STEVIE WONDER - OVERJOYED

OVERJOYED

STEVIE WONDER

SONGWRITER: STEVE WONDER

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: TALKING BOOK

LABEL: TAMLA

GENRE: SOUL

YEAR: 1972

 

        Stevland Hardaway Morris (né Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, 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 R&B. He also helped drive the genre into the album era, crafting his LPs as cohesive, consistent 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.

          Wonder's single "Fingertips" was a Nº 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963, at the age of 13, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. Wonder's critical success was at its peak in the 1970s. His "classic period" began in 1972 with the releases of Music of My Mind and Talking Book, the latter featuring "Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner Clavinet keyboard. His works Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness' First Finale(1974) and Songs in the Key of Life(1976) all won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making him the tied-record holder for the most Album of the Year wins, with three. He is also the only artist to have won the award with three consecutive album releases. Wonder began his "commercial period" in the 1980s; he achieved his biggest hits and highest level of fame, had increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations (including Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson), political impact, and television appearances. Wonder has continued to remain active in music and political causes.

        Talking Book is the fifteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on October 28, 1972, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. This album and Music of My Mind, released earlier the same year, are generally considered to mark the start of Wonder's "classic period". The sound of the album is sharply defined by Wonder's use of keyboards and synthesizers.

     The album peaked at number three on the Billboard Top LPs chart and finished at number three on Billboard's year-end chart for 1973. "Superstition" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Soul Singles charts, and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" hit number one on the Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts. Talking Book earned Wonder his first Grammy Award, with "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" winning Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 16th Grammy Awards; "Superstition" also won Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song. Often included in lists of the greatest albums of all time, Talking Book was voted number 322 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000), and Rolling Stone ranked it number 59 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

You are the sunshine of my life

That's why I'll always be around

You are the apple of my eye

Forever you'll stay in my heart

 

I feel like this is the beginning

Though I've loved you for a million years

And if I thought our love was ending

I'd find myself drowning in my own tears

 

You are the sunshine of my life

That's why I'll always stay around

You are the apple of my eye (love has joined us)

Forever you'll stay in my heart (love, sweet love)

 

You must have known that I was lonely

Because you came to my rescue

And I know that this must be heaven

How could so much love be inside of you?

 

You are the sunshine of my life, yeah

That's why I'll always stay around

You are the apple of my eye (love has joined us)

Forever you'll stay in my heart (love, sweet love)

 

you are the sunshine of my life, baby

(Love has joined us) that's why I'll always stay around

(Love, sweet love).