Happy Birthday Stevie Wonder
By 
One of America’s greatest musicians turns 70 today.
I have a very sharp memory of the first time I heard “Superstition.” It was during some sort of informal party at Clague Middle School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, early 1973. (I have no idea why a bunch of 13-year-olds were being allowed to do this in the middle of the school day, except it was the 70s, man.)
Anyway I walked into the room and heard the clavinet riff that subsequently launched a thousand imitators. It was nothing like I’d ever heard before. (One of my favorite tributes is this wild nine-minute version of Trampled Under Foot, which is Led Zeppelin’s typically uncredited take on an African-American musician’s work. ETA: To be fair, per Wikipedia John Paul Jones has explicitly acknowledged the source of the song’s inspiration: “John Paul Jones has credited Stevie Wonder with the inspiration for the beat (“Superstition“, 1972), which he played on a clavinet.” Thanks to a commenter for pointing this out.)
When I saw a post this morning noting Wonder’s 70th birthday, I did a quick calculation and realized that his amazing string of early and mid-1970s work started when he was all of 21 years old.
Another thing about Wonder is that a lot of his best work has a distinctly political edge that is if anything even more relevant today than it was nearly a half century (!) ago:
Happy 70th to one of the true greats. Cent’anni.
. . . check out this breakdown of the making of Superstition (h/t Conrad Schumacher):