May 13
Stevie Wonder’s soulful voice, legendary music skills, cheerful persona on and offstage, and prolific output have earned him fans around the globe and a Kennedy Center Honor in 1999.
Photo by RB/Staff/Redferns/Getty Images
1950:
Wonder Boy, Wonder Man
Stevie Wonder is born in Saginaw, Michigan
Stevland Hardaway Judkins may have been blind from birth, but his musical gifts were beyond compare.
He started playing piano at seven; he learned bass, drums, and harmonica; and he sang in church choirs. At 11, he was heard singing on a street corner by someone who knew someone at Motown Records. Introductions were made, and Little Stevie Wonder, his stage name as a youth, had a record deal and a hit record by the time he was 13 years old.
Wonder has never stopped working: writing songs for others, acting, and making hit record after hit record, including Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, and Songs in the Key of Life. There are 22 Grammy Awards® on the mantel at his house, more than any other won by a solo artist.
