5 Not So Little Anymore

CHAPTER 5 Not So Little Anymore Because "Fingertips, Part 2" was so successful, everyone wanted to have the chance to see Stevie. He appeared on national television programs such as The Ed Sullivan Show. He performed in London and Paris. When the Motortown Revue went on the road again late in 1963, he was billed as one of its top stars. He even appeared in two "beach party" movies— silly teen comedies with lots of singing and dancing.

因为《指尖2》大获成功，每个人都想有机会见到史蒂夫。 他出现在国家电视节目中，如埃德·沙利文秀。 他在伦敦和巴黎演出。 1963年底，当Motortown Revue再次上路时，他被称为其中的顶级明星之一。 他甚至还出演了两部“海滩派对”电影——有很多歌舞的傻傻的青少年喜剧。

But Little Stevie wasn't so little anymore. He was five feet nine inches tall by the time he was fourteen years old. And he was becoming a big star. Motown dropped "Little" from his name. Stevie Wonder was ready to follow up his first big hit. Most of Stevie's early songs had been written by other people and were simple tunes with simple lyrics. Stevie started getting frustrated. "Why don't they just let me sing my own songs?" he complained to a fellow Motown performer. "I'd be doing a lot better if I can sing what I want to sing." So he sat down with Motown songwriters Hank Cosby and Sylvia Moy and wrote a song about a poor boy dating a rich girl. "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" was released in November 1965 and spent five weeks at number one on the R&B chart.

但是小史蒂夫已经不再那么小了。 他十四岁的时候已经有五英尺九英寸高了。 他正在成为一个大明星。 摩城把“Little”从他的名字里去掉了。 史提夫·汪达准备好继续他的第一个大热门。 史蒂夫早期的大部分歌曲都是别人写的，都是简单的曲调和简单的歌词。 史蒂夫开始感到沮丧。 “他们为什么不让我唱自己的歌呢？”他向摩城的一位歌手抱怨道。 “如果我能唱我想唱的歌，我会做得更好。” 于是，他与摩城的词曲作者汉克·考斯比和西尔维娅·梅坐下来，写了一首关于一个穷男孩和一个富女孩约会的歌。 1965年11月发行的《Uptight （Everything's Alright）》在R&B排行榜上占据了五周的冠军位置。

More hits followed over the next couple of years, including "Shoo- Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da- Day," "For Once in My Life," "My Cherie Amour," and "Yester- Me, Yester-You, Yesterday." Stevie already had recorded ten albums and had seven top-ten singles by the time he graduated from the Michigan School for the Blind with a high-school diploma in June 1969. He was just nineteen years old. Around that time, one of Stevie's favorite songs was "I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel for You," by Syreeta (Rita) Wright. Stevie wanted to meet Syreeta, who also worked for Motown. After he did, the two began working together on a song: "You Win My Love." The

在接下来的几年里，更多的热门歌曲接踵而来，包括《Shoo- Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da- Day》、《就这一次》、《My Cherie Amour》和《Yesterday - Me， Yesterday - you, Yesterday》。 1969年6月，当史蒂夫从密歇根盲人学校毕业并获得高中文凭时，他已经录制了十张专辑，有七首单曲排名前十。 他只有19岁。 大约在那个时候，史蒂夫最喜欢的歌曲之一是Syreeta (Rita) Wright的《I Can’t Give Back the Love I Feel for You》。 史提夫想见见西瑞塔，她也在摩城工作。 之后，两人开始合作创作歌曲《你赢了我的爱》。 的

song was never released but, Syreeta said, Stevie won her love. In 1970, when Stevie was twenty years old, he and Syreeta were married. Unfortunately, the marriage lasted less than two years. Syreeta had helped Stevie write the single "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," which

这首歌从未发行过，但西瑞塔说，史蒂夫赢得了她的爱。 1970年，史蒂夫20岁的时候，他和西丽塔结婚了。 不幸的是，这段婚姻只维持了不到两年。 西瑞塔帮史蒂夫写了单曲《签名，密封，交付，我是你的》

reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the R&B chart. Stevie's mom also earned a writing credit on that song because she came up with the line used in the chorus and the title. One day Stevie was at home working on lyrics, singing, "Here I am, baby. Here I am, baby." Lula sang out, "Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours." "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" was a smash hit. By that time, Stevie had been writing many songs—sometimes dozens at a time. Some were only a few lines, and some weren't much more than ideas. But he had so much music inside of him that he kept a tape recorder with him most of the time so he wouldn't forget anything that came into his mind. The trouble was, many of Stevie's new songs were not the kind Motown was interested in. Motown wanted positive lyrics and catchy tunes with a beat that listeners could dance to. Stevie

在公告牌百强单曲榜上排名第三，在R&B排行榜上排名第一。 史蒂夫的妈妈也为这首歌赢得了创作荣誉，因为她想出了副歌和标题中使用的台词。 有一天，史蒂夫在家写歌词，唱着：“我在这里，宝贝。 我在这里，宝贝。”卢拉大声喊道：“签名，盖章，交付，我是你的了。” 《签名，密封，交付，我是你的》大获成功。 到那时，史蒂夫已经写了很多歌，有时一次写几十首。 有些只有几行字，有些只不过是一些想法。 但他内心有太多的音乐，所以他大部分时间都随身带着录音机，这样他就不会忘记任何进入他脑海的东西。 问题是，史蒂夫的许多新歌都不是摩城感兴趣的那种。 摩城想要积极的歌词和朗朗上口的曲调，听众可以跟着节拍跳舞。 史蒂夫