| "Fingertips" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Little Stevie Wonder | ||||
| from the album The 12 Year Old Genius | ||||
| A-side | "Fingertips – Part 1" | |||
| B-side | "Fingertips – Part 2" | |||
| Released | May 21, 1963 | |||
| Recorded | June 1962 | |||
| Venue | Regal Theater, Chicago | |||
| Genre | R&B, soul | |||
| Length |
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| Label | Tamla T 54080 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Clarence Paul, Henry Cosby | |||
| Producer(s) | Berry Gordy, Jr. | |||
| Stevie Wonder singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Fingertips" is a 1963 hit single recorded live by "Little" Stevie Wonder for Motown's then Tamla label. [1]
Written and composed by Wonder's mentors, Clarence Paul and Henry Cosby, "Fingertips" was originally a jazz instrumental recorded for Wonder's first studio album, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie. The live version of the song was recorded in 1963 during a Motortown Revue performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois. [2] Containing only a few stanzas of improvised lyrics, "Fingertips" is essentially an instrumental piece, meant to showcase Wonder's talents on the bongos and the harmonica.
The edit point that begins "Part 2" of "Fingertips" is when Wonder shouts "Everybody say 'yeah!'", initiating a call-and-response exchange with the audience. After a couple of sung verses, each followed by Wonder's brief harmonica playing (solos accompanied only by the audience's rhythmic clapping), [1] Wonder appears to bring things to a conclusion. On the night of the recording, Wonder, as usual started to leave the stage and the band went into the exit music, as musician and emcee Bill Murray (known professionally as Winehead Willie) [3] exhorted the crowd to "give him a hand"; however, Stevie unexpectedly changed his mind, returning to sing the "goodbye" encore. The other musicians were caught out, and the bass players had changed over to prepare for the next act on the bill, Mary Wells. [4] As Wonder moves into his impromptu encore, the new bass player, Joe Swift, having replaced Larry Moses, can be heard on the recording, yelling out: "What key? What key?" [1] [5]
The live version of "Fingertips" was released on May 21, 1963 as a two-part single, with Part 2 (with the encore) as the B-side. The 707 mono features "Sunset" and "Contract on Love". By August, the single B-side had reached the top of both the Billboard Pop Singles and R&B Singles charts. [6] "Fingertips" was Motown's second number-one pop hit (following The Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman"), and launched the then 13-year-old Wonder to prominence. The single's success helped Wonder's live album, Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius , reach number-one on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, making him the youngest artist to accomplish that feat.[ citation needed ] Because of Part 2's success, it would later feature on various compilation albums just as the full recording.
Both the studio and live versions of the song featured drumming by Marvin Gaye, who had been playing drums for Wonder and other Motown artists and would become a big Motown star in his own right. [7]
The song is used in trailers for Jordan Peele’s movie Nope . [8]
Stevland Hardaway Morris, known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. 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.
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered.
The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
The Andantes were an American female session group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin, Edwin Starr, the Supremes, the Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers, among others. It is estimated they appeared on 20,000 recordings.
"I Want You" is a song written by songwriters Leon Ware and Arthur "T-Boy" Ross and performed by singer Marvin Gaye. It was released as a single in 1976 on his fourteenth studio album of the same name on the Tamla label. The song introduced a change in musical styles for Gaye, who before then had been recording songs with a funk edge. Songs such as this gave him a disco audience thanks to Ware, who produced the song alongside Gaye.
"Can I Get a Witness" is a song composed by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland and produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier as a non-album single for American recording vocalist Marvin Gaye, who issued the record on Motown's Tamla imprint in September 1963.
The Originals, often called "Motown's best-kept secret", were a successful Motown R&B and soul group during the late 1960s and the 1970s, most notable for the hits "Baby I'm for Real", "The Bells", and the disco classic "Down to Love Town." Formed in 1966, the group originally consisted of baritone singer Freddie Gorman, tenor/falsetto Walter Gaines, and tenors C. P. Spencer and Hank Dixon. Ty Hunter replaced Spencer when he left to go solo in the early 1970s. They had all previously sung in other Detroit groups, Spencer having been an original member of the (Detroit) Spinners and Hunter having sung with the Supremes member Scherrie Payne in the group Glass House. Spencer, Gaines, Hunter, and Dixon were also members of the Voice Masters. As a member of the Holland–Dozier–Gorman writing-production team, Gorman was one of the co-writers of Motown's first number 1 pop hit "Please Mr. Postman", recorded by the Marvelettes. In 1964 the Beatles released their version and in 1975 the Carpenters took it to number 1 again. This was the second time in pop history that a song had reached number 1 twice as "The Twist" by Chubby Checker, reached number 1 in both 1960 and 1961. In 2006, "Please Mr. Postman" was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
"Uptight (Everything's Alright)" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder for the Tamla (Motown) label. One of his most popular early singles, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" was the first hit single Wonder co-wrote.
Frederick Earl "Shorty" Long was an American soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer for Motown's Soul Records imprint. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1980.
Where I'm Coming From is the 13th album by Stevie Wonder. The album was released by Motown Records on April 9, 1971 and peaked on the Billboard Pop Albums at #62, and on the Billboard R&B Albums Chart at #7. All nine songs were written by Wonder and Motown singer-songwriter Syreeta Wright, his first wife. It was the last album produced under his first contract with Motown Records. Including live albums, this is Stevie Wonder's fifteenth album overall, and thirteenth studio album.
"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.
"Boogie On Reggae Woman" is a 1974 funk song by American Motown artist Stevie Wonder, released as the second single from his seventeenth studio album, Fulfillingness' First Finale, issued that same year. Despite the song's title, its style is firmly funk/R&B and neither boogie nor reggae. It continued Wonder's successful Top Ten streak on the pop charts, reaching number three and also spent two weeks at number one on the soul charts. Billboard ranked it as the No. 26 song for 1975. At the 17th Grammy Awards, Stevie Wonder won the Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male for this song.
The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie is the debut studio album by Stevie Wonder released in September 1962 on the Tamla Motown label.
Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius is the first live album by Stevie Wonder. The album was released on the Tamla record label in May 1963, the same month as the single release of "Fingertips". "Fingertips" topped both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the R&B Singles chart, and Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius topped the Billboard 200, all of which happened in 1963. This is the last album to use the "Little" in Stevie Wonder's name. Starting with the next album, he would go by just "Stevie Wonder." Wonder was the second and youngest solo artist to chart on the Billboard Top LPs under the age of 18. He was only 13 years old when that occurred.
Looking Back, also later known as Anthology, is a triple LP anthology by American soul musician Stevie Wonder, released in 1977 on Motown Records. Since its release in 12-inch triple LP format, it has not been reissued and is considered a limited edition. The album chronicles 40 songs from Wonder's first Motown period, which precedes the classic period of his critically acclaimed albums.
Recorded Live On Stage is the name of a 1963 live album recorded by Motown star Mary Wells. The album was the only live album released by the soul singer during her short but successful tenure with Motown Records in the early sixties. The album starts off with an a cappella introduction of Wells by her backup vocalists, The Love-Tones, who are heard throughout the album. Her live version of her first release, "Bye, Bye, Baby" improved upon the studio version and became the way she would perform it from then on. The only other live performances Wells recorded on Motown can be found on the first two volumes of the Motortown Revue series. Marvin Gaye, the Marvelettes, (Little) Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles also recorded albums in the Recorded Live On Stage series.
The Complete Stevie Wonder is a digital compilation featuring the work of Stevie Wonder. Released a week before the physical release of A Time to Love, the set comprises almost all of Wonder's officially released material, including single mixes, extended versions, remixes, and Workout Stevie Workout, a 1963 album which was shelved and replaced by With a Song in My Heart. The set also contains a digital (PDF) booklet and three music videos: "Overjoyed", "Part-Time Lover" and "So What the Fuss".
David J. Van De Pitte was an American music arranger and bass player. He is best known for his work at Motown Records during the 1960s and early 1970s, when he was responsible for arranging many of the best known and most successful of the company's records, including those by Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and many others.
"Pops, We Love You " is a 1978 single recorded and released by Motown stars Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder, as a tribute to Berry "Pops" Gordy Sr., father of Motown founder Berry Gordy, who had died that year from cancer.
Billboard year-end top 50 R&B singles of 1963 is the year-end chart compiled by Billboard magazine ranking the top rhythm and blues singles of 1963. The list was based on charts from the January 6 through the November 23 issues.
