Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Judkins or “Stevie Wonder” was born on May 13th 1950. His mother remarried and later changed his last name to Morris. He was born six weeks early, so while in an incubator, he lost his eye site. His mother feared for his safety so she kept him inside. At age nine he could play the piano and other instruments fairly well, that a record label, Motown signed him and at the age of thirteen had a number one hit. He even wrote some songs for other Motown artists. In 1970 he married a former Motown secretary, Syreeta Wright however they divorced two years later. He left his Motown label the same year, but came back on his own one year later, with full control of how he recorded his music.
During the 1970′s he put out four albums that redefined the way music was listened too. Music of my Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, and Songs of the Keys of Life. In 1973 while on tour, Stevie was in a car crash that left him in a coma for a couple of days. But in a year he was back recording. Stevie was also an activist, and he was the one who got the petition to make Martin Luther King’s Birthday a holiday in the United States. President Ronald Regan signed this petition in 1983, and when the holiday was first celebrated in 1986 Stevie was there to sing his hit single, Happy Birthday.
Stevie Wonder has won a world breaking twenty-two Grammy’s, has been the youngest person to be honored by the Kennedy Center, and the first blind recipient for an Oscar in1985 for his song, I Just Called To Say I love You. Stevie has seven children, one of which a daughter named Aisha who was in an inspiration for the song, Isn’t She Lovely ? In 2001 he married his second wife, Kai Milla Morris, and his second son, Mandala was born on Stevie’s fifty fifth birthday. On August 28, 2008 at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, forty five years where Martin Luther King Jr, gave his, I Have a Dream Speech, and when President Barack Obama accepted the nomination for President, Stevie was there to sing for him.
Stevie was an inspiration to people all around the world. He fought for African American rights, and is an inspiration for people with disabilities. Just because he was blind, that did not stop him from creating music, and winning so many awards. That is what a true person is. Stevie is blind, but that never discouraged him, instead it made him want to work harder, and he never gave up. Even with him being blind, and being in a car crash, nothing could stop him from achieving what he has achieved.
