Pop and Rock Legends: Stevie Wonder

Pop and Rock Legends: Stevie Wonder is a medley of five songs by the legendary Stevie Wonder from the 1970s. The arrengement was written in 1999 by John Wasson (see below).

Stevland Hardaway Morris was born May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan. He was born six weeks premature, which, along with the oxygen-rich atmosphere in the hospital incubator, resulted in his blindness. He began teaching himself to play instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica and drums and formed a singing partnership with a friend; calling themselves Stevie and John. They played on street corners, and occasionally at parties and dances. Stevie signed with Motown's Tamla record label at the age of 11, mostly as a harmonica player.

Known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, he has recorded more than 30 U.S. top ten hits and received 25 Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. In 2013, he was listed as number five on Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists.

The first song in the medley, “Sir Duke”, Sir Duke was released on the 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life. It was written in tribute to Duke Ellington.

The second song in medley, “I Wish”, was released in late 1976 as the lead single from his eighteenth album, Songs in the Key of Life (1976). Written and produced by Wonder, the song focuses on his childhood from the 1950s into the early 1960s about how he wished he could go back and relive it. It was the single hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and soul singles chart. At the 19th Grammy Awards in 1977, Stevie Wonder won the Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male for this song.

Next comes “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing”. It was released as the third single from Wonder’s sixteenth studio album, Innervisions (1973). It spent fifteen weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100, debuting at number 73 the week of April 6, 1974 and peaking at number 16 the week of June 1, 1974. The song’s lyrics convey a positive message, focusing on taking things in one’s stride and accentuating the positive.

The fourth song in the medley, “Superstition”, was released on October 24, 1972, as the lead single from his fifteenth studio album, Talking Book (1972). The lyrics describe popular superstitions and their negative effects.

“Superstition” reached number one in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in January 1973 and on the soul singles chart. It was Wonder's first number-one single since “Fingertips, Pt. 2” in 1963. In November 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the song number 74 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was re-ranked number 73 on its 2010 list, and number 12 on its 2021 list. At the 16th Grammy Awards, the song earned Wonder two Grammys: “Best Rhythm & Blues Song” and “Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male”. In 1998, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

The fifth and final song in the medley, “Isn’t She Lovely?”, is also from his 1976 album, Songs in the Key of Life. The lyrics celebrate the birth of his daughter, Aisha Morris. Wonder collaborated on the song with Harlem songwriter and studio owner Burnetta “Bunny” Jones.

The song opens side 3 of Songs in the Key of Life, and starts with a baby's first cry recorded during an actual childbirth. A recording of Wonder bathing Aisha as an older toddler is brought into the final section of the song, mixed with Wonder's extended chromatic harmonica solo. All of the instruments heard in the song are played by Wonder, except for some keyboard parts played by Greg Phillinganes. During the recording process, bassist Nathan Watts laid down a bass guitar line to serve as a guide track for Wonder, but Wonder eventually replaced this with his own keyboard bass performance.

The more-than-six-minute song was not released as a single, as Wonder was unwilling to shorten the song to fit the 7", 45 rpm format. Even without a single release, the song received so much airplay that it reached number 23 on the Adult Contemporary chart in January 1977. Since then, the song has become a jazz and pop standard, covered by many artists.

Wonder performed the song live for Queen Elizabeth II at her Diamond Jubilee Concert on June 4, 2012, with lyrics modified to refer to the Queen.

Arranger John Wasson (b. 1956) leads a busy life as a composer, arranger, producer and performer. His works have been performed by such notable organizations as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the U.S. Air Force “Airmen of Note”, The Gatlin Brothers, and the Dallas Brass. He has written commissioned works for the Symphony Orchestras of Minnesota, Houston, Dallas, Virginia Beach and Fort Worth, as well as the U. S. Air Force Academy Band and the Dallas Wind Symphony.

John has written and produced music for advertising and television clients such as Electronic Data Systems, the Salvation Army, Zola Levitt Ministries, Radio Shack, Stop N Go, and Kern's Nectars.

As a low brass performer, John has been a member of the Stan Kenton and Woody Herman Orchestras and the Dallas Brass. He has worked with such notable artists as Michael Bolton, Tony Bennett, Bill Conti, Cab Calloway, Reba McIntyre, Liza Minnelli, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Richard Stolzman, and Joe Williams. He also leads his own performing groups the Strata Big Band and the CoolBrass Jazztet.

John received his Bachelor of Music in Theory and his Masters of Music in Trombone Performance at the University of North Texas, where he played in the internationally acclaimed One O'Clock Lab Band.

The music for Pop and Rock Legends: Stevie Wonder was provided for the band by

David and Barbara Cotton.