He was also able to negotiate a fat contract that would give him a new level of creative control over his music. But if Gaye opened the door to musicians to be able to actualize their artistic vision, Wonder stomped that thing off its hinges.
In addition to gaining a more lucrative financial terms in his contract, he also gained ownership of his publishing rights and the master tapes of his recordings.
More significantly, he and Gaye negotiated for full creative control over his music. This proved to be crucial, for since he got creative autonomy, his productivity arose. He went on to release five records in five years, each of which is a classic and gained him a spots in the top of the charts.
Though the album only produced two hit singles, many of its songs managed to achieve immortality. Wonder was a virtual one-man band, with proficiency in harmonica, keyboard, drums, congas, organ, bongos, melodica, clavinet, and the once frowned-upon synthesizer. But thankfully, times has changed, and Wonder played a leading role at this, encouraging other artists to use electronic music as well. He was also an early proponent of drum machines and one of the first artists to use a sampler in his music.
Since then, he has been using computer software programs to record and edit his music — being one of the first artists to do so. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Next Up In Video. Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up!
Check your inbox for a welcome email. Email required. By all accounts, he remains friendly with her, as he does with Syreeta Wright, and with the mothers of his other children: Yolanda Simmons, who lives in New Jersey with Aisha, nineteen, and Keita, seventeen; and Melody McCully, who lives in Southern California with ten-year-old Mumtaz.
Other relationships seem to come and go with some fluidity. There are occasional rumors that Wonder has got engaged, but nothing comes of it. A limo was waiting for Wonder at the Los Angeles airport, and as it headed for the city Wonder got right on the car phone.
On his lap he held a voice computer, the size of a slim book, in a black case. Wonder pressed keys through the case, and a robotic voice called out phone numbers at, to the untrained ear, baffling speed. Most of the calls that he placed were to hotel rooms where nobody answered.
Page me. Cos I need to know wassup. So page me. Love ya. Not whenever. Not whatever. But forever. Birdsong bet Wonder an apple that he would be proved right. It was three in the afternoon, and we were on our way to the Marina del Rey Middle School, where Wonder had agreed to appear briefly before an assembly of three hundred children to promote an American Express hunger-awareness program.
Someone on the stage announced Wonder, and we walked in. The children, as predicted, went nuts. The piano sounded a little foggy. Birdsong and Keith Harris moved to prop up its lid, and the lid came away entirely in their hands—a Laurel and Hardy moment as Wonder continued to play. Someone was videotaping the event, occasionally pointing the camera at the throng. The children went nuts at that, too, drowning out Wonder almost entirely. At the end, there was cheering, clapping, and stamping.
Yet there are clearly young Wonder fans, and fans in almost every other age group, too. For an artist who could once expect to sell upward of six million albums, it must have been a disappointment. The people at Motown could be forgiven for looking out at the world and seeing one vast market just waiting for the right record. Outside the school, a group of some fifteen children had gathered by the limo. We got back in the car. There was some laughter about the lid of the piano, but otherwise no post-mortem on the event just past.
It was already subsumed within the flow. The limo dropped Wonder outside his apartment, which is in a crisp white building on Wilshire Boulevard. By show-business standards, though, he is not an especially acquisitive person; with the exception of musical equipment, he seems largely indifferent to material things.
His apartment on Wilshire Boulevard is functionally furnished, the only clutter being instruments and musical gadgetry. One of his assistants once remarked to me that Wonder could probably fill his calendar for the entire year with awards ceremonies, tribute dinners, and guest appearances at benefit concerts, and he does do a moderate amount of this, but he spends far more time in the company of close friends.
He occasionally gives small dinner parties for them. His Christmas present this year from Val Williams, his makeup assistant, was a dinner service for six. Williams gave it to Wonder in his dressing room before a show, setting a place on a coffee table and talking him through each item.
He ran his hands over the glasses and held the cutlery. He spent several minutes familiarizing himself with it all.
Occasionally, Wonder will get the urge to be more gregarious. In London recently, he went to the Orange, in West Kensington, a tiny club for new acts, to see a gospel band called Nu Colours. This January, during the tour, he stayed an extra day in Miami so that he could attend the Super Bowl.
Approach him from whatever angle you choose, and eventually you reach music. And, because of the music, all other arrangements are subject to change or cancellation. I personally closed the year out at the Pacific Rim, getting people excited about it there. Now I know why I like Stevie Wonder. These are brisk comeback plans, but not ones that seem to affect the person at their center.
At the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, two days after the L. The sexy "Boogie on Reggae Woman" went to No. Even with this array of accomplishments, it was the double album with EP set Songs in the Key of Life that many have hailed as Wonder's most legendary project and one of the greatest records of all time.
Offering a rich span of songs with genre fusions aplenty, Songs covered everything from ethnic diversity in the U. Over the years, other artists struck gold with Wonder remakes, as seen with Aretha Franklin 's No. By those incredible lofty standards, the s weren't nearly as successful for Wonder. Still, he continued to be a huge musical force.
That same year, Wonder also released his greatest hits compilation Original Musiquarium I , which featured the No. The single also won Wonder an Academy Award for best original song.
Wonder released his next album, Square Circle , in , which featured the historic track "Part-Time Lover," the first song to ever reach No. The album Characters was released two years later, featuring two No. In addition to his acclaimed artistry, Wonder has routinely tackled social issues through his music and appearances. He successfully spearhead a movement to create a national holiday recognizing the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Wonder has also been a longtime advocate for improving services for the blind and those with disabilities.
0コメント