Stevie Wonder is an internationally renowned singer, song writer and musician. He was born on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan. His birth name was Steveland Hardaway Judkins and as a result of being born premature, he was kept in the incubator where an over exposure to oxygen caused him to lose his eyesight. The family moved to Detroit when Stevie was 4 years old. He was interested in music from an early age and taught himself to play several instruments, including the harmonica, piano, drums, keyboards, bass guitar and bongos, a few of them even before the age of 10. He also sang in his local church choir in Detroit.

Stevie was nothing short of a child prodigy, and at the age of 11, he was discovered by a Motown artist named Ronnie White. White arranged for Stevie to audition for Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records. Gordy was duly impressed, offered Stevie a recording contract and changed his stage name to “Little Stevie Wonder”. He released his first album titled “12 Year Old Genius” in 1962. The song “Fingertips” was the biggest hit on this album. Over the next few years, Stevie studied classical piano and worked on improving his songwriting skills. He was a dedicated and successful artist, not solely due to his natural musical talent but also because of his dedication to his work.

As Stevie grew older and reached his twenties, he overhauled his music and his image by dropping the “Little” from his name and then re-negotiated his contract with Motown. The new contract gave him a much larger degree of control over his records and also greatly enhanced the royalty rate he received. This was a very unusual move for Gordy but he was sure that Stevie needed this independence in order to work. Sure enough, the 1970s brought him unprecedented success. He released one hit album after the other, including  “Talking Book” in 1972, “Innervisions” in 1973, “Fulfillingness’ First Finale” in 1974 and “Songs in the Key of Life” in 1976. Just this decade alone earned him 15 Grammy Awards.

The 1980s was also a