Stevie Wonder’s Artistic Freedom and the 1970s Music Industry
Without question, Stevie Wonder is one of the most prolific artists in popular music history. While his career spans six decades, he is most known and lauded for his 1970s period. During this time, he created a string of album masterpieces after he renegotiated his contract with Motown at age 21, starting with Music of My Mind (1972), followed by three Grammy award winning albums: Talking Book (1972), Innervisions (1973), and Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974).
The culmination of this “classic period” was yet another Grammy winning album, one that fans would have to wait two years for: Songs in the Key of Life (1976). Songs was the first album released on Wonder’s new contract with Motown for an unprecedented $37 million. In addition to Wonder’s having a high royalty rate and 50% ownership of his music publishing, most importantly, this contract gave him full artistic control over his projects. It even included a clause that gave him power to veto the business decision if the record label was to be sold elsewhere. After recording dozens (almost hundreds) of songs over two years, the album was released on Sept. 28, 1976 as a double album alongside a bonus 4-song EP called A Something’s Extra. This level of artistic freedom as executive producer for such a high-profile project was unheard of for any artist let alone a Black one. Given the US’s history with slavery and subsequent strategies of exploitation (not least present in a heavily segregated and racist music industry), this freedom was significant on several levels. In addition to owning his music and his high royalty rate, he was free to experiment with multiple genres and styles, using new technologies and collaborating with others to produce the highest quality sounds.
In addition to the sheer size and high price tag of the album, one of the most striking features was the number of genres covered. While listeners were treated to jazz, funk, gospel, classical, Latin, and soul influences, it somehow always sounded like Wonder. I’m reminded of Zora Neale Hurston’s classic essay “Characteristics of Negro Expression” (1936) where she discusses “masterful revision” as a trait of Black music, in contrast to the white European emphasis on “originality.”
If I had to choose a favourite track, it would be “As,” but the album takes you on a long journey through the everyday-ness of the lived experience, speaking of lost love (“Summer Soft”), neglected historical figures (“Black Man”), joys of fatherhood (“Isn’t She Lovely”), nostalgia (“I Wish”), poverty (“Village Ghetto Land”), spirituality (“Have a Talk with God”), Afrofuturism (“Saturn”), and homage to earlier Black artists (“Sir Duke”), with Stevie Wonder at the helm as radio announcer and modern day griot in the spirit of West African troubadour-historians.
Wonder’s music was a bright light in a “fragile decade” which included the Vietnam war, Nixon’s impeachment, the OPEC oil crisis, stagflation, mass unemployment, and the unfulfillment of many promises of the Civil Rights era. Songs in the Key of Life was when Wonder was at the peak of his powers musically and as a pop icon, performing a sense of universality while firmly espousing the tenets of Black musical expression.
