Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder: Innervisions

Review by Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, September 1973

THE GREENING OF MOTOWN continues apace, with performers who once flourished under the company's autocratic guidelines (the Four Tops, Gladys Knight) seeking success elsewhere while ...

Stevie Wonder: Characters

Review by Roy Trakin, Creem, March 1988

THIS IS ALMOST as satisfying a return to form as Sugar Ray Leonard's victory over Marvelous Marvin Hagler and practically as much of an upset. ...

AUDIO: Stevie Wonder (2005)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, March 2005

From 'Fingertips' to the 21st Century, and everything in between: his classic albums; Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye and Prince; race, religion and blindness; recording and technology then and now... and he sings! he preaches! he does your horoscope!

File format: mp3; in 4 parts, total file sizes: 100.3meg, total interview length: 1h 49' 29" sound quality: ***

Stevie Wonder: Music Of My Mind (Tamla Motown)

Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, December 1971

THIS HAS been hailed as Stevie Wonder's final "coming of age", but I think this album is more important and will certainly have more important ...

Soul on Fire

Report by Philip Norman, Sunday Times Magazine, 1972

STEVIE WONDER crosses the hotel lobby, resting on the elbows of two other people. That he is blind, has been blind from birth, is nonetheless ...

Audiences Will Accept New Things From Me, Says Stevie Wonder

Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1972

MUSICAL BARRIERS are tumbling down – that's the reckoning of Stevie Wonder, currently on another 20-date European tour. "Audiences used to have a pre-conception of ...

Stevie Wonder: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Danny Holloway, NME, January 1972

STEVIE WONDER is the first artist to make Motown work for him rather than vice-versa. He has full control over his music and has acquired ...

Stevie Wonder: Stevie's Moog Music...

Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, January 1972

"I NEVER did realise it would take me so long to lose that 'Little' Stevie Wonder tag. There are times when I wish I'd only ...

Stevie Wonder: A Little Too Far Out?

Profile and Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, February 1972

ALL IN ALL, 1971 was not a big year for Stevie Wonder in this country, and his appearances in the chart were, in fact, few ...

Stevie Wonder, Bags Of Chips And Clapton

Report and Interview by Fred Dellar, NME, February 1972

NME calls in at all-night recording session ...

John Sinclair: Free John & Yoko

Report by uncredited writer, Dave Marsh, Creem, March 1972

The new Plastic Ono Band comes to Ann Arbor to Free John Sinclair – Starring David Peel, Archie Shepp, Ed Sanders, Stevie Wonder, Commander Cody, ...

Stevie Wonder: Man Of Today And Tomorrow

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, January 1973

ONE OF THE most rewarding and exciting aspects of taking any serious interest in any field of music is observing the artistic development and progress ...

Stevie Wonder: Innervisions

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, August 1973

WHEN APPRAISING an artist of the stature of Stevie Wonder, there seems nothing worse than to hark back to previous triumphs and make comparisons. ...

Stevie Wonder: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, February 1974

IT'S BEEN said before but it's got to be said again: Stevie Wonder is, firstly, one of the most creative talents in the musical world ...

Motown the Uptight

Essay by Richard Williams, Let It Rock, July 1974

We’ve got love a’ go-go nowLet’s not wonder whyLove-a, love a’ go-go nowTomorrow that love may die– Stevie Wonder, 1966 Sing it loud for your ...

Stevie Wonder: Further Fulfillingness

Interview by Wayne Robins, Melody Maker, November 1974

STEVIE WONDER had to know: should he, could he, release part two of Fulfillingness' First Finale at the end of November? ...

Stevie Wonder - Blind, Gifted and Loaded

Report by Bob Woffinden, NME, August 1975

THERE HAS BEEN an official silence about Stevie Wonder's plans since he publicly announced in March last year that he was to retire in 1976 ...

Technology and R&B: Get Arp And Get Down

Overview by Davitt Sigerson, Black Music, November 1975

Arps, Moogs, Rhythm Boxes... the sounds of black music have never been more complex ...

Stevie Wonder: Songs In The Key Of Life

Review by Bob Woffinden, NME, October 1976

RUMOURS THAT the New Musical Express has deliberately pursued a course of hostility towards Stevie Wonder are, of course, utterly without foundation; but (even at ...

Stevie Wonder: Anthology

Review by Cliff White, NME, December 1977

ON AUGUST 5th, 1975, Stevie Wonder signed an historic contract with Motown. Apart from the little matter of a $13 million guarantee, the deal reputedly ...

Stevie Wonder: Hotter Than July

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 1980

IF THIS ALBUM had been issued between Fulfillingness First Finale and Songs In The Key Of Life I think I'd still have given it four ...

Stevie Wonder: Original Musiquarium I

Review by Lloyd Bradley, NME, 1982

FOUR MONTHS late, four sides long, only four tracks new but fortunately containing enough sterling old stuff to make it a realistic proposition (economicswise) comes ...

Stevie Wonder: London

Live Review by Richard Williams, Times, The, July 1984

PERHAPS ONE DAY Stevie Wonder will recognize that inviting a British audience to sing along with him does not evoke the kind of ready response ...

Stevie Wonder: The Woman In Red (Motown)

Review by Simon Witter, NME, September 1984

SO HERE'S a new Stevie Wonder album, but not THE new Stevie Wonder album, the one we've stopped holding our breath for (makes Aswad and ...

Stevie Wonder: In Square Circle

Review by Roy Trakin, Creem, February 1986

IT BUBBLES, it gurgles, it coos. You were maybe expecting ‘Fingertips Part III’? In Square Circle is a seamless piece of synthetic aural gratification that ...

Stevie Wonder: Characters

Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, January 1988

THE SINGLE, 'SKELETONS', made a couple of bold statements: its earthy, chunky bass synth lines proved Stevie Wonder to have recaptured the simple approach to ...

Stevie Wonder: Breaking The Square Circle

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, NME, April 1989

Perhaps the most innovative musician of the '70s, STEVIE WONDER has enjoyed mixed fortunes in the '80s, dividing his time between duets with Dionne Warwick ...

Stevie Wonder: CD Reissues

Review by Andy Gill, Q, September 1992

Stevie Wonder reissued: from 12-Year-Old-Genius to I Just Called To Say I Love You. ...

Stevie Wonder: Radio City Music Hall, New York

Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, March 1995

WHEN STEVIE WONDER EASES INTO 'YOU AND I', ACCOMPANIED only by his acoustic grand piano, the whole auditorium goes quiet. Not just silent, like nobody's ...

It's Good To Be The King

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, April 1995

It's been a few years — oh alright then, decades — since "Little" Stevie Wonder was seriously big. But beyond the heavyweight collaborations, the myriad ...

Stevie Wonder: Conversation Peace (Motown)

Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, April 1995

SO UNIQUE, SO ADVENTUROUS WAS Stevie Wonder in his ‘70s heyday that it’s especially upsetting to hear the occasionally hackneyed modern model. Not that we’ve ...

Stevie Wonder: Singing in the Key of Life

Overview by Craig Werner, Goldmine, October 1999

IT WAS THE fall of 1974 and signs of confusion were everywhere. President Richard Nixon had fled from office in disgrace, only to receive a ...

Stevie Wonder: The Electrification Of Soul

Overview by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2000

"THERE'S NEVER BEEN a time when Stevie Wonder hasn't been relevant," said an associate of Wonder's on Channel 4's recent Top 10 Seventies Soul run-down. ...

Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life (Motown, 1976)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, 2004

BERRY GORDY’S former boy genius already had a string of single-album masterpieces under his belt when he put his signature on summer ‘76 with this ...

The Backpages Interview: Stevie Wonder

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, March 2005

RBP: You're working these long all-night stretches in the studio. How different is it from when you worked in the early '70s? ...

Stevie Wonder Takes His Time

Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, June 2005

BY THE SMALL HOURS of Saturday morning, L.A.'s Koreatown district is hushed and still. The odd car rattles along Western Avenue, but most of the ...