Characters | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 6, 1987 | |||
Recorded | 1986–1987 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | R&B, pop | |||
Length | 48:34 (LP) 60:59 (CD) | |||
Label | Tamla | |||
Producer | Stevie Wonder | |||
Stevie Wonder chronology | ||||
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Singles from Characters | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Chicago Tribune | (favorable) [4] |
Robert Christgau | A− [5] |
Los Angeles Times | [6] |
MusicHound | [7] |
New Musical Express | 9/10 [8] |
Q | [9] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [10] |
Rolling Stone | (mixed) [11] |
The New York Times | (favorable) [12] |
Characters is the twenty-first studio album by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, released in late 1987. The album features six singles including the Grammy-nominated "Skeletons" (No. 19) and "You Will Know" (No. 77), which both reached number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart (the former being the most-recent American top-40 hit of Wonder's career). The album also contained a duet with Michael Jackson, "Get It" (No. 80), that was a minor hit.
Although highly anticipated like his last album, 1985's In Square Circle , upon its release, the album received mixed reviews from critics, and peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard 200. It became Wonder's first album since Music of My Mind not to reach the top ten of the charts. In the UK, it also fared less well, reaching only #33, the first album to miss the top 20 since Music of My Mind, which failed to chart in 1972.
It also debuted at number one on the Top R&B Albums chart for seven weeks, and spawned six singles including three that hit the Billboard Hot 100 – "Get It" (#80) (duet with Michael Jackson), "Skeletons" (#19) and the ballad "You Will Know" (#77) that had attained Billboard R&B chart success. Two other singles hit the R&B chart – "My Eyes Don't Cry" (#6, R&B) and "With Each Beat of My Heart" (#28, R&B). The final single, "Free", hit #49 on the UK chart.
Cash Box said that "My Eyes Don't Cry" is "not [Wonder's] greatest song, but is definitely an exciting track with a powerful delivery by Wonder on vocals." [13]
The album earned Wonder three Grammy Award nominations in 1988–89. The album's first single, "Skeletons" received two nominations for Best R&B Song and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 30th Grammy Awards, losing to Bill Wither's "Lean On Me" and Smokey Robinson's "Just to See Her" respectively. Characters received a nomination at the 31st Grammy Awards for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, losing to Terence Trent D'Arby's debut Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby .
To promote the album, Wonder performed a one-hour Characters special on MTV, in which he also performed unreleased material as well as a duet with Stevie Ray Vaughan.
All songs written by Stevie Wonder, except where noted.
Chart (1987–88) | Peak position |
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Australian Kent Music Report [14] | 23 |
Austrian Albums Chart [15] | 21 |
Canadian RPM Albums Chart [16] | 31 |
Dutch Albums Chart [17] | 53 |
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart [18] | 13 |
Swedish Albums Chart [19] | 16 |
Swiss Albums Chart [20] | 23 |
UK Albums Chart [21] | 33 |
U.S. Billboard 200 [22] | 17 |
West German Media Control Albums Chart [23] | 55 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
France (SNEP) [24] | Gold | 100,000* |
Japan (Oricon Charts) | — | 73,000 [18] |
United Kingdom (BPI) [25] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [26] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Stevland Hardaway Morris, known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. One of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the 20th century, he is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include R&B, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of contemporary R&B. 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. Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder.
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Talking Book is the fifteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on October 27, 1972, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. This album and Music of My Mind, released earlier the same year, are generally considered to mark the start of Wonder's "classic period". The sound of the album is sharply defined by Wonder's use of keyboards and synthesizers.
James Edward Ingram was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and a two-time Academy Award nominee for Best Original Song. After beginning his career in 1973, Ingram charted eight top 40 hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart from the early 1980s until the early 1990s, as well as thirteen top 40 hits on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In addition, he charted 20 hits on the Adult Contemporary chart. He had two number-one singles on the Hot 100: the first, a duet with fellow R&B artist Patti Austin, 1982's "Baby, Come to Me" topped the U.S. pop chart in 1983; "I Don't Have the Heart", which became his second number-one in 1990 was his only number-one as a solo artist.
Innervisions is the sixteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on August 3, 1973, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. A landmark recording of Wonder's "classic period", the album has been regarded as completing his transition from the "Little Stevie Wonder" known for romantic ballads into a more musically mature, conscious, and grown-up artist. On the album, Wonder continued to experiment with the revolutionary T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer system developed by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, and Innervisions became hugely influential on the future sound of commercial soul and black music.
Hotter than July is the nineteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on September 29, 1980, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. Wonder primarily recorded the album in Los Angeles, California, at Wonderland Studios, which he had recently acquired. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on February 3, 1981. It was Wonder's most successful album in the UK, where it peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and produced four top-10 singles. Music videos were produced for the album's first, third, and fourth singles.
"Superstition" is a song by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder. It was released on October 24, 1972, as the lead single from his fifteenth studio album, Talking Book (1972), by Tamla. The lyrics describe popular superstitions and their negative effects.
Glennon Ricketts Jr., professionally known as Glenn Lewis, is a Canadian neo soul singer–songwriter. Lewis earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 and has also won a Juno Award out of a total of six nominations.
Alicia Michelle "Miki" Howard is an American R&B singer who had top 10 hit songs in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, including "Baby, Be Mine" (1987), "Come Share My Love" (1986) and "Love Under New Management" (1990). "Ain't Nobody Like You" (1992) and "Ain't Nuthin' in the World" (1989) both peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B Singles chart.
Tug of War is the third solo studio album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 26 April 1982. It is his 11th album overall following the break up of the Beatles in 1970, his first album released after the dissolution of his band Wings the previous year, and his first album following the murder of his former songwriting partner John Lennon. The cover features an abstract oil painting by the artist Brian Clarke, a frequent McCartney collaborator, incorporating an overpainted transparency of a portrait of Paul taken by Linda McCartney.
"For Once in My Life" is a song written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown Records' Stein & Van Stock publishing company, and first recorded in 1965.
"Signed, Sealed, Delivered " is a soul song, by American musician Stevie Wonder, released in June 1970 as a single on Motown's Tamla label. It spent six weeks at number one on the U.S. R&B chart and peaked at number three on the U.S. Pop chart. In the same year, the song was also released on the album Signed, Sealed & Delivered.
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Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Roberta Flack. Released via Atlantic in March 1980, the album features posthumous vocals by close friend and collaborator Donny Hathaway, who had died in 1979. At the 23rd Grammy Awards in 1981, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. The award, however, went to Stephanie Mills for "Never Knew Love Like This Before."
"Get It" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder with a guest vocal by American pop recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released by Tamla as the third single from Wonder's twenty-first studio album, Characters (1987). At the time of the single's release, and their albums released in the same year, Wonder worked with Jackson on his top-selling Bad album for their first duet "Just Good Friends". "Get It" was a R&B chart hit, peaking at number four. On the US Billboard Hot 100 it peaked at number 80. Overseas, the single became a moderate hit. In the UK, the single reached number 37 on the official UK Singles Chart.
"Skeletons" is a number-one R&B single performed by American recording artist Stevie Wonder from his 1987 Characters album.
"From the Bottom of My Heart" is a 2005 single by Stevie Wonder from his 2005 album A Time to Love. The song peaked, both in 2005, at number 25 on the US Adult Contemporary chart and number 52 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.