During Stevie Wonder‘s Sunday (May 7th) appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, he had some choice words for President Trump — whom he referred to by his presidential number — “Mr. Number 45.” Billboard reported that before launching into “Higher Ground,” Wonder told the crowd: “We have a lot to do. How many of you in here are about unity? I’m not gonna go talking about people, but a lot has changed since the last time I saw you. You can tell him, Mr. Number 45, that God gave him that position for the purpose of uniting people, not dividing them. Negativity and divisiveness is not the solution. Don’t let the love that I’ve given you be gone because of him — to those who don’t agree with me, two peas in a bucket!”
Wonder announced: “Whether you’re black, white, brown, or Native American. Don’t fall for the bull**** because God created us all equally,” before performing his Songs In The Key Of Life opener “Love’s In Need Of Love Today,” before cutting the song short and explaining, that it was “getting too deep” and launching into the album’s second chart-topper, “Sir Duke.”
- Stevie Wonder told us that he’s always made a concerted effort to dwell on the positive aspects of his life: [“The truth about life, very clearly, is as much as and now however bad you can feel about whatever, there’s nothing you can do about it. And that’s why it’s just important that we love and that we care and we take advantage of what we can while we’re here.”]
FAST FACTS
- Stevie Wonder‘s Songs In The Key Of Life was released on September 28th, 1976 and features the Number One hits “Sir Duke” and “I Wish.”
- Among the legendary tracks featured on the double album and EP set were “Isn’t She Lovely,” “Pastime Paradise,” “Black Man,” “As,” and “Have A Talk With God,” among many more.
- Songs In The Key Of Life hit the Number One spot on October 16th, 1976 for the first of its 14 non-consecutive week run on top of the Billboard 200 charts.
- Stevie Wonder won four awards for Songs In The Key Of Life at the 1977 Grammy’s — Album Of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, and Producer Of The Year.
