Stevie Wonder has left Motown, the record label that he has called home since he was 11 years old. The recording legend revealed the news today (October 13) during a virtual press conference in which he also shared two new songs, released via his new label, What the Fuss Records.
The 70-year-old Wonder, born Stevland Judkins, signed with Motown’s Tamla label in 1961, and made his first recordings as Little Stevie Wonder including a #1 pop hit with “Fingertips – Part 1.” By 1965’s “Uptight (Everything’s Alright),” the “Little” was gone but the hits kept coming. He earned another eleven Top 10 singles before he scored another pop chart-topper in 1972 with “Superstition.”
Related: Wonder’s career trajectory changed when he opened for the Rolling Stones on their 1972 tour
He ultimately earned ten #1 pop singles, three #1 albums and 25 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award). On Tuesday, he said, “Even though I have left Motown, I never leave Motown.”
During the press conference, he urged people to vote in next month’s presidential election. He puts it out there on one of the two new songs, “Can’t Put It in the Hands of Fate,” with Rapsody, Cordae, Chika and Busta Rhymes.
The second track, “Where is Our Love Song,” features guitarist Gary Clark Jr.
Wonder’s new What the Fuss imprint takes its name from his 2005 recording.
In July 2019, Wonder surprised an audience who had gathered to see him perform in London’s Hyde Park with news that he would be undergoing kidney transplant surgery. He told the crowd: “I’m going to have surgery. I’m going to have a kidney transplant in September of this year. It’s all good.”
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