Biography
16. Making The Dream A Reality
Stevie worked with king's widow, Coretta Scott king and John
Conyers the congressman who sponsored the bill. He attended the
January 1981 parade in Washington in support of the bill, addressed
the crowd and chanted the Happy Birthday anthem. During the next
year a strategy was developed for mobilising national awareness and
development of a legislative agenda for presentation on Capitol
Hill. In January 1982, despite inhumane weather conditions, Stevie
was joined by a 50,000 strong crowd, and supported at the podium by
Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Jesse Jackson and Gil Scott-Heron at a
peaceful rally demanding a day of recognition.
I know
you've been standing in the cold for a long time,
Wonder told the crowd,
but I hope your spirits are warm. I hope your spirits are hotter
than July. Dr. King left an unfinished symphony which we must
finish.
Although Stevie was rather inactive in the
studio during this period, he did find time to collaborate with the
reggae band, Third World and ex Beatle Paul McCartney.
In 1982, Stevie appeared at the annual Reggae
Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica. That year the festival paid tribute
to Bob Marley who had died a year earlier. Stevie was joined on
stage by the group Third World and Rita Marley to perform
Masterblaster (Jammin') and Marley's Redemption Song. After their
performance Stevie suggested that he write some material for the
band's next album. The result was the hit single
Try Jah Love
and the socially aware,
You're Playing Us Much
Too Close.
The more high profile collaboration that year was his teaming up
with Paul McCartney. McCartney recording his album in Montserrat
came up with the song
Ebony and Ivory.
Thinking it would be a good idea to make it into a duet with a
leading black artist he invited Stevie to be part of the project.
Though the message of the song was poignant, the critics were not to
kind to what they referred to as a trite message. The song however
zoomed to the top of the US and UK charts, the first time Stevie was
able to reach that position in the UK, albeit on the vehicle of a
Paul McCartney song. The pair also co-wrote and cut another song for
Paul's Tug of
War album called
What's That
You're Doing?
With Stevie on synthesizers and drums and Paul on bass, the pair
crafted an exhilarating track with their instruments and voices
spontaneously interchanging in what resulted in the best track on
the album.
However Motown was getting wary of the lack of material for Stevie's
own records and decided to release a greatest hits double album
called Stevie
Wonder's Original Musiquarium I.
The album mainly comprised tracks from the
Music of My Mind
- Hotter Than
July period,
with some remixed. It also included 4 new songs, each ending a side
of the vinyl LP -
Frontline
a rock inspired ant-war theme, the jazzy ballad
Ribbon In The Sky,
the slyly melodious
That Girl
and the closing
ten-minute extravaganza
Do I Do,
featuring Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet and Stevie rapping during its
finale.
Stevie's contract had now come to an end, and
there was speculation that
Musiquarium was released to fulfil the
conditions of the previous deal. The new contract was more low-key
than the previous, no speeches, and no disclosures of monetary
value.
The eighties saw Stevie maturing and no longer
viewed as a driving force in the music industry. In addition the
video era was now born, and Stevie strengths were not exactly suited
for this medium. He now spent more time on political and social
issues and working with other artists than making records for
himself.
It was at this time that Stevie bought the
radio station, KJLH in Los Angeles and in 1983 started his own
record label called Wondirection. The debut release on his label was
the The Crown,
a rap record produced by Stevie and performed by Gary Byrd who wrote
the lyrics, with Stevie supplying the music and adding a beautifully
sung bridge. The song was only released as a 12" single and did
extremely well in the UK peaking at #6 considering the limited
format. However in the US it had very little impact and deterred
Byrd from recording a planned follow-up.
Also in 1983 Stevie guested on the song
Someday by the Gap Band, playing harmonica. He did the same on El Debarge's
ballad In A
Special Way and
also for Manhattan Transfer's
Spice Of Life.
Adding to this, Stevie ventured to the realms of television, when he
was the guest host on the Saturday Night Live comedy show. On the
show he introduced a new song called
Overjoyed,
which was to appear 2 years later on the
In Square Circle
album.
Also in 1983 was the Motown 25th anniversary television special,
getting a standing ovation for live performances of
I Wish,
You Are The
Sunshine Of My Life
and My Cherie
Amour.
By October of that year the bill sponsoring
the official holiday for MLK was voted on in the senate and passed
in favour of the holiday. Stevie released the following statement,
Somewhere Dr. King is smiling, not because his birthday is a
holiday, but because he too is convinced that we are moving in the
right direction. I know that Dr. King appreciates that this day is a
day for all Americans to celebrate love, peace and unity. It is not
a cure-all, but it is a healing aid.
The holiday was not to come into effect until
January 1986. Stevie was deeply satisfied in winning this battle. He
said, you can assassinate the man but you cannot kill the values.
