A very happy birthday to Stevie Wonder aka Stevland Hardaway Morris, born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on 13th May 1950.
Of course, Stevie's song Happy Birthday wasn't intended to celebrate himself but recorded in 1980 to support the call for a national holiday in the USA to mark the birth of Martin Luther King. It took until 1983 for MLK Day to be signed into law, 1986 for it to be first observed and 2000 for official observance to be included in each state's law.
By coincidence, yesterday's post featured Ellen Beth Abdi's stunning cover of Ordinary Pain from Stevie's 1976 magnum opus Songs In The Key Of Life. His version runs to nearly six and a half minutes. The second part (the "reply") is sung by Shirley Brewer, so here's Stevie alone on the first half.
As mentioned, I saw Ellen Beth Abdi live in concert on Sunday night. Both she and the headline act have covered Stevie Wonder songs, although neither were performed at this particular show.
The other song covered is Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing, originally a single from another of Stevie's classic albums, 1973's Innervisions. Here's the man himself performing the song over four decades later.
Rounding things off with a superb performance from German TV show Musik Laden / Beat Club in 1974. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing is included in the set (and also available on You Tube) but I've gone for a rousing version of Superstition.
Have a good one, sir.
Lovely birthday tribute. Stevie Wonder was unstoppable in the 60s and 70s. Just a pity it went all AOR later on in his career.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind....here's a link to an ICA from late 2019.
https://thenewvinylvillain.com/2019/12/19/an-imaginary-compilation-album-xxx-stevie-wonder/
I don't mind at all, JC, it's a superb ICA!
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