Stevie Wonder Songs in The Key of Life

To see Stevie Wonder live in the 1970s and 1980s was to witness a musical force of nature–a soul-stirring, joy-filled, and deeply spiritual experience that left audiences transformed.In the '70s, Stevie was at the height of his creative powers–his golden era. With ground breaking albums like Songs in the Key of Life and Innervisions, he delivered genre-defying, socially conscious performances that made crowds dance, cry, and sing with abandon. Whether you were a funk devotee, a dreamer, or a seeker of truth, Stevie made you feel something real.

When people talk about classic Stevie, most people go for "Songs In The Key Of Life" or "Innervisions" - but, to my mind, they have serious competition in this classic from late-74. It is probably overlooked as there was only 2 singles from it (the excellent funky, stinging Nixon rebuke "You Have n't Done Nothin'", and the cool "Boogie On Reggae Woman"), but every track is a classic. More reflective than "Innervisions" or "Songs", and bit more down-tempo, but there are some real beauties.

Extracts from the music documentary series Classic albums. The series depicts how an album is conceived, produced and recorded, and the DVDs feature unique archival footage and still photographs from recording sessions, interviews with performers and others involved in the making of the recordings…

One of the most distinctive vocalists who arrived during the soul era, Deniece Williams is known for soaring, four-octave soprano voice, late-'70s and early-'80s R&B classics such as "Free" and "Silly," and the 1984 number one pop hit "Let's Hear It for the Boy." Born June Deniece Chandler in Gary, Indiana, she grew up singing in a Pentecostal church, which forbid the congregation to listen to anything but gospel music. Outside of wanting a 1959 Thunderbird, she had no serious ambitions but was deeply interested in music. Her favorite singers were Carmen McRae (for her diction) and Nancy Wilson, who, for Williams, exemplified class and elegance. However, her she also looked up to her parents, both of whom sang. From 1968 through 1970, Williams recorded a handful of singles for the Chicago-based Lock and Toddlin' Town labels as Deniece (or Denise) Chandler. None of them charted, but "I'm Walking Away" and "Mama, I Wish I Stayed Home" became Northern soul cult classics.

The West Coast's answer to The Last Poets, The Watts Prophets played an integral part in the raising of black consciousness and laying the foundations for rap. Formed at the Watts Writer's Workshop, Anthony "Amde" Hamilton, Otis O'Solomon, and Richard Dedeaux began performing together as Watts Prophets, setting their socially and politically conscious poetry to spare, often jazzy musical backing. They made high-profile guest appearances on Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key of Life and Quincy Jones' Mellow Madness. And were later the subject of an Emmy-nominated documentary, Victory Will Be My Moan. In 1969, the group debuted with The Black Voices: On the Streets in Watts and, two years later, followed with Rappin' Black in a White World, which featured accompaniment by ex-Motown songwriter/pianist DeeDee McNeil. The radical, incendiary tone of their work fit right in with the emerging black power movement and attracted unfavorable notice from the government, with the home of the Watts Writers Project being destroyed by fire in 1975 after having been infiltrated by an FBI informant. Throughout the years, they've remained sporadically active as performers, and were rediscovered by the hip-hop generation as their records were sampled frequently by many hip-hop artists including Ice Cube, Digable Planets, and Coolio. The Watts Prophets remain dedicated community activists today, promoting creative self-expression and the arts to young people around Southern California and beyond. Two bonus tracks. Deluxe Arigato Pak! Water Records. 2005.

Wonder's success as a socially conscious musical performer influenced popular music. Among the musicians and performers who list Wonder as one of their major influences are Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Gloria Estefan, Alicia Keys, Tori Amos, Avia, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Kanye West, George Michael, Nik Kershaw, Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Sting, John Ondrasik (Five For Fighting), India.Arie, Musiq Soulchild, Kuhbumser, John Legend, Jason Kay (Jamiroquai), Donell Jones, Brandy, Beyoncé Knowles, John Farnham, Jon Gibson, Aaliyah, Babyface, Justin Timberlake, Craig David, Utada Hikaru, Shogo Hamada, Shunsuke Kuroda (from the J-pop group Kobukuro), Jim Underwood, and the members of Jodeci, the Neptunes, Spitting Blood, Dru Hill, and Thunder. UK soul singer Nate James sang in his international hit single "The Message": 'Let's go back in time, back to Music of My Mind, with Stevie playing piano just for you'.