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.
Bad is the seventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. It was released on August 31, 1987, by Epic Records. Written and recorded between 1985 and 1987, Bad was Jackson's third and final collaboration with the producer Quincy Jones. Jackson co-produced and composed all but two tracks, and adopted an edgier image and sound, departing from his signature groove-based style and falsetto. Bad incorporates pop, rock, funk, R&B, dance, soul, and hard rock styles, and incorporated new recording technology, including digital synthesizers. The lyrical themes include media bias, paranoia, racial profiling, romance, self-improvement, and world peace. The album features appearances from Siedah Garrett and Stevie Wonder.
"Who's Lovin' You" is a Motown soul song, written in 1960 by William "Smokey" Robinson. The song has been recorded by many different artists including The Miracles, who recorded the 1960 original version, The Temptations, The Supremes, Terence Trent D'arby, Brenda and The Tabulations, John Farnham, Human Nature, En Vogue, Michael Bublé and Giorgia Todrani and Jessica Mauboy. The most famous version is attributed to The Jackson 5. Shaheen Jafargholi, then twelve years old, performed the song at Michael Jackson's public memorial service in July 2009.
"ABC" is a song by the Jackson 5. It was released as a single in 1970. The song replaced the Beatles' "Let It Be" on the number one spot of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970, and was No. 1 on the soul singles chart for four weeks. It is the title track to the group's second album and sold 2 million copies within the first week of its release in the US and over 4 million copies worldwide.
"Dancing Machine" is a song recorded by American R&B group the Jackson 5; it was the title track of their ninth studio album. The song was originally recorded for the group's 1973 album G.I.T.: Get It Together and was released as a remix.
Got to Be There is the debut solo studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Motown on January 24, 1972, four weeks after the Jackson 5's Greatest Hits (1971). It includes the song of the same name, which was released on October 7, 1971, as Jackson's debut solo single.
Ben is the second studio album by the American singer Michael Jackson, released by Motown Records on August 4, 1972, while Jackson was still a member of the Jackson 5. It received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. Ben, however, was more successful on the music charts than Jackson's previous studio album, peaking within the top 10 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. Internationally, the album was less successful, peaking at number 12 in Canada, while charting within the top 200 positions in Australia and France.
Forever, Michael is the fourth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Motown Records on January 16, 1975. The album is credited as having songs with funk and soul material. Eddie Holland, Brian Holland, Hal Davis, Freddie Perren, and Sam Brown III served as producers on Forever, Michael. It is the final album before Jackson's solo breakthrough with his next album, Off the Wall (1979) and has sold 1 million copies worldwide.
Farewell My Summer Love is a compilation album by American singer Michael Jackson, consisting of archived songs that were recorded from January to October 1973. The album was released with updated musical production by Motown Records in the United States on May 8, 1984.
Fulfillingness' First Finale is the seventeenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, musician, and producer Stevie Wonder, released on July 22, 1974, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. It is the fourth of five albums from what is considered Wonder's "classic period".
Signed, Sealed & Delivered is the 12th studio album by American recording artist Stevie Wonder, released on August 7, 1970, by Tamla Records. The album featured four hits that hit the Billboard Hot 100: "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours", "Heaven Help Us All", "Never Had a Dream Come True" and Wonder's cover of The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out". The album hit No. 25 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart as well as No. 7 on the R&B Albums chart.
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" and "You Will Know", which both reached number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. The album also contained a duet with Michael Jackson, "Get It", that was a minor hit.
Where There's Smoke... is a 1979 album by Smokey Robinson, released on Motown Records' Tamla label. It contains his Billboard Top ten pop hit single "Cruisin'".
"Got to Be There" is the debut solo single by the American singer Michael Jackson, written by Elliot Willensky and released as a single on October 7, 1971, on Motown Records. The song was produced by Hal Davis and recorded at Motown's Hitsville West studios in Hollywood.
"With a Child's Heart" is a song by the singer Stevie Wonder, from his album Up-Tight. The song was released as the b-side to the single "Nothing's Too Good for My Baby".
"Centipede" is the debut single by American singer Rebbie Jackson, and the title track from her debut album Centipede. Michael Jackson wrote the song.
Flying High Together is an album by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label, released in 1972. It is noted as The Miracles' last studio album with original lead singer Smokey Robinson, who retired from the act to concentrate on his duties as vice president of Motown. The album charted at #46 on the Billboard Pop Album chart, and featured two singles: the appropriately named "We've Come Too Far to End It Now", which matched the parent album's chart position on the Billboard singles chart, charting at #46, and reached the Top 10 of the Billboard R&B singles chart, charting at #9, and "I Can't Stand to See You Cry", which charted at #45 Pop, and #21 R&B.
Off the Wall is the fifth studio album by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on August 10, 1979, by Epic Records. It was Jackson's first album released through Epic Records, and the first produced by Quincy Jones, whom he met while working on the 1978 film The Wiz. Several critics observed that Off the Wall was crafted from disco, pop, funk, R&B, soft rock and Broadway ballads. Its lyrical themes include escapism, liberation, loneliness, hedonism and romance. The album features songwriting contributions from Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Rod Temperton, Tom Bahler, and David Foster, alongside three tracks penned by Jackson himself.
"All in Love Is Fair" is a song by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder recorded for his sixteenth studio album, Innervisions (1973). Written and produced by Wonder, it was released as a 7" single in Brazil in 1974. The song is a pop ballad with lyrics that describe the end of a relationship through the use of clichés. Critical reaction to the song has been varied: Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic wrote that it was among Wonder's "finest ballad statements", but Robert Christgau felt that the singer's performance was "immature". Wonder has included it on several of his greatest hits albums, including the most recent, 2005's The Complete Stevie Wonder.
