Stevie Wonder
Robin Katz, 19, July 1974
IT IS 1963. Beehive hairdos, and the Beach Boys are the all-American thing. In the shabby end of Brooklyn sits an old theatre called The Fox. Twice a year, super-cool disc jockey Murray (The K) Kaufman houses a spectacular revue there. Lined up for a few hours outside The Fox are hundreds of local blacks, Puerto Ricans, Italians, and a few courageous whites, waiting to see everyone from the Shirelles to the Miracles to the Ronettes, in one go. The K brings out the year's new hopeful, a twelve-year-old black, blind harmonica player from Detroit. This twelve-year-old plays a mean harmonica. He tears The Fox to shreds, and the crowd calls him back for more. He delivers a powerful, jazz-based instrumental called 'Fingertips Part II', which, later, goes to number one. His name is Little Stevie Wonder.
Total word count of piece: 1944
