Does anyone know of any references Prince has made about Stevie Wonder in his music? Are there any songs Prince has written from being inspired by Mr. Wonder? I always thought maybe some of his early works like "In Love," "I Wanna Be Your Lover" or "I Feel For You" just because of the prominent use of synths and whatnot, but are there any others?

Prince (last I heard) didn't specifically mention a particular era, song or album where Stevie Wonder had great influence. When someone asks who influenced him growing up, he always mentions Mr. Wonder, EWF, Sly/Family Stone, JB etc

I love Stevie, bumpin him right now. If you ask me, his influence on modern music is underrated, or not recognized as much as it should be. There would be no Rap, if it wasn't for Stevie. Mr. Wonder's songs are producer/samplers dream.

Blue

Strange Relationship seems 2 pay respect 2 Stevie's sound.

LoveMe said:

Yup. Sounds very Superstitious.

there's a boot from 94 called Glam Slam West. it has Stevie at GS singing while the NPG back him up.

terrr-rible.

Prince has covered several Stevie Wonder songs over the years (aftershows, soundchecks etc)including 'Superstition', 'Living For The City', and 'Maybe Your Baby',which Stevie sang on (as mentioned above)

The 'One Nite Alone ... Live!' booklet cites 'Superstition', 'Make Sure You're Sure', 'Sir Duke', Send One Your Love' and 'Living For The City' as featuring on the 'WNPG Origin playlist', which I take to be a recommendation.

And, of course, Stevie was referenced in Prince's early days when his management where trying to promote Prince to secure a deal.

.

"She's Always in my Hair," he sounds very much like Stevie to me. "Good Love" is another Stevie-sounding track to me. "Songs in the Key of Life," is one of my favorite albums of all time.

In 1996/1997 there was a award-show where Prince met Stevie on stage and P told him how he always listened tot Songs In The Key of life and how it affected on his music, so i guess Stevie did have great influence. Strange idea by the way; Stevie never saw Prince, only heard him...

I cant remember which award show it was, where prince acutally presented Stevie with an award. This is some of what he said to Stevie, though I cant remember what he said verbatim
Every artist measured himself with the "Songs of the The Key of Life", and so forth. He spoke very humbly to Stevie, and seemed to be really honored to be presenting the award

When Prince first came out didn't the media try to market him as being this "Stevie Wonder-like musician" playing every instrument on his albums?

Undisputed (Moneyapolis Mix):

"They said the same about Stevie
When they forgot the years
Let me open up y'all's show
You'll see MY joy inside your tears"

Milty said:

u didnt like that performance? it is awsome. Prince plays his ass off and Stevie sounds great.

I saw Stevie do a cover of HouseQuake on a TV concert, that was pretty cool.

TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

I always felt that "Strange relationship" most of all sounds like
Sly Stone.That & "If I was your girlfriend",
but then again,yeah it's a little bit of "Superstition" in it 2.
Come 2 think of it "Superstition" sounds very much Sly don't it?
It all comes down 2 Sly
/peace Manki

manki said:

I would think it was the other way around. Sly didn't really start incorporating funky R&B in his music until the release of There's A Riot..., but Stevie was doin' it way back on Where I'm Coming From.

Peopel need to go back to the beginning of Stevie's career in 1962 to really understand his roots. Fingertips had some funk going on up in there. So did a lot of his '60's material starting from 1965's "Uptight" album.

Stevie helped to lay down the groundwork for later day geniuses.

Prince is continuing that tradition. (Prince- Outkast}

okaypimpn said:

I'm sure there is a Wonder influence in there somewhere but it's not as obvious as the others. After all, they sold him to warners as "a stevie wonder who can see". Prince has referenced stevie in his 85 rolling stone interview when he was saying people shouldn't have jumped on stevie for making Secret Life of Plants just like they shouldn't have jumped on him for experimenting on Around the world in A Day. Supposedly, he made his point by putting the album on while he said this.
Come to think of it Strange Relationship is very Stevie oriented, thanks, never noticed. Subtle, vocal inflections and repetition of syllables "ship-ship-ship" very stevie like. I always thought he blatantly ripped off Sly's Hot Fun In the Summertime on Slow Love. It's cool though, he never complains when people rip him off, and he's been ripped by some losers.

okaypimpn said:

No, Sly is the daddy of Stevie, Sly was using the synclavier before stevie and had an obvious influence on him. Stevie was still forming things out when he was young, as a kid he was mainly an imitator, a good one but he didn't hit his peak of creativity till in his mid twenties. Stevie used the synclav on Signed Sealed Delivered but after he heard riot he went crazy with it on Superstition. Also, the bass lines that stevie used on Superstition was vintage sly. Sly is daddy.

okaypimpn said:

Sly Stone incorporated lot's of funk before "Riot",
Stand!from 1969 & 1970 was the release of Thank U (Faletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
/peace Manki

manki said:

I agree with you but you forgot Dorothy Parker. That song reminds me of Family Affair.

mozfonky said:

The Synclavier?! You mean that ol' synthesizer that they started using in the 80s???

I'm gonna have to seriously disagree with you, mozfonky. If you're referring to the clavinet, Stevie was still the innovator behind incorporating that instrument in soul music. Just check out "I Was Made To Love Her." If anything, Sly (and Larry) was responsible for using the fuzz bass in songs, but not the clavinet...not until the release of Little Sister's "Somebody's Watching You"

okaypimpn said:

Did you ever heard Just Like a baby from Sly, one or the greatest clavinet I ever heard

Stone1 said:

Yes! Love it. That whole Riot album is filled with funky clavinet lines...one of my favorite being "Spaced Cowboy."

howcomeudontcallme said:

no no i meant terrr-rible as in good!

Jestyr said:

Very good, very very good.

okaypimpn said:

I'd have to dig that up and listen, if so it just wasn't distinctive enough to remember. Listen to riot and how funky the clavi or synclav, whatever is on "Like A Baby" it sticks out and I have a hard time believing Stevie wasn't influenced by it. Also, Stevie's first album was, in my opinion, not a great album, after that he was absolutely as brilliant as anyone ever up until maybe, secret life of plants, which I happened to like. I love stevie, one of my main influences but you have to give sly his due, out of all the great funksters, I would put him on top as far as influence, James Brown second, and then everyone else. I'm talking funk, not the motown sound or James Brown's genius work. Anyone denying Sly and The Family Stone as an innovator in pop-soul has an agenda of their own. Simply put, Sly was in his prime before Stevie was in his.

mozfonky said:

Stevie had many primes. Being a captivating live performer enabled him to attract Motown's interest and ultimately led to a #1 Single, "Fingertips - Pt. 2" and a #1 album, "Live - The 12 Year Old Genius". When his voice changed in 1965, it lead to another prime that carried him through the rest of 1960's. His development as a songwriter was also nurtured during this time. In fact Larry Graham has stated many times that Sly And The Family Stone's first real hit that put the group on the map was 1968's "Dance To The Music". This song was basically a copy of Motown's 4/4 backbeat. Listen to Stevie's "Uptight" as well as many Motown hits before 1968 and then listen to "Dance To The Music" and you'll hear the Motown influence. Jerry Martin stated that Sly's writing of "Dance To The Music" was basically his response to a CBS executive who told Sly that he needed to write more Motown grooves. This was after Sly's first album TANKED!! Now of course "Dance To The Music" in turn Influenced Motown, in particular, The Temptation's "Psychedelic Shack"which had a Sly/Funkadelic infuence. Influences are universal, but proper knowledge of history is very important.

Stevie had many primes. Being a captivating live performer enabled him to attract Motown's interest and ultimately led to a #1 Single, "Fingertips - Pt. 2" and a #1 album, "Live - The 12 Year Old Genius". When his voice changed in 1965, it lead to another prime that carried him through the rest of 1960's. His development as a songwriter was also nurtured during this time. In fact Larry Graham has stated many times that Sly And The Family Stone's first real hit that put the group on the map was 1968's "Dance To The Music". This song was basically a copy of Motown's 4/4 backbeat. Listen to Stevie's "Uptight" as well as many Motown hits before 1968 and then listen to "Dance To The Music" and you'll hear the Motown influence. Jerry Martin stated that Sly's writing of "Dance To The Music" was basically his response to a CBS executive who told Sly that he needed to write more Motown grooves. This was after Sly's first album TANKED!! Now of course "Dance To The Music" in turn Influenced Motown, in particular, The Temptation's "Psychedelic Shack"which had a Sly/Funkadelic infuence. Influences are universal, but proper knowledge of history is very important.[/quote]

Thanks for the history lesson and I don't mean that facetiously, I'm open to learn and I believe what you say about Stevie playing the first clav. Stevie was certainly a major pioneer behind the whole synth revolution.
The Stevie I mainly think of though is not the young kid, but the man. The kid wasn't that impressive for me, yes he was a prodigy but prodigies are nothing more than great imitators, in fact it is well known that uptight was a copy of Satisfaction that he heard on tour with the Stones. And no, i didn't mean that his first album was as a twelve year old, I really meant his first album was the one that he created "Music of My Mind" , after his 21'st birthday when he fought for creative freedom and got it. But you must remember and not minimize, Marvin Gayes break throughs at motown and how they left room for stevie to do the same. I know people love Stevie and I do to, I adore him, but that shouldn't get in the way of objectivity. And I still say Sly is the true father of funk, I know there were other contributers but Sly is the genius behind it. James Brown is just as great but I've always thought of him as doing his own "my thang" and I don't think anyone has ever stole as much from him as they did from Sly. Sly was revolutionary and I'll be damned if he's forgotten about.

mozfonky said:

Thanks for the history lesson and I don't mean that facetiously, I'm open to learn and I believe what you say about Stevie playing the first clav. Stevie was certainly a major pioneer behind the whole synth revolution.
The Stevie I mainly think of though is not the young kid, but the man. The kid wasn't that impressive for me, yes he was a prodigy but prodigies are nothing more than great imitators, in fact it is well known that uptight was a copy of Satisfaction that he heard on tour with the Stones.

Proof?

And no, i didn't mean that his first album was as a twelve year old, I really meant his first album was the one that he created "Music of My Mind" , after his 21'st birthday when he fought for creative freedom and got it. But you must remember and not minimize, Marvin Gayes break throughs at motown and how they left room for stevie to do the same. I know people love Stevie and I do to, I adore him, but that shouldn't get in the way of objectivity. And I still say Sly is the true father of funk, I know there were other contributers but Sly is the genius behind it. James Brown is just as great but I've always thought of him as doing his own "my thang" and I don't think anyone has ever stole as much from him as they did from Sly. Sly was revolutionary and I'll be damned if he's forgotten about.[/quote]

Sly deserves his props,but if anybody is forgetting about Sly, and believe me,I'm not,Sly's degeneration is partially responsible for this!! He definitely was revolutionary, but there were others before him and their contributions should not be forgotten.