Songs in the Key of Life

Songs in the Key of Life is the eighteenth album by American recording artist Stevie Wonder, released on September 28, 1976, by Motown Records. It was the culmination of his "classic period" albums.[1]  The album was recorded at the Record Plant in Hollywood, Sausalito Music Factory in Sausalito, and The Hit Factory in New York City.

An ambitious double LP with a four-song bonus EP,[2]  Songs in the Key of Life became among the best-selling and most critically acclaimed albums of his career. In 2003, the album was ranked number 56 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. ==Background[ edit] == By 1976, Stevie Wonder had become one of the most popular figures in R&B and pop music, not only in the US, but worldwide. Within a short space of time, the albums Talking Book,Innervisions and Fulfillingness' First Finale were all back-to-back top five successes, with the latter two winning Grammy Award for Album of the Year, in 1974 and '75, respectively. By the end of 1975, Wonder became serious about quitting the music industry and emigrating to Ghana to work with handicapped children. He had expressed his anger with the way that the United States Government was running the country. [3] [4]  A farewell concert was being considered as the best way to bring down the curtain on his career. Wonder changed his decision, when he signed a new contract with Motown on August 5, 1975, thinking he was better off making the most of his career. At the time, rivals such as Arista and Epic were also interested in him. The contract was laid out as a seven-year, seven LP, $37 million deal and gave him full artistic control, making this the largest deal made with a recording star up to that point.[3]  Almost at the beginning Stevie took a year off from the music market, with a project for a double album to be released in 1976.[5]  There was huge anticipation for the new album which was initially scheduled for release around October 1975. It was delayed on short notice when Wonder felt that further remixing was essential. According to Stevie Wonder, the marketing campaign at Motown decided to take advantage of the delay by producing "We're almost finished" t-shirts.[6]

Work on the new album continued into early 1976. A name was finally chosen for the album: Songs in the Key of Life. The title would represent the formula of a complex "key of life" and the proposals for indefinite success.[7]  The album was finally released on September 28, 1976 after a two-year wait as a double LP album with a four track seven-inch EP titled A Something's Extra ("Saturn", "Ebony Eyes", "All Day Sucker" and "Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)") and a 24-page lyric and credit booklet.[6] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Lundy_p16_8-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8] ==Recording<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;visibility:visible;">] == Wonder recorded parts of the album atSausalito Music Factory (pictured).<p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The working title was Let's See Life the Way It Is.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Lundy_p8_9-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9]  Recording sessions for the album took place at the Record Plant in Hollywood, Sausalito Music Factory (dba Record Plant) inSausalito, and The Hit Factory in New York City.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  Sessions on the latter were particularly memorable, as Songs in the Key of Life was the first album to be actually recorded at The Hit Factory, while Wonder became the first client of Edward Germano, the studio's owner. Wonder initially booked a three-day session with Germano and ended up working there for nine months.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11]  As a perfectionist, he spent long hours in the studio for almost every track he recorded. He was "not eating or sleeping, while everyone around him struggled to keep up".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Songs_in_the_Key_of_Life_5-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] According to himself, "If my flow is goin', I keep on until I peak".

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">A total of 130 people worked on the album, but Wonder's preeminence during the album was evident. Among the people present during the sessions, there were legendary figures of R&B, soul and jazz music – Herbie Hancock played Fender Rhodes on "As", George Benson played electric guitar on "Another Star", and Minnie Riperton and Deniece Williams added backing vocals on "Ordinary Pain". Mike Sembello was a prominent personality throughout the album, playing guitar in several tracks and also co-writing "Saturn" with Wonder. Some of the most socially conscious songs of the album were actually written by Wonder with other people – these included "Village Ghetto Land" and "Black Man" (co-written with Gary Byrd) "Pastime Paradise" were co-written with Ronald Simmons (he sent Wonder a poem in 1974 titled "The A-tions of the World")<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  and "Have a Talk with God" (co-written with Calvin Hardaway). ==Reception<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;visibility:visible;">] == ===Commercial performance<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Highly anticipated, the album surpassed all commercial expectations. Surprisingly, it debuted straight at number 1 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart on October 8, 1976, becoming only the third album in history to achieve that feat and the first by an American artist (after British singer/composer Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and Rock of the Westies in 1975). In Canada, the album achieved the same feat, entering at number one on theRPM national albums chart on October 16.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12]  Songs in the Key of Life spent thirteen consecutive weeks at number one in the US, and eleven during 1976. It was the album with the most weeks at number one during the year. In those eleven weeks, Songs in the Key of Life managed to block four other albums from reaching the top – in order, Boz Scaggs's Silk Degrees, Earth, Wind & Fire's Spirit, Led Zeppelin's soundtrack for The Song Remains the Same and Rod Stewart's A Night on the Town.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  On January 15, 1977, the album finally dropped to number two behind Eagles' Hotel California and the following week it fell to number four. On January 29 it returned to the top for a fourteenth and final week. The album then began its final fall. It spent a total of 35 weeks inside the top ten and 80 weeks on the Billboard albums chart. Songs in the Key of Life also saw longevity at number one on the Billboard R&B/Black Albums chart, spending 20 non-consecutive weeks there.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In all, Songs in the Key of Life became the second best-selling album of 1977 in the US, only behind Fleetwood Mac's blockbuster Rumours, and was certified as a diamond album by the RIAA, for sales of ten million copies in the US alone.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14]  It was the highest selling R&B/Soul album on the Billboard Year-End chart that same year.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Songs in the Key of Life was also the most successful Stevie Wonder project in terms of singles. The lead-off, the upbeat "I Wish" was released in November 1976, over a month after the album was released. On January 15, 1977, it reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart, where it spent five weeks at the top. Seven days after, it also reached the summit of the Billboard Hot 100, although it spent only one week at number one. The track became an international top-10 single, and also reached number five in the UK. "I Wish" became one of Wonder's standards and remained one of his most sampled songs.The follow-up, the jazzy "Sir Duke", surpassed the commercial success of "I Wish". It was released on March 1977 and also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 (spending three weeks at the top starting on May 21) and the R&B Charts (for one week, starting on May 28). It also reached number two in the UK, where it was kept off the top spot by the song "Free" by Deniece Williams, who had provided backing vocals on the album.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">As sales for the album began to decline during the second half of 1977, the two other singles from Songs in the Key of Life failed to achieve the commercial success of "I Wish" and "Sir Duke". "Another Star" was released in August and reached at only number 32 on the Hot 100 (number 18: R&B, and number 29: UK) and "As" came out two months later, peaking at number 36 on both the Pop and R&B Charts. Though not released as a single (because, even when Motown requested Wonder to release it, he refused to), "Isn't She Lovely" received wide airplay and became one of Wonder's more popular songs. It was soon released by David Parton as a single in 1977 and became a top-10 hit in the UK. ===Critical response<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">At the time of release, reporters and music critics, and everyone who had worked on the album, traveled to Longview Farm, a recording studio in Massachusetts for a press preview of the album. Everybody received autographed copies of the album and Stevie gave interviews. Critical reception was positive. The album was viewed as a guided tour through a wide range of musical styles and the life and feelings of the artist. It included recollections of childhood, of first love and lost love. It contained songs about faith and love among all peoples and songs about social justice for the poor and downtrodden.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-steviewonder.org.uk_26-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[26]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">On February 19, 1977, Wonder was nominated for seven Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, an award that he had already won twice, in 1974 and 1975, for Innervisions andFulfilligness' First Finale.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Lundy_p16_8-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  Since 1973, Stevie's presence at the Grammy ceremonies had been consistent – he attended most of the ceremonies and also used to perform on stage. But in 1976, he did not attend as he was not nominated for any awards (as he had not released any new material during the past year). Paul Simon, who received the Grammy for Album of the Year in that occasion (for Still Crazy After All These Years) jokingly thanked Stevie "for not releasing an album" that year. A year after, Wonder was nominated for Songs in the Key of Life in that same category, and was widely favored by many critics to take the award. The other nominees were Breezin' by George Benson, Chicago X by Chicago, Silk Degrees by Boz Scaggs, and the other favorite, Peter Frampton's ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frampton_Comes_Alive! Frampton Comes Alive!]'', which was also a huge critical and commercial success. Wonder was again absent from the ceremony, as he had developed an interest in visiting Africa. In February he traveled to Nigeria for two weeks, primarily to explore his musical heritage, as he put it. A satellite hook-up was arranged so that Stevie could be awarded his Grammys from across the sea. Bette Midler announced the results during the ceremony, and the audience could only able to see Wonder at a phone smiling and giving thanks.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27]  The video signal was poor and the audio inaudible. Andy Williams went on to make a public blunder when he asked the blind-since-birth Wonder, "Stevie, can you see us?"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-steviewonder.org.uk_26-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[26]  In all, Wonder won four out of seven nominations at the Grammys: Album of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Producer of the Year. ==Legacy and influence<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">] == <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">With time, the album became a standard, and it is considered Wonder's signature album. "Of all the albums," he told Q magazine (April 1995 issue), "Songs in the Key of Life I'm most happy about. Just the time, being alive then. To be a father and then… letting go and letting God give me the energy and strength I needed." Songs in the Key of Life is often cited as one of the greatest albums in popular music history.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-acc_28-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[28]  It was voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll; in 2001 the TV network VH1 named it the seventh greatest album of all time; in 2003, the album was ranked number 56 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Many musicians have also remarked on the quality of the album and its influence on their own work. For example, Elton John said, in his notes for Wonder on the 2003 Rolling Stone's list of "The Immortals – The Greatest Artists of All Time" (in which Wonder was ranked number 15): "Let me put it this way: wherever I go in the world, I always take a copy of Songs in the Key of Life. For me, it's the best album ever made, and I'm always left in awe after I listen to it."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[29]  In an interview with Ebony magazine, Michael Jackson stated Songs in the Key of Life is his favorite Stevie Wonder album. George Michael cited the album as his favorite of all time<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-30" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[30]  and with Mary J. Blige covered "As" for a 1999 hit single. Michael also performed "Village Ghetto Land" at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute in 1988.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">R&B singers in particular have praised the album – Mariah Carey generally names the album as one of her favourites, and Whitney Houston also remarked on the influence of Songs in the Key of Life on her singing. (During the photoshoot for her Whitney: The Greatest Hits, as seen on its respective home video, the album was played throughout the photo sessions, at Houston's request.) The album's tracks have provided numerous samples for rap and hip-hop artists; for example, "Pastime Paradise", which itself drew on the first eight notes and four chords of J.S. Bach's Prelude No. 2 in C minor (BWV 847), was reworked by Coolio as "Gangsta's Paradise". In 1995, smooth jazz artist Najeerecorded a cover album titled Najee Plays Songs from the Key of Life, which is based entirely on Wonder's album. In 1999, Will Smith used "I Wish" as the base for his US number-one single "Wild Wild West". The song repeated the main melody of "I Wish" as a riff and some lyrics re-formed.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In September 2008, the album was voted the "Top Album of All Time" by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo! Yahoo!] Music Playlist Blog, using a formula that combined four parameters – "Album Staying Power Value + Sales Value + Critical Rating Value + Grammy Award Value".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-31" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[31] ==Track listing<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;visibility:visible;">] == ===Original vinyl release<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;visibility:visible;">] === ====A Something's Extra<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;visibility:visible;">] ==== <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The "A Something's Extra" 7" EP was included with the special-edition version of the original LP. These tracks are also on most CD versions of the album, either split between both discs or appended to the end of the second disc. ===CD release<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">] === ==Personnel<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">] == ==Charts<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;-webkit-transition:color100msease-out,margin100msease-out;visibility:visible;">] ==