PurpleArmy
02-14-2007, 12:29 AM
Today's Black History Month's Person of the Day is:
Stevie Wonder
(1950- )
Musician.
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/%A5Artist%20GIF%20Images/Stevie-Wonder-As-A-Child.jpghttp://www.ruggedelegantliving.com/a/images/Stevie.Wonder.A.Time.to.Lov.jpg
Born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan. A premature baby, he was blinded by receiving too much oxygen in the incubator. He began playing the harmonica at an early age, and in 1962, at the age of 11, Stevland Morris was introduced to Ronnie White of the popular Motown act The Miracles. White brought Morris and his mother to Motown Records. Impressed by the young musician, Motown CEO Berry Gordy signed Morris to Motown's Tamla label as Little Stevie Wonder. In 1963 he released his first album, Little Stevie Wonder: The 12 Year Old Genius, and its single release ‘Fingertips - Pt. 2’ became his first million seller.
During the 1960s, while attending the Michigan School for the Blind, he had many hit records in the classic Motown rhythm-and-blues style. On his 21st birthday, he renegotiated his contract and gained full artistic control over his work.
Throughout the 1970s he became proficient in the use of synthesizers and electronic keyboards, and he released a series of innovative, commercially successful albums featuring a fusion of progressive rock and soul, biting social commentary, and sentimental ballads. A multi-instrumentalist, Wonder plays the drums, congas, bass guitar, organ, harmonica and most famously the piano.
October 1972's Talking Book featured the #1 pop and R&B hit "Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive examples of the sound of the clavinet. The song, originally intended for rock guitarist Jeff Beck, features a rocking groove that garnered Wonder an additional audience on rock radio stations. That audience was further exposed to Wonder when he opened for The Rolling Stones on their much-heralded 1972 American Tour. Wonder's pop following was not neglected, however, as "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" followed to #1 on the pop charts and has been a staple love song for the decades since. Between them, the songs won three Grammy Awards.
On August 6, 1973, just days after the release of Innervisions, Wonder was in a serious automobile accident while on tour, when a log from a truck went through a passenger window and struck him in the head. This left him in a coma for four days and resulted in a permanent loss of his sense of smell.
On October 5, 1975, Wonder performed the historical Wonder Dream Concert in Kingston, Jamaica, a Jamaican Institute for the Blind benefit concert. Along with Wonder Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, the three original "Wailers", performed together for the last time.
He signed a contract with Motown (1976) for $13 million, the largest negotiated in recording history at that date. He has become one of the most successful and well-known artists in the world, with nine U.S. number-one hits to his name and album sales totaling more than 100 million units.
In the 1980s and 1990s he was increasingly engaged in children's and civil-rights causes, and he led the campaign to make Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday. He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. A Time to Love, Wonder's first new album in ten years, was released in 2005 and featured the hit single "So What the Fuss" with Prince and EnVogue.
Wonder's songs are renowned for being hard and demanding to sing. There are many 9th, 11th and 13th chords. His melodies make abrupt, unpredictable changes. His songs are melismatic, meaning that a syllable of a word is sung over different notes. In the 2005 American Idol Hollywood Performances, in which Wonder appeared as a guest- and where each of 12 contestants were required to sing one of his songs, after having met and received guidance from him- judge Randy Jackson repeatedly stated the difficulty of Wonder's songs.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Today's Quote:
"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."
-- Booker T. Washington
Stevie Wonder
(1950- )
Musician.
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/%A5Artist%20GIF%20Images/Stevie-Wonder-As-A-Child.jpghttp://www.ruggedelegantliving.com/a/images/Stevie.Wonder.A.Time.to.Lov.jpg
Born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan. A premature baby, he was blinded by receiving too much oxygen in the incubator. He began playing the harmonica at an early age, and in 1962, at the age of 11, Stevland Morris was introduced to Ronnie White of the popular Motown act The Miracles. White brought Morris and his mother to Motown Records. Impressed by the young musician, Motown CEO Berry Gordy signed Morris to Motown's Tamla label as Little Stevie Wonder. In 1963 he released his first album, Little Stevie Wonder: The 12 Year Old Genius, and its single release ‘Fingertips - Pt. 2’ became his first million seller.
During the 1960s, while attending the Michigan School for the Blind, he had many hit records in the classic Motown rhythm-and-blues style. On his 21st birthday, he renegotiated his contract and gained full artistic control over his work.
Throughout the 1970s he became proficient in the use of synthesizers and electronic keyboards, and he released a series of innovative, commercially successful albums featuring a fusion of progressive rock and soul, biting social commentary, and sentimental ballads. A multi-instrumentalist, Wonder plays the drums, congas, bass guitar, organ, harmonica and most famously the piano.
October 1972's Talking Book featured the #1 pop and R&B hit "Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive examples of the sound of the clavinet. The song, originally intended for rock guitarist Jeff Beck, features a rocking groove that garnered Wonder an additional audience on rock radio stations. That audience was further exposed to Wonder when he opened for The Rolling Stones on their much-heralded 1972 American Tour. Wonder's pop following was not neglected, however, as "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" followed to #1 on the pop charts and has been a staple love song for the decades since. Between them, the songs won three Grammy Awards.
On August 6, 1973, just days after the release of Innervisions, Wonder was in a serious automobile accident while on tour, when a log from a truck went through a passenger window and struck him in the head. This left him in a coma for four days and resulted in a permanent loss of his sense of smell.
On October 5, 1975, Wonder performed the historical Wonder Dream Concert in Kingston, Jamaica, a Jamaican Institute for the Blind benefit concert. Along with Wonder Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, the three original "Wailers", performed together for the last time.
He signed a contract with Motown (1976) for $13 million, the largest negotiated in recording history at that date. He has become one of the most successful and well-known artists in the world, with nine U.S. number-one hits to his name and album sales totaling more than 100 million units.
In the 1980s and 1990s he was increasingly engaged in children's and civil-rights causes, and he led the campaign to make Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday. He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. A Time to Love, Wonder's first new album in ten years, was released in 2005 and featured the hit single "So What the Fuss" with Prince and EnVogue.
Wonder's songs are renowned for being hard and demanding to sing. There are many 9th, 11th and 13th chords. His melodies make abrupt, unpredictable changes. His songs are melismatic, meaning that a syllable of a word is sung over different notes. In the 2005 American Idol Hollywood Performances, in which Wonder appeared as a guest- and where each of 12 contestants were required to sing one of his songs, after having met and received guidance from him- judge Randy Jackson repeatedly stated the difficulty of Wonder's songs.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Today's Quote:
"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."
-- Booker T. Washington