Stevie Wonder has a lot more movie credits now that IMDb has started listing music videos that way. Before that, he had a grand total of three, and I’m not sure any of them would be something you’d brag about, or possibly even mention in polite society. He played “The Balladeer” in an awful, forgotten, ’90s version of Pinocchio. And, in his Little Stevie Wonder days, he was in two Frankie and Annette movies. Both in 1964, because they churned those suckers out. His TV credits are equally scanty—an episode of The Cosby Show, presumably one of those ones that exclusively existed so musicians would appear on the show, and an episode of the forgotten Fox cop drama New York Undercover.
Stevland Hardaway Judkins was born six weeks premature to parents with complicated social lives. Eventually, his mother gave him the last name of Morris—Wikipedia says it’s for family reasons, but that’s listed as needing both clarification and citation. Either way, he started performing with a friend on street corners after she moved the family to Detroit. At age eleven, he got an audition at Motown, where he was given the name Little Stevie Wonder. At age thirteen, he had his first number one hit. He ended up the second black composer to win an Oscar—and wrote the songs for an episode of The Rockford Files guest starring the first one.
That Stevie Wonder was a child prodigy seems indisputable by the fact that the single features music so complicated and challenging that the bass player can no longer even tell what key Wonder is playing in. And not because Wonder is out of pitch but because he’s improvising so fast and changing what he’s doing so much that there’s nothing predictable to it. From there, Wonder was off and running, one of the greatest talents of music in the second half of the twentieth century. It’s probably not exaggerating to say that Wonder changed the face of popular music as we know it.
He is also a man of powerful beliefs. He says that, before he’ll ride with a drunk driver, he’ll drive himself. He thinks the right to not get shot is more important than the right to bear arms. He is clear that he himself is not gay, but he doesn’t think you should worry about people who are. He dedicated his Oscar win to Nelson Mandela, resulting in having his music banned in South Africa. He supports stem cell research and women’s rights. And, yes, he does actually want to drive a car someday.
It seems a cruel trick that he went on to lose his sense of smell in a car accident in a car accident in 1973. That’s just perverse. Now, we’re lucky that’s the worst that happened to him. In 1973, his best was yet to come. But it’s still one of those moments that makes you almost believe in a trickster god of some sort. Someone who said, “Yes, this is what Stevie Wonder needs. He’s already overcome so much; let’s make life a bit more difficult for him.” Still, given his best years were yet to come, it’s clear he did overcome that as well, and good on him.
Since he did Sesame Street, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind my taking a minute to ask you to support my Patreon or Ko-fi!