It's been a watershed year for 59-year-old music legend Stevie Wonder.
In January, he sang at President Barack Obama's inauguration. In February, he became the second person honored with the Gershwin Prize, for a lifetime achievement in popular music.
But when he speaks by telephone from Los Angeles, Wonder isn't happy. Cable news is alive with reports of a shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, a killing that seems motivated by religious hatred.
Though he feels wildly inspired by his new president, Wonder can't help feeling discouraged.
"We can't say in one breath that we're thankful for life then we do everything that we can to desecrate the blessing of life that God has given us," he says. "It's an unacceptable place that we cannot have exist in this country."
Luckily, there's something that a songwriter can do about it — write a song. "There's a song that I wrote which is called 'Check on Your Love.' I did it when I was in Morocco," says Wonder, referring to a concert last month. "It's just a song that talks about people, saying 'look at what's going on in the world, look at what's happening. Check with your love. Make sure you're not losing yourself in some craziness.'"
Stevie Wonder fans might question their sanity when they realize they'll have a chance to see the superstar for the third time in less than two years — after many long years of staying away — when he performs Wednesday at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. Wonder says the death of his mother, Lula Mae Hardaway Morris, and his plan to dedicate a gospel album to her name, helped propel him out onto the road.
Recently we asked Stevie Wonder a few questions:
Q: What cover versions of your songs do you like?
A: The Red Hot Chili Peppers [version of "Higher Ground"]: It was exciting, it was a whole 'nother spin on the song. And obviously Shirley Bassey, what she did with that song ["All in Love is Fair"] was great.
Q: Which of your tunes will turn out to be your "Yesterday" — your tune that gets covered the most?
A: I hope I haven't written the song yet. Because I just think that music — as long as you truly are a music lover — there's always something to write about. Like my record "Songs in the Key of Life": I could never cover all the songs in the key of life. It's endless.
Q: Do you still bring a studio on the road?
A: Yes. It's a small setup. I can play my keyboard and do my vocal thing. I'm using a combination of software. Finally the Mac has become more accessible for the blind, so I'm using my Mac with the Cubase software.
Q: What have you been working on today?
A: I've been working on a tribute to my mother. I lost my mother in 2006; her name was Lula. It's going to be gospel inspired by Lula, it's going to be different. There'll be some traditional gospel, but more kind of places where we take the spirit, where gospel is spreading the good word of God's goodness, but talking about things that are very real. I'm hoping to do a song in maybe Arabic, maybe in a couple of languages. I'm going to use some other singers in the gospel field. I've also been working on another project, that's, for lack of a better word, secular. I want to make it into a musical [theatrical production]. It's titled "Through the Eyes of Wonder." Not so much [about] me, really, it's more so [about] anyone, the amazement of all the various things of the world.
Q: Anything else?
A: Tell the people I know things are hard, money's tight and all that, but that they need to spend some time with me. We are going to work it out.
'Boogie on Reggae Woman'
In addition to his other achievements, Stevie Wonder did something in 1972 that has had a profound impact ever since: He made synthesizers funky. After hearing Wendy Carlos' very elegant but square "Switched-On Bach," Wonder knew he wanted to use that sound. After he renegotiated his contract with Motown, he approached synthesizer pioneers Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, who collaborated with him on his first four breakout solo albums, starting with 1972's "Music of My Mind."
Speaking about the experience later in "Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer," Cecil said it took all three musicians working at once to create such classic sounds as the bulgy keyboard from "Boogie on Reggae Woman."
Wonder concedes that Cecil and Margouleff handled programming, but said Coors beer is the true unacknowledged collaborator.
"I remember when I did that song I was into drinking Coors beer. On the demo I sound like I'm really, really drunk. But I wasn't drunk, I just had a little buzz. So when I did the real one, I made my voice sound a little drunk."
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