He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions.

His "classic period" began in 1972 with the releases of Music of My Mind and Talking Book, the latter featuring "Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner Clavinet keyboard.

Wonder began his "commercial period" in the 1980s; he achieved his biggest hits and highest level of fame, had increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations (including with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson), political impact, and television appearances.

[26] The song, featuring a confident and enthusiastic Wonder returning for a spontaneous encore that catches out the replacement bass player, who is heard to call out "What key?

A number of Wonder's early hits, including "My Cherie Amour", "I Was Made to Love Her", and "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", were co-written with Henry Cosby.

As both albums had similar ambitions and themes, they have been compared; in a contemporaneous review by Vince Aletti in Rolling Stone, Gaye's was seen as successful, while Wonder's was seen as failing due to "self-indulgent and cluttered" production, "undistinguished" and "pretentious" lyrics, and an overall lack of unity and flow.

Unlike most previous albums on Motown, which usually consisted of a collection of singles, B-sides and covers, Music of My Mind was a full-length artistic statement with songs flowing together thematically.

[46] Wonder's lyrics dealt with social, political, and mystical themes as well as standard romantic ones, while musically he began exploring overdubbing and recording most of the instrumental parts himself.

[46] Music of My Mind marked the beginning of a long collaboration with Tonto's Expanding Head Band (Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil),[47][48] and with lyricist Yvonne Wright.

[59] Shaw was facing financial difficulties, so Wonder, who was a member of the university's board of trustees, rallied other acts including Exuma, LaBelle, and the Chambers Brothers to join the concert, which raised more than $10,000 for the school's scholarship fund.

[60] Wonder embarked on a European tour in early 1974, performing in France at the Midem convention in Cannes, in England at the Rainbow Theatre in London, and on the German television show Musikladen.

[61] On his return to the United States, he played a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden in March 1974, highlighting both up-tempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as "Living for the City".

[53] The same year, Wonder took part in a Los Angeles jam session with ex-Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney that would become known as the bootleg album A Toot and a Snore in '74.

[72] Until 1979's Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants", his only further 1970s release was the retrospective three-disc album Looking Back (1977), an anthology of his early Motown period.

Also in 1982, Wonder invited Raymond Kurzweil to his Los Angeles recording studio, Wonderland,[75] and asked if "we could use the extraordinarily flexible computer control methods on the beautiful sounds of acoustic instruments?"

[77] Incidentally, on the occasion of his 35th birthday, Stevie Wonder was honored by the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid for his stance against racism in South Africa that same year (1985).

[81] In 1992, Wonder went to perform at Panafest, a new international festival of music held biennially in Ghana; it was during this trip that he composed many of the songs featured on Conversation Peace, and he would describe in a 1995 interview the powerful impact his visit to that country had: "I'd only been there for 18 hours when I decided I'd eventually move there permanently.

[84] Among his other activities, Wonder played harmonica on the track "Deuce" (sung by Lenny Kravitz) for the 1994 tribute album Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved;[85] sang at the 1996 Summer Olympics closing ceremony;[86] collaborated in 1997 with Babyface on "How Come, How Long", a song about domestic violence that was nominated for a Grammy Award;[87] and played harmonica on Sting's 1999 "Brand New Day".

[101] Wonder's other stop in the tour's European leg also found him performing in the Netherlands (Rotterdam), Sweden (Stockholm), Germany (Cologne, Mannheim and Munich), Norway (Hamar), France (Paris), Italy (Milan) and Denmark (Aalborg).

[106][107] Wonder appeared on singer Celine Dion's studio album Loved Me Back to Life, performing a cover of his 1985 song "Overjoyed".

The announcement was paired with the release of two singles: "Can't Put It in the Hands of Fate", a "socially-conscious" funk track, and "Where Is Our Love Song", whose proceeds will go towards the organization Feeding America.

[110][111][112] In June 2021, Wonder appeared in the documentary Summer of Soul, directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, showing the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969.

In 2013, Wonder revealed that he had been recording new material for two albums, When the World Began and Ten Billion Hearts, in collaboration with producer David Foster, to be released in 2014.

[120] His "classic period", which culminated in 1976, was marked by his funky keyboard style, personal control of production, and use of integrated series of songs to make concept albums.

Wonder recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles, and also wrote and produced songs for many of his label mates and outside artists as well.

"[127] Slate magazine's pop critic, Jack Hamilton, said: "Most Americans follow up their 21st birthdays with a hangover; Stevie Wonder opted for arguably the greatest sustained run of creativity in the history of popular music.

[131] Wonder was the first Motown artist and second African-American musician to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song, which he won for his 1984 hit single "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from the movie The Woman in Red.

Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday in the United States.

[161] During his September 8, 2008, UK concert in Birmingham, he spoke of his decision to begin touring again following his loss: "I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around.

[170] On August 21, 2024, Wonder performed "Higher Ground" at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election.