The character arc of Stevie Wonder
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on 13 May 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan, six weeks premature, the third of five children. Between then and now sit blindness from retinopathy of prematurity, a Motown contract at eleven, a Billboard number one at thirteen that made him the youngest solo artist ever to top the chart, a classic period from 1972 to 1976 that produced three consecutive Albums of the Year, a car crash in 1973 and four days in a coma, a stage appearance three weeks later against doctors orders, a birthday song that carried a national campaign, an Academy Award, twenty five Grammys and over a hundred million records. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Stevie Wonder?
Signed at eleven. Number one at thirteen.
He was born six weeks premature, and the combination of that and the oxygen-heavy incubator caused retinopathy of prematurity, which left him blind. He was the third of five children.
He signed with Motown Tamla label at eleven and was given a name: Little Stevie Wonder. Two albums were made before he was twelve. His first singles went nowhere. Then Fingertips topped the Billboard Hot 100 when he was thirteen, which made him the youngest solo artist ever to do it, a record that has held for sixty years. As a teenager he was one of the label most successful acts, known for a harmonica style that sounded like somebody had let a firework off.
Between 1972 and 1976 he did something almost nobody manages, which is to walk away from the sound that made him. Music of My Mind and Talking Book abandoned the Motown template for synthesisers and keyboards. Innervisions in 1973, Fulfillingness First Finale in 1974 and Songs in the Key of Life in 1976 followed, and he became the first Black musician to win the Grammy for Album of the Year and the only artist ever to win it with three consecutive releases. Songs in the Key of Life was the first album by an American artist to enter the charts straight at number one, where it stayed for fourteen weeks.
Three days after Innervisions came out, in August 1973, he was badly hurt in a car accident on tour in North Carolina, with a fractured skull, and lay in a coma for four days. He lost his sense of smell. His doctor told him not to perform. Three weeks after leaving hospital he walked out at an Elton John concert in Boston, and in November he played a benefit for a university in financial trouble whose board he sat on, bringing other acts with him and raising money for its scholarship fund.
The 1980s made him a global fixture: collaborations with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, four more number ones, and the first act to top the Billboard Hot 100 in three consecutive decades. Happy Birthday, from Hotter Than July in 1980, was written to carry his campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr birthday a national holiday. He won an Academy Award in 1985 for I Just Called to Say I Love You and accepted it in the name of Nelson Mandela, for which the South African government banned him from its radio stations. He has 25 Grammy Awards, the most of any male solo artist, has sold more than a hundred million records, was made a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2009 and given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014, and took Ghanaian citizenship in 2024.
The moments
Stevie Wonder's timeline.
The 1950s
Six weeks early
Setback, and it changed everything. Six weeks early, and blind from it.
The 1960s
Signed at eleven
Milestone, and it changed everything. Eleven years old, and under contract.
Two albums, no hits
Setback, and it changed his direction. His first three singles and two albums all went nowhere.
Number one at thirteen
Milestone, and it changed everything. Thirteen years old, at number one, and nobody has done it younger since.
The 1970s
Keep the sound, or break it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: throw out the formula, taken, or keep making the hits. Five albums in five years, three consecutive Albums of the Year, and a change in what R and B was allowed to sound like.
He leaves the Motown sound
Milestone, and it changed everything. He walked away from the sound that had made him.
Innervisions
Milestone, and it changed everything. Three days later, everything nearly stopped.
Four days in a coma
Setback, and it changed everything. Three days after the record came out.
On stage in Boston
Milestone, and it changed everything. Seven weeks after the coma, against medical advice.
A benefit for Shaw
Milestone, and it changed everything. He got out of hospital and organised a fundraiser.
Three in a row
Milestone, and it changed everything. Nobody else has ever won it three albums running.
The Wonder Dream Concert
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A concert in Kingston for blind Jamaicans.
Songs in the Key of Life
Milestone, and it changed everything. Straight in at number one, and fourth greatest album ever made.
The 1980s
Happy Birthday
Milestone, and it changed everything. A birthday song, written to carry a campaign.
An Oscar, accepted for Mandela
Milestone, and it changed everything. He accepted it for a man who was in prison at the time.
Three consecutive decades
Milestone, and it changed everything. The first act ever to do that.
The 2000s
Messenger of Peace
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The United Nations, and then the highest civilian honour.
The 2020s
Twenty five Grammys, and Ghana
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty five Grammys, and a second passport.
He is still recording and still turning up. What he set moving is a run of five albums in five years that rebuilt what popular music was allowed to be about, made by a man who had been a child star and could have simply stayed one.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His started at eleven with somebody at a record label deciding a blind child could be signed. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Stevie Wonder: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Stevie Wonder's character arc?
Why is Stevie Wonder blind?
How old was Stevie Wonder at his first number one?
What happened to Stevie Wonder in 1973?
How many Grammys has Stevie Wonder won?
What was the Stevie Wonder song Happy Birthday for?
Where does this timeline of Stevie Wonder's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Stevie Wonder, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- His Grammy and chart record, as that biography sets it out.
- Innervisions, 1973, and Songs in the Key of Life, 1976.
- Contemporary accounts of the 1973 accident and the Shaw University benefit, as cited there.