Extrait de l'album
INNERVISIONS (1973) avec: Stevie
Wonder (piano, Fender Rhodes, drums); Scott Edwards
(bass).
Biographie:
" b. Steveland Judkins, 13 May 1950,
Saginaw, Michigan, USA. Born Judkins, Wonder now prefers
to be known as Steveland Morris after his mother's married
name. Placed in an incubator immediately after his birth,
baby Steveland was given too much oxygen, causing Steveland
to suffer permanent blindness. Despite this handicap, Wonder
began to learn the piano at the age of seven, and had also
mastered drums and harmonica by the age of nine. After his
family moved to Detroit in 1954, Steveland joined a church
choir, the gospel influence on his music balanced by the
R&B of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke being played on his transistor
radio. In 1961, he was discovered by Ronnie White of the
Miracles, who arranged an audition at Motown Records. Berry
Gordy immediately signed Steveland to the label, renaming
him Little Stevie Wonder (the 'Little' was dropped in 1964).
Wonder was placed in the care of writer/producer Clarence
Paul, who supervised his early recordings. These accentuated
his prodigal talents as a multi-instrumentalist, but did
not represent a clear musical direction. In 1963, however,
the release of the ebullient live recording 'Fingertips
(Part 2)' established his commercial success, and Motown
quickly marketed him on a series of albums as 'the 12-year-old
genius' in an attempt to link him with the popularity of
'the genius', Ray Charles. Attempts to repeat the success
of 'Fingertips' proved abortive, and Wonder's career was
placed on hold during 1964 while his voice was breaking.
He re-emerged in 1965 with a sound that was much closer
to the Motown mainstream, scoring a worldwide hit with the
dance-orientated 'Uptight (Everything's Alright)', which
he co-wrote with Henry Cosby and Sylvia Moy. This began
a run of US Top 40 hits that continued unbroken (apart from
seasonal Christmas releases) for over six years. From 1965-70,
Stevie Wonder was marketed like the other major Motown stars,
recording material that was chosen for him by the label's
executives, and issuing albums that mixed conventional soul
compositions with pop standards. His strong humanitarian
principles were allowed expression on his version of Bob
Dylan 's 'Blowin' In The Wind' and Ron Miller's 'A Place
In The Sun' in 1966. He co-wrote almost all of his singles
from 1967 onwards, and also began to collaborate on releases
by other Motown artists, most notably co-writing Smokey
Robinson And The Miracles' hit 'The Tears Of A Clown', and
writing and producing the (Detroit) Spinners' 'It's A Shame'.
His contract with Motown expired in 1971; rather than re-signing
immediately, as the label expected, Wonder financed the
recording of two albums of his own material, playing almost
all the instruments himself, and experimenting for the first
time with more ambitious musical forms. He pioneered the
use of the synthesizer in black music, and also widened
his lyrical concerns to take in racial problems and spiritual
questions. Wonder then used these recordings as a lever
to persuade Motown to offer a more open contract, which
gave him total artistic control over his music, plus the
opportunity to hold the rights to the music publishing in
his own company, Black Bull Music. He celebrated the signing
of the deal with the release of the solo recordings, Where
I'm Coming From and Music Of My Mind, which despite lukewarm
critical reaction quickly established him at the forefront
of black music. Talking Book in 1972 combined the artistic
advances of recent albums with major commercial success,
producing glorious hit singles with the poly-rhythmic funk
of 'Superstition' and the crafted ballad, 'You Are The Sunshine
Of My Life'. Wonder married fellow Motown artist Syreeta
on 14 September 1970; he premiered many of his new production
techniques on Syreeta (1972) and Stevie Wonder Presents
Syreeta (1974), for which he also wrote most of the material.
Innervisions (1973) consolidated his growth and success
with Talking Book, bringing further hit singles with the
socially aware 'Living For The City' and 'Higher Ground'.
Later that year, Wonder was seriously injured in a car accident;
his subsequent work was tinged with the awareness of mortality,
fired by his spiritual beliefs. The release of Fulfillingness'
First Finale in 1974 epitomized this more austere approach.
The double album Songs In The Key Of Life (1976) was widely
greeted as his most ambitious and satisfying work to date.
It showed a mastery and variety of musical forms and instruments,
offering a joyous tribute to Duke Ellington on 'Sir Duke',
and heralding a pantheon of major black figures on 'Black
Man'. This confirmed Wonder's status as one of the most
admired musicians and songwriters in contemporary music.
Surprisingly, after this enormous success, no new recordings
surfaced for over three years, as Wonder concentrated on
perfecting the soundtrack music to the documentary film,
The Secret Life Of Plants. This primarily instrumental double
album was greeted with disappointing reviews and sales.
Wonder quickly delivered the highly successful Hotter Than
July in 1980, which included a tribute song for the late
Dr. Martin Luther King, 'Happy Birthday', and a notable
essay in reggae form on 'Masterblaster (Jamming)'. The failure
of his film project brought an air of caution into Wonder's
work, and delays and postponements were now a consistent
factor in his recording process. After compiling the retrospective
double album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I in 1982,
which included four new recordings alongside the cream of
his post-1971 work, Wonder scheduled an album entitled People
Move Human Play in 1983. This never appeared; instead, he
composed the soundtrack music for the film The Woman In
Red, which included his biggest-selling single to date,
the sentimental ballad 'I Just Called To Say I Loved You'.
The album on which he had been working since 1980 eventually
appeared in 1985 as In Square Circle. Like his next project,
Characters in 1987, it heralded a return to the accessible,
melodic music of the previous decade. The unadventurous
nature of both projects, and the heavy expectations engendered
by the delay in their release, led to a disappointing reception
from critics and public alike. Wonder's status as an elder
statesman of black music, and a champion of black rights,
was boosted by his campaign in the early 80s to have the
birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King celebrated as a national
holiday in the USA. This request was granted by President
Reagan, and the first Martin Luther King Day was celebrated
on 15 January 1986 with a concert at which Wonder topped
the bill. Besides his own recordings, Wonder has been generous
in offering his services as a writer, producer, singer or
musician to other performers. His most public collaborations
included work with Paul McCartney, which produced a cloying
but enormous hit, 'Ebony And Ivory', Gary Byrd, Michael
Jackson, and Eurythmics, and on the benefit records by USA
For Africa and Dionne Warwick & Friends. Conversation Peace
in 1995 was an average album with no outstanding songs,
but our expectation of Wonder is different to that of most
other artists. He could release ten indifferent, poor, weak
or spectacular records over the next 20 years and nothing
would change our fixed perception of him and of the body
of outstanding music he has produced since 1963. "
(source http://music.yahoo.com/)
Album notes:
" Recorded at The Record Plant, Los
Angeles and Media Sound, Inc., New York, New York. INNERVISIONS
is Stevie Wonder squarely in the middle of his early-'70s
peak. Continuing his ongoing proof that popular music can
have a social conscience, INNERVISIONS features some of
Wonder's finest pop singles while dealing rigorously with
spiritual and sociological issues. "Living For The City"
is a detailed ghetto anthem along the lines of his friend
Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler),"
while the wildly funky "Higher Ground" looks to reincarnation
and salvation. Both cracked the Top 10 in 1973. The celestial
thread continues through "Jesus Children Of America," which
brings together Christianity and transcendental meditation,
and "Visions," a delicate plea for peace and brotherhood
that sounds like an homage to John Lennon's "Imagine" (released
two years earlier). Successful in pretty much every way--it
earned Wonder his first of two straight album-of-the-year
Grammys--about the only question left by INNERVISIONS was,
how to top it? "
(source http://music.yahoo.com/)
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