A Look Behind Stevie Wonder’s ‘Songs in the Key of Life’

November 3, 2023 5:19 pm

Over the first half of the 1970s, Stevie Wonder had reached new heights of fame, mass commercial appeal, and critical acclaim thanks to the release of three masterpiece LPs: Talking Book (1972), Innervisions (1973), and Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974). All three studio sets had rocketed to the top of what was then Billboard’s Soul LPs chart, with the latter even earning Wonder his first No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 since his first live album, Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius, cemented his status as a child prodigy back in 1963.

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This era eventually became known as Wonder’s “classic period,” and with it came plenty of awards gold—starting with his first Grammys in 1974 for “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “Superstition.” Then, both Innervisions and Fulfillingness’ First Finale won the now-mid-20s genius back-to-back Grammys for Album of the Year.

And, just think: that could’ve been the end of Wonder’s career. As the story goes, the superstar was considering putting it all behind him at the time. He thought he might wrap his musical legacy up in a bow and move to Ghana to refocus his energies on helping disabled African children. He’d even started floating the idea of a formal farewell concert to take place in 1975.

However, at the last second Wonder changed his mind. Instead, he doubled down on his commitment to his artistry by signing a new seven-album, seven-year contract with Motown worth a reported $37 million—at the time, the highest-paid recording contract in the history of the music business.

Wonder’s new Motown deal also guaranteed him complete artistic control over the coming seven albums, and the record that came first would become, many say, the crown jewel in the soul singer’s celebrated career: a double album titled Songs in the Key of Life.

Making Songs in the Key of Life

Wonder was nothing if not methodical after inking his new record deal, and the first thing he did was take a full year off. Re-energized and creatively reinvigorated after the non-stop cycle of recording and touring, the singer eventually got to work on the album at Hollywood’s Crystal Sound studio.

Being such a high-profile project, Wonder was able to easily recruit the best of the best to collaborate with him on the album: Herbie Hancock, Minnie Riperton, Deniece Williams, Susaye Greene of The Supremes, and the great jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby are among the 130 contributors listed in the record’s liner notes. Blue Note Records luminaries such as flutist Bobbi Humphrey and jazz organist Ronnie Foster also added to Wonder’s complex, deeply enriched musical arrangements.

Ambition and drive were central to Wonder’s creative process at the time. As Rolling Stone wrote in 2006, he would often remain diligently at work in the studio for up to 48 hours at a time. “If my flow is goin’, I keep on until I peak,” he’s quoted as having once said in the magazine’s feature.

That dogged work ethic and flair for artistic perfectionism fueled Wonder’s sessions, which also took place everywhere from the Record Plant in Los Angeles to New York City’s Hit Factory, and led to an abundance of musical output.

However, Wonder refused to rush the release of his masterpiece. Initially, it was scheduled for release sometime in October 1975. But when the maestro decided more remixing needed to be done before he would unveil the album to the world, Motown played into the delay by making T-shirts emblazoned with “We’re almost finished” in a notable example of marketing genius long before the age of today’s viral marketing campaigns and TikTok trends.

Wonder finally released Songs in the Key of Life on September 28, 1976, as a 17-track double LP with an additional four-song EP included titled A Something’s Extra. Musically, Songs in the Key of Life was equally sweeping and expansive in its ambition; it ranged from the funk-pop groove of first single “I Wish” and the jazz-inflected R&B of radio follow-up “Sir Duke” to the sentimental pop of “Isn’t She Lovely,” which Wonder penned to jubilantly mark the birth of his first child, Aisha Morris.

The Album’s Legacy

Given the feverish anticipation surrounding its release, it’s perhaps no surprise that Songs in the Key of Life scored Wonder yet another No. 1 on the Billboard 200. However it held the additional distinction of becoming only the third album in history (and first by an American artist) to debut at No. 1 on what was then known as the Billboard Pop Albums chart. It went on to spend 11 consecutive weeks at the summit. By the end of the following year, it remained the second-highest-selling album of 1977—behind only Fleetwood Mac’s behemoth fellow masterpiece, Rumours.

Songs in the Key of Life also turned out to be Wonder’s most successful album in terms of the performance of its associated singles. The aforementioned “I Wish” and “Sir Duke” both reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 as well as the R&B singles chart. Later singles “Another Star” and “As” became Top 40 hits on both charts as well.

Nearly 20 years after its release, Wonder himself still held the Diamond-selling record in high esteem, saying, “Of all the albums, Songs in the Key of Life I’m most happy about. Just the time, being alive then. To be a father and then…letting go and letting God give me the energy and strength I needed.”

However, it’s someone else who perhaps summed up the album best. When Songs in the Key of Life was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2005, essayist Bill Hart wrote, “I don’t think it is possible to appreciate the importance of this album by analyzing its musicological elements or abstracting its influences; there is an ephemeral spirit that infuses this album and makes it transcendent; more that the lyrics, melody, the beat or message or their combination. Likewise, its commercial and critical success only hints at, but hardly explains why, it is so special. It is that rare commodity, equivalent to magic.”

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