Stevie Wonder

It’s nearly impossible to overhype the impact of living legend Stevie Wonder — blind yet possessed of a boundless vision, an instrumental virtuoso who pioneered the use of synthesizers in the studio, a dazzling vocalist whose supple expression echoes through the pipes of countless modern R&B singers, he is without question one of the most influential artists ever to press record. One glance at our Stevie Wonder Basics provides the proof — from the still-fresh funk fantasia of “Superstition” to the literal and hoped-for harmony of the McCartney duet “Ebony & Ivory,” each and every tune is not just a classic, but also a vital touchstone of our shared musical experience.

There’s so much more of the wonder of Wonder, in Next Steps.

Forget trying to pin it down — when it comes to the relentless creativity, experimentation, and growth of Stevie Wonder’s half-century of music making, labels like R&B, pop, rock, and jazz simply miss the mark. If soul comes closest, it’s because that’s where it all comes from, whether he’s layering bottom-heavy keyboard funk into the island-flavored framework of “Boogie on Reggae Woman,” spinning a sly story about a clueless cat on a smooth and groovy “He’s Misstra Know It All,” or letting the emotional power of his unparalleled voice tell the tale in a spare and stunning “All in Love Is Fair.”

Follow us to Deep Cuts to keep the Wonder flowing.

You know you’re dealing with someone who’s anything but ordinary when he starts out as a Motown sensation. All of 12 years old when he was signed by the legendary label, Little Stevie Wonder broke out big the following year with tunes that, like “Work Out Stevie, Work Out,” showcased his way with a wailin’ harmonica and irresistibly exuberant vocals. Motown Sound hits like “Hey Love” followed, but so did a period of intense personal, social, and musical growth that resulted in utterly unique socially conscious tunes like “Pastime Paradise” (borrowed by Coolio for the rap smash “Gangsta’s Paradise”), emotion-soaked ballads (“Lately”), and even iconic holiday pleas (“Someday At Christmas”).

He was born Steveland Hardaway Judkins, premature, soon blind, and destined to become one of music’s most visionary artists. He mastered drums, piano, and harmonica by the age of nine, and only four years later found himself a Motown star. For Stevie Wonder, it wasn’t enough — with the ’70s came explorations of spiritual and social consciousness, and the means of expressing it. The result was work that’s as profoundly influential as it is sweet-spot pleasurable, and the best of it all is here in our Stevie Wonder Essentials, a very necessary distillation of his incredible half-century in music, from the thrill of that 13-year-old’s excitement and skill (“Fingertips, Pt. 2”), to the gritty urban portraits rendered in mind-boggling sonic detail (“Living for the City”), to the genius for indelible pop-crossover hits (“For Once in My Life”) and life-affirming statements of love (“These Three Words”).