Happy Birthday Stevie Wonder!

By: Howie Edelson

Acclaimed singer/songwriter Stevie Wonder is 56 today (May 12th). His most recent album, A Time To Love, was released almost one year ago and was his first studio recording in 10 years. Wonder's most recent single from the set was "Moon Blue." The debut single, "So What the Fuss," featured the first video created with a special narrated audio track for the vision-impaired.

He was born Steveland Judkins in Saginaw, Michigan in 1950, and later on legally changed his last name to Morris. At 12 years old, "Little Stevie Wonder" had his first Number One hit with "Fingertips - Part 2," recorded live in concert. Listen closely and you'll hear the musicians struggling to keep up with Wonder as he improvises; at one point, one musician can be heard shouting, "What key? What key?"

Martha Reeves, who was still working as a receptionist at Motown when Wonder first auditioned for the label, recalled to us that he was unlike anything they had seen or heard before: "Stevie Wonder, when he came to audition, played every instrument in the studio. Then he surprised everybody by puling this harmonica out of his jacket pocket and playing the harmonica, that nobody (laughs) at Motown had ever played."

Former Temptations frontman Dennis Edwards remembers immediately being floored by Wonder's talents: "The first time I met him, man, I was at Motown -- of course Stevie was a little kid. He plays all the time. Every time you hear him he's swinging. All you've got to do is speak and Stevie knows who you are. He can't see and he's like 'Dennis!'it's like... when I first met him I'm like 'How does he know who I am?'Y'know?"

At 17, he performed with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, playing drums during a BBC jam session.

He recorded an instrumental jazz album under the name Eivets Rednow (Stevie Wonder spelled backwards).

He's set a record for the most Grammys, with 21 wins.

Wonder considered running for mayor of Detroit in 1992, but never followed through with the campaign.

Wonder, who has been writing songs since he was a child, said that he's never taken his talent for granted:"As I many times do, I'll say, 'God, let me come up with a song, let me think of a song, let me this, let me that.'It's a magical thing that happens, so I'm still - - I'm a lover of music. I'm a very fortunate person in that the thing that I love I'm able to do and support my family as well."