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Stevie Wonder
Born 1950
Fact
25 Grammy Awards — most for any solo artist in history
Fact
Youngest artist to top Billboard Hot 100 at 13
Fact
Songs in the Key of Life consistently ranked among greatest albums ever
Stevie Wonder signed with Motown at 11 and created some of the most innovative, joyful, and socially conscious music of the twentieth century. Blind from shortly after birth, he mastered piano, harmonica, and drums before adolescence.
The albums between 1972-1976 — Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life — represent one of the greatest creative stretches in music history.
Wonder drove the campaign to make MLK birthday a federal holiday, writing Happy Birthday as its anthem.
Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes does not mean he lacks vision.— Stevie Wonder
Key Milestones
A Life in Firsts
1950
Born in Saginaw, Michigan; blind from infancy
1961
Signed to Motown at age 11
1963
Youngest artist to top Billboard Hot 100 at age 13
1972
Negotiates creative control; releases Talking Book
1976
Songs in the Key of Life debuts at number one
1980
Leads campaign for MLK federal holiday
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