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5 reasons why Stevie Wonder deserves his Gershwin award

MusicRadar salutes a musical genius

Ben Rogerson, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 12:51 pm UTC

Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder: amazing.

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4. He's survived some dubious moments

Like many artists, Stevie has, on occasion, blotted his copybook. Despite being a big hit, I Just Called To Say I Love You is an unmitigated piece of schmaltz, and though the sentiments that motivated Ebony and Ivory, his duet with Paul McCartney, were honourable, the record itself has a certain naffness.

Despite these inauspicious moments, though, Stevie's place in musical history is assured. His good stuff massively outweighs the bad.

That said, we still don't know what he was thinking when he agreed to be part of this.

5. He brought the funk to Sesame Street

Plenty of artists have been invited to appear with Bert, Ernie, Big Bird and co, but surely few have given such a kick-ass performance as Stevie did when he turned up in April 1973.

This is as tight a rendition of Superstition as you're ever likely to hear. Make sure you check out the kid who gets lost in the music at 4:10 – we know how he feels.

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User comments (1)

  • MrGawain

    Avatar for MrGawain

    38 weeks ago.

    Although I love his music, I have to put a counter argument in- the o2 concert I saw him perform, 2 and a half hours, 3 hits at the beginning, then a bunch of aimless jazz including scat singing 'there's a ribbon in the sky/BarrackObamaBarrackObamaBarrackBarrackBarrackObamaObamaObama/there's a ribbon in the sky' through a voice box for 40 FRICKIN' MINUTES.

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