daPrettyman said:

Well, I'm a little younger (30). I remember when "I Just Called to Say I Love You" was his new hit single. A friend of mine called my cousin to sing that to her.

AlexdeParis said:

Same here. Hey, it's a catchy song. I think the Original Musiquarium I started me down the path to serious fandom and Talking Book was the album that cemented it.

Of course my folks played his stuff throughout my childhood so the seeds were planted at birth. Hell, "You and I" was their wedding song.
[Edited 2/26/08 2:53am]

whodknee said:

Now that you mention it, I can't believe I forgot that my earliest memory of Stevie Wonder's music is his Christmas album (and yes, I mean the LP ). Someday at Christmas and The Jackson 5 Christmas Album were the two staples during the Christmas season at my house. Good times, good times...

Ahem...showing my age here, but the first time I saw/heard Stevie Wonder was in the early 60's on the Ed Sullivan show when he performed as "Little Stevie Wonder" (I think he was all of about ~13 years old at that time).....I have been enjoying his music ever since.

cubic61052 said:

We've got a winner!

Like J5/MJ and James Brown, Stevie was one of those artists in heavy rotation (esp. Songs In the Key Of Life ) in my family environments from the day I was born. I've always liked his music, but I didn't grow to love it until 1995 or so. Around that time I was learning to write and arrange music. I'd already studied Prince and MJ closely, but it was at this time I started studying Stevie. Still studying...

And co-sign Treadbare. I was surrounded by music all through the 70s-90s. Around 1999ish, though

Oh, and Hotter Than July is one of the albums I have in heavy rotation since I saw Stevie perform in December.

Since age ooooonneee Keita knew he had the aaaaanswer

NuPwr319 said:

tA probably saw the same program....just sayin'...

cubic61052 said:

Ed Sullivan was one of the early sources for live musical performances on television when I was growing up.
A variety show where you'd sit through the Henny Youngman (or similar comic) segment, the Topo Gigio segment, the Señor Wences segment ("S'aright!"), the circus troupe spinning a zillion plates on sticks simultaneously just to get to that one musical guest.
Stevie Wonder being one of many.

And they always performed LIVE!



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431
[Edited 2/27/08 11:30am]

I don't remember what exactly did it for me but I was 5, I think, when I heard the Musicaquarium album and I loved every song on there. I played the album more than my mother did cause I had my own record player (a Mickey Mouse Jukebox!). I asked my mom for all the records that Stevie did in the years that Musicaquarium covered and in 2 or 3 years, I had everything. Now I have to get it all on CD. That's how I became a Stevie fan.

I've known his music for as long as I can remember. My parents bought Songs in the Key Of Life when I was four (1976) and, along with Elvis & the Beatles, it's the music that I have known for the longest.

I remember life before Prince, but not Stevie. I can't imagine a world where his music didn't exist!
[Edited 2/27/08 11:40am]

I first got to know the great Stevie Wonder through BET. They used to air his videos all the time and I watched newer videos of his either on that or Night Tracks. I was reminded he was a legend by watching something about Stevie being called "an Apollo legend" because he had famously performed there during the Motortown Revue at 12. Then I got introduced to songs like "I Was Made to Love Her", "My Cherie Amour", "For Once in My Life", "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)", "If You Really Love Me" and the Innervisions, Talking Book and Songs in the Key of Life and when Stevie was coming out with Conversation Peace, his was one of the first albums I ever bought and have been a fan ever since.

It was Venus Flytrap And The Bug.

And the entire rest of The Secret Life Of Plants

I'm an 80's baby
so of course I was
exposed to his stuff
coming up...

but I got into his ALBUMS
probably around 2003...

everytime I hear "Master Blaster (Jammin)"
it takes me back to
being a kid... walking around the corner
from my house to my big cousin Cheryl's house
with my Michael jackson lunchbox record player
and once I'd make it to her block
I could hear this song
playing from her house
making it inside to smell the
herbal essence I then knew nothing about *giggles*

the FFF album reminds me of junior high
(when I discovered it)
it was my cousin Cheryls
and had been left in our shed
I fell in love at first listen
and from there it went to SITKOL

but it won't until my adult life
when I went back and discovered
the full albums of MOMM, TB, Innervisions
Syreeta & Stevie Wonder Presents...
JTTSLOP
2003 was a very up & down period of my life
and the music healed me... in places that needed it
songs like "Cause We've Ended As Lovers"
(I know that's Syreeta's song.. but you get what I'm saying)
helped me through a breakup...
"Spinning & Spinning" reflected the happier times
[Edited 2/27/08 11:51am]

theAudience said:

All whilst sitting cross-legged in front of a black and white console TV that was the size of a small mini-van.

And one had to suffer through the current events program of the time, Omnibus, before making it to The Ed Sullivan Show.

And Ed Sullivan virtually ALWAYS had the musical guests at the end of the show to prolong the agony of the wait.

He was quite fond of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Ella Fitzgerald and had them on frequently, too, as well as the 'youngsters' (his word for the young rock stars of the day).....

"S'aright
S'aright
You OK?
OK
You scared?
Me scared"

Isn't Stevie one of those artists that just jump into your soul at birth?

I don't remember my musical life before Stevie, he just was....

I was not fully aware of Stevie until "Songs in the Key of Life" blew up. I was hooked after that.

JEDINATION said:

Exactly!

As a kid I heard his hits on the radio (cherie amour,you are the sunshine)
and my dad always had some Stevie songs playing in his car,on casette. Isn't she lovelyplaying in my dad's
car was a moment I'll never forget.

Also remmeber the cover of Hotter than july in al the record stores..
And I loved Master Blaster!!
Later I bought his Best of and some albums.
Songs in the key of life and Innervisions are my fav,
in fact,I didn't like his 80's output that much (I just called...
Since Jungle Fever I like his work once again.

Like someone said,can't imagine life without his music.

I have absolutely no idea but it was sometime back in Uni. I started off with SITKOL and... bang! Like Prince/Bowie/etc., he was one of the 'greats' that kept cropping up in the music magazines I was reading. A nod here, a mention there... I knew he was revered but hadn't delved into his catalogue until then. I am so glad I did.

It was definitely one of those life-changing moments - I love it when that happens and you think "How the HELL did I live without this music before??! Why did no-one tell me?!".

More than Prince, I would love to meet this man. What a humbling experience that must be.

I was kinda raised on him with other old school music so I really don't know.