Happy Birthday to the icon Stevie Wonder! The only other child prodigy on Motown besides Michael turned 60 today. I don’t have to tell you his hits because they are a part of international memory. Just to think about it Stevie gave Rufus and Chaka Khan their first hit with “Tell Me Something Good.” I just learned today in the current issue of Waxpoetics that Smokey Robinson’s “Tears Of A Clown” was a Stevie song that Stevie had lying around unfinished. Stevie gave Jermaine Jackson his first number one hit with “Let’s Get Serious.” Don’t forget that’s his harmonica on Chaka’s version of Princes’s “I Feel For You.” It took his song “Higher Ground” to raise the profile of the The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Stevie got himself arrested for his support of Dr. King’s birthday becoming a national holiday which culminated in “Happy Birthday” from the classic Hotter Than July album. Songs In The Key Of Life is the third most important concept album in soul music after Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On’ and Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly. These are just a bit of Stevie’s achievements and there are so much more. So Happy Birthday to one of the brightest lights in music!
