The Boy Wonder...
Little Stevie Wonder was barely 13 when Motown released "Fingertips" on this date in 1963. Signed by the legendary label at the age of 11, Stevie would top the charts with "Fingertips", giving us the summer's biggest hit of '63...
Stevie would become one of Motown's biggest Superstars and one of the greatest artists of all-time but little is known of the singer's songwriting ability. Here's a partial list of songs that Stevie has co-written: "I Was Made To Love Her", "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours", the Spinners hit, "It's A Shame" and the Miracles hit, "Tears Of A Clown"...
I've included one or two other things you may not know about Stevie Wonder in today's commentary...
More June 22 Memories...
1963) Motown releases "Fingertips"...
1969) Cleveland's Cuyahoga River catches fire...
1970) Voting age lowered to 18...
1979) Little Richard quits Rock and Roll for the ministry...
1981) Mark David Chapman pleads quilty in killing of John Lennon...
1982) Manhattan institutes bus-only lanes...
1987) Mets "franchise" Tom Seaver retires...
1990) Bobby Cox takes over as manager of the Atlanta Braves...
1990) Billy Joel rocks Yankee Stadium...
1994) Houston beats the Knicks in 7 games to win NBA title...
2004) "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" tops the list of all-time movie songs...
Happy Birthday...
1936) Kris Kristofferson...
1941) Ed ("60 Minutes") Bradley...
1944) Peter Asher...
1947) Howard (Turtles, Eddie of Flo and Eddie) Kaylan...
1948) Todd Rundgren...
1949) Meryl Streep...
1964) Amy ("Judging Amy") Brenneman...
1973) Carson Daly...
Commentary...
I met Stevie Wonder in 1977 when I was program director at WNBC. Stevie was on a promotional tour of New York radio stations at the time and we were lucky enough to get Stevie to sit in with afternoon drive jock, Walt "Baby" Love. Having an opportunity to spend some time with Stevie, I found him not only knowledgable and engaging but possessing a great sense of humor. In the middle of our conversation, Stevie broke into a top 40 jock rap that was so good I was tempted to hold him hostage so he could follow Walt on the air. Turning that down, Stevie did agree to play top 40 jock in his on-air interview, not only surprising Walt but doing one of the best interviews ever heard on New York radio...
Story #2 about Stevie...
Minnie Riperton, who would top the charts with "Loving You" in the mid-70s, would often sing backup vocals at Stevie Wonder recording sessions before starting a career with the group Rotary Connection and then going solo. Minnie would often mention Stevie Wonder's great sense of humor regarding his blindness and how she would ask Stevie to hold her hand and follow her. Those walks would lead into a wall. No problem for Stevie who would double over in laughter...
In today's transitory world of recording artists, we can safely assume that we will not see the like of artists like Stevie Wonder again...
