Early Life
Blind since shortly after birth, he grew up in Detroit and mastered piano, harmonica and drums as a child. Motown signed him at age 11, and he was billed as “Little Stevie Wonder”.
Career
His first number-one hit, “Fingertips”, came in 1963. In the 1970s he won Album of the Year Grammys for Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976), pioneering the use of synthesizers along the way. His hits include “Superstition”, “Sir Duke” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You”, which won an Academy Award.
Legacy
Wonder has won 25 Grammy Awards and was a leading voice in the campaign for a U.S. federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., first observed in 1986.
Sources and further reading
Last updated: 2026-09-24