesame Street Song", which demonstrated his abilities with television.
[[File:Stevie Wonder 1973.JPG|thumb|left|Wonder performing in 1973, during the early years of his "classic period"]]
Wonder's studio album ''[[Innervisions]]'', released in 1973, featured "[[Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder song)|Higher Ground]]" (No. 4 on the pop charts) as well as the trenchant "[[Living for the City]]" (No. 8).<ref name="rsrg833"/> Both songs reached No. 1 on the R&B charts. Popular ballads such as "Golden Lady" and "All in Love Is Fair" were also present, in a mixture of moods that nevertheless held together as a unified whole.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.rocksbackpages.com/article.html?ArticleID=3869 | title=Stevie Wonder: Innervisions | last=Kaye|first= Lenny | magazine=Rolling Stone | date=September 27, 1973 | author-link=Lenny Kaye}}</ref> ''Innervisions'' generated three more Grammy Awards, including [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year]].<ref name="Grammy" /> The album is ranked No. 34 on ''Rolling Stone''{{'s}} [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/stevie-wonder-innervisions-1063199/ 
|title=''Innervisions'' ranked 34th greatest album by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=September 22, 2020|access-date=December 7, 2020}}</ref> Wonder had become the most influential and acclaimed black musician of the early 1970s.<ref name="rshrr80" />

On August 6, 1973, Wonder was injured in a serious automobile accident while on tour in [[North Carolina]], when a car in which he was riding hit the back of a truck.<ref name="rshrr80">[[John Rockwell|Rockwell, John]], "Stevie Wonder", in Miller, Jim (ed.), ''The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll'', [[Random House]]/[[Rolling Stone Press]], Revised Edition, 1980, pp. 364–368, {{ISBN|0-394-73938-8}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spinner.com/2008/08/29/twisted-tales-stevie-wonder-loses-two-more-senses-in-severe-car/ |title=Twisted Tales: Stevie Wonder Loses Two More Senses in Severe Car Crash |publisher=Spinner |date=August 29, 2008 |access-date=April 27, 2010}}</ref> This left him in a coma for four days and resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell and a temporary loss of sense of taste.<ref>{{cite web | title = I heard that Stevie Wonder lost his sense of smell. Is that true? | access-date = October 22, 2008 | first = Gavin | last = Edwards | work = Rule Forty Two | url = http://rulefortytwo.com/secret-rock-knowledge/chapter-1/stevie-wonder-lost-his-sense-of-smell | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090106030029/http://rulefortytwo.com/secret-rock-knowledge/chapter-1/stevie-wonder-lost-his-sense-of-smell/ | archive-date = January 6, 2009 }}</ref> Despite orders from his doctor to refrain from performing, Wonder performed at a homecoming benefit for [[Shaw University]] in [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]], in November 1973.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ledbetter|first=Les|date=November 16, 1973|title=The Pop Life|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/16/archives/wonder-basks-anew-in-sunshine-of-fans-the-pop-life.html|access-date=July 19, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Shaw was facing financial difficulties, so Wonder, who was a member of the university's board of trustees, rallied other acts including [[Exuma (musician)|Exuma]], [[Labelle|LaBelle]], and [[the Chambers Brothers]] to join the concert, which raised more than $10,000 for the school's scholarship fund.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=December 13, 1973|title=Stevie Wonder's Friends Rally To Support Shaw U.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V7EDAAAAMBAJ&q=stevie+wonder+shaw+university+trustee&pg=PA25|journal=Jet|pages=25}}</ref>

Wonder embarked on a European tour in early 1974, performing in France at the [[Midem]] convention in [[Cannes]], in England at the [[Rainbow Theatre]] in London, and on the German television show ''[[Musikladen]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Stevie Wonder |first=Constanze |last=Elsner |year=1977 |page=[https://archive.org/details/steviewonder00cons/page/242 242] |publisher=Popular Library |url=https://archive.org/details/steviewonder00cons|url-access=registration |isbn=9780445043244 }}</ref> On his return to the United States, he played a sold-out concert at [[Madison Square Garden]] in March 1974, highlighting both up-tempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as "[[Living for the City]]".<ref name="rshrr80" /> The album ''[[Fulfillingness' First Finale]]'' appeared in July 1974 and set two hits high on the pop charts: the No. 1 "[[You Haven't Done Nothin']]" and the Top Ten "[[Boogie On Reggae Woman|Boogie on Reggae Woman]]". The Album of the Year was again one of three Grammys won.<ref name="Grammy" />

The same year, Wonder took part in a Los Angeles [[jam session]] with ex-[[Beatles]] [[John Lennon]] and [[Paul McCartney]] that would become known as the bootleg album ''[[A Toot and a Snore in '74]]''.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.bootlegzone.com/album.php?name=mm9225&section=2| title = John Lennon & Paul McCartney – A Toot and a Snore in 74| access-date = February 18, 2007| work = BootlegZone| publisher = BootlegZone & François Vander Linden| archive-date = September 28, 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928141313/http://www.bootlegzone.com/album.php?name=mm9225&section=2| url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first = Christopher |last = Sandford |author-link=Christopher Sandford (biographer) |title = McCartney | year = 2006 |publisher = Carroll & Graf |isbn = 978-0-7867-1614-2 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/mccartney00sand/page/227 227–229] |url = https://archive.org/details/mccartney00sand/page/227 }}</ref> He also co-wrote and produced the 1974 Syreeta Wright album ''[[Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta]]''.<ref>{{cite web| title = Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta | access-date = October 30, 2008 | work = allmusic | url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r68098|pure_url=yes}}}}</ref>

On October 4, 1975, Wonder performed at the historic "[[Wonder Dream Concert]]" in [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]], Jamaica, a benefit for the Jamaican Institute for the Blind.<ref>[[Timothy White (editor)|White, Timothy]] (2006), ''Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley''. Macmillan. {{ISBN|0-8050-8086-4}}. p. 275.</ref> In 1975, he played harmonica on two tracks on [[Billy Preston]]'s album ''[[It's My Pleasure]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/its-my-pleasure-mw0000874017#credits | title=It's My Pleasure - Billy Preston &#124; Album &#124; AllMusic | website=[[AllMusic]] }}</ref>

By 1975, at the age of 25, Wonder had won two consecutive [[Grammy Award]]s: in 1974 for ''Innervisions'' and in 1975 for ''Fulfillingness' First Finale''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hq1f922xR3MC&pg=PT56 |page=56|title=Awesome African-American Rock and Soul Musicians|first= David |last=Aretha|publisher=Enslow Publishers, Inc.|date= August 1, 2012|isbn=9781598451405}}</ref> In 1976, when [[Paul Simon]] won the Album of the Year Grammy for his ''[[Still Crazy After All These Years]]'', he wryly noted: "I'd like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn't make an album this year."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wild |first1=David |title=Wild At The GRAMMYs: Joking With Stevie |url=https://www.grammy.com/news/wild-at-the-grammys-joking-with-stevie|website=GRAMMY.com |publisher=Recording Academy |access-date= May 7, 2022|date=December 2, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Paul Simon Wins Album Of The Year |url=https://www.grammy.com/videos/18th-annual-grammy-awards-album-of-the-year?page=14 |website=GRAMMY.com |publisher=Recording Academy |access-date= May 7, 2022|date=January 5, 2010 }}</ref>

The double album-with-extra-[[Extended Play|EP]], ''[[Songs in the Key of Life]]'', was released in September 1976. Sprawling in style and sometimes lyrically difficult to fathom, the album was hard for some listeners to assimilate, yet is regarded by many as Wonder's crowning achievement and one of the most recognizable and accomplished albums in pop music history.<ref name="rshrr80"/><ref name="rsrg833"/> The album became the first by an American artist to debut straight at No. 1 in the ''[[Billboard charts|Billboard]]'' charts, where it stood for 14 non-consecutive weeks.<ref>{{cite book|first= Zeth |last= Lundy |title=Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life |series=33 1/3|publisher=Continuum|year= 2007| isbn= 978-0-8264-1926-2|page= 16}}</ref> Two tracks became No. 1 Pop/R&B hits: "[[I Wish (Stevie Wonder song)|I Wish]]" and "[[Sir Duke]]". The baby-celebratory "[[Isn't She Lovely]]?" was written about his newborn daughter Aisha, while songs such as "[[Love's in Need of Love Today]]" and "Village Ghetto Land" reflected a far more pensive mood. ''Songs in the Key of Life'' won Album of the Year and two other Grammys.<ref name=Grammy/> The album ranks 4th on ''[[Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/stevie-wonder-songs-in-the-key-of-life-2-1063229/
|title='Songs in the Key of Life' ranked 4th greatest album by Rolling Stone magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=September 22, 2020|access-date=December 7, 2020}}</ref>

Also in 1976, Wonder heard about the demonstration of the Kurzweil Reading Machine, the first multi-font [[Optical character recognition|reading machine]] for the blind, on ''[[Today (U.S. TV program)|The Today Show]]'', and later became the user of the first production unit, beginning a long-term association between himself and [[Ray Kurzweil]].<ref name=raybio08>{{cite web  |title=A Brief Career Summary of Ray Kurzweil |url=https://www.kurzweiltech.com/aboutray.html |website=Kurzweil Technologies |date=2008 |access-date=16 July 2024}}</ref>

Until 1979's ''[[Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants"]]'', his only further 1970s release was the retrospective three-disc album ''[[Looking Back (Stevie Wonder album)|Looking Back]]'' (1977), an anthology of his early Motown period.