Stevie Wonder Later career, 1991–present
 was in Wonder's next phase that he began to commercially reap the rewards of his legendary Classic period. The 80's saw Wonder scoring his biggest hits and reaching an unprecedented level of fame evidenced by increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations, and television appearances.
This period had a muted beginning, for when Wonder did return, it was with a soundtrack album for the film Journey through the Secret Life of Plants (1979). Mostly instrumental, the album was panned at the time of its release but has come to be regarded by some critics as an unusual classic. In this year Wonder also wrote and produced the dance hit Let's Get Serious, performed by Jermaine Jackson.
Hotter than July (1980) became Wonder's first platinum selling album, and its single Happy Birthday was a successful vehicle for his campaign to establish Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday. The album also included Master Blaster (Jammin'), his tribute to Bob Marley, and the sentimental ballad, Lately, which was later covered by Jodeci.
In 1982, Wonder released a retrospective of his '70s work with Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium and included three more hit singles in his catalogue, including the ten-minute funk classic Do I Do (which included legendary jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie), That Girl (one of the year's biggest singles to chart on the R&B side) and Ribbon in the Sky, one of his many classic compositions. Wonder also gained a #1 hit that year in collaboration with Paul McCartney in their paean to racial harmony, Ebony and Ivory.
1984 saw the release of Wonder's soundtrack album for The Woman in Red. The lead single, I Just Called to Say I Love You, was a #1 pop and R&B hit in both the US and UK, where it was placed 13th in the List of best-selling singles in the UK published in 2002. It went on to win an Academy Award for Best Song in 1985. The following year's In Square Circle featured the #1 pop hit Part-Time Lover. He was also featured in Chaka Khan's cover of Prince's I Feel For You, alongside Melle Mel, playing his signature harmonica, which was a huge hit. In roughly the same period he was also featured on harmonica on Eurythmics' single, There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart) and Elton John's I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues, both huge hits.
By 1985 Stevie Wonder was an American icon, the subject of good-humored jokes about blindness and affectionately impersonated by Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live. (Wonder sometimes joined in the jokes himself; in The Motown Revue Smokey Robinson presented Wonder with an award plaque, which he pretended to read for the audience – and to notice a spelling mistake.) He was in a featured duet with Bruce Springsteen on the all-star charity single for African famine relief, We Are the World, and he was part of another charity single the following year, the AIDS-targeted That's What Friends Are For.
In 1986, Stevie Wonder appeared on The Cosby Show as himself in the episode A Touch of Wonder.
In 1987 Wonder appeared on the duet Just Good Friends for Michael Jackson's Bad album. The song was performed live on one occasion in Australia when Wonder made a surprise appearance at the show.
Wonder has also recorded with Jon Gibson (Christian Soul musician), in particular a remake of his own song, Have a Talk With God, covered by Gibson on which Wonder plays harmonica. The two men met in the late 1980s.
|
