#WORDS OF WONDER SONG TV#

Fellow Motown songwriter Smokey Robinson, however, was unimpressed with his new direction after he saw Wonder on comedian Flip Wilson's TV show. He recalls writing the song If You Really Love Me at the apartment of Laura Nyro, no stranger herself to the startling chord sequence. 'I had fun doing that album with Syreeta,' he says. It was a brave departure from the Motown sound, with forays into psychedelia, baroque pop and folk-inflected soul. In 1971, he released the transitional Where I'm Coming From, which along with Marvin Gaye's What's Going On was the first serious album from a label accustomed to singles. In Where Did Our Love Go?, a history of Motown, Nelson George noted the jealousy among staffers towards the 12-year-old-genius, even if detractors were soon silenced by his fabulous run of mainly self-penned hits: Uptight (Everything's Alright), For Once In My Life, My Cherie Amour and Signed, Sealed, Delivered. The feeling is mutual: reviews of Ocean's 2012 album, Channel Orange, drew comparisons with Wonder's music at its most expansive.Īfter being consigned to MOR-soul hell following the likes of I Just Called To Say I Loved You, Wonder – who next week headlines Bestival – is hip again. 'Yeah, I like Frank,' says Wonder, who sang the hook from Ocean's No Church In The Wild to the Odd Future sensation when he met him at a party recently. They have exerted a tremendous influence on musicians, from Michael Jackson and Prince in the 80s to rapper Drake and this year's most lauded new R&B star, Frank Ocean.

#WORDS OF WONDER SONG SERIES#

Principal among these was the electrification of modern soul that he effected on his extraordinary series of 70s albums. God gave me life to continue to do things that I would never have done.' 'It is significant,' he replies, and it's a typical Wonder response, 'but I was blessed to come out of it. Life is funny.'ĭoes the crash remain the signal event of his life?

'It was also on 6 August – 1988 – that my son Kwame was born. 'It was on 6 August that I almost died in that car accident,' he recalls.

Words of wonder song