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.

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.

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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

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

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