6 Superstar

CHAPTER 6 Superstar Ever since he was a teenager, Stevie's music had been popular with a broad audience, both black and white. With Music of My Mind, Stevie's fan base grew even larger. In 1972, he went on tour with the Rolling Stones, one of the most popular rock and-roll bands in the world. Stevie was the opening act, the performer who plays before the main attraction. But it wasn't long before Mick Jagger, the lead singer of the Rolling Stones, was bringing Stevie back onstage to join him in singing "Satisfaction," one of the group's biggest hits. The crowd loved

Stevie—maybe a little too much. Some of the tour's organizers thought he was taking too much attention from the Stones. But Mick insisted that Stevie stay. Onstage, they were a good mix. Offstage, they were very different. The Rolling Stones often had parties filled with drinking and illegal drugs. Stevie did not do those things.

Illegal drug use, as well as violence and crime, were on the rise in the seventies—especially in big cities in the United States. Stevie felt those were important issues that needed to be addressed, and he wanted his music to be a part of that conversation. He began writing more about the reality of racism and poverty. His next album, Talking Book, showed the world that an R&B artist could appeal to audiences that usually listened to rock music. Talking Book's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" was a love song that soared to number one

on the charts and earned Stevie a Grammy award—the awards given each year by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for outstanding performances in music. "Superstition," a funky, high-energy song, went to number one, too, and won two Grammys. Talking Book included a message from Stevie to his fans written in braille on the cardboard cover. "Here is my music," it read. "It is all I have to tell you how I feel. Know that your love keeps my love strong." The album was a huge hit for Stevie. Just a year later, Stevie released an album called Innervisions. Its most memorable song was "Living for the City," about a black man from the South who moves to New York City and is arrested and sentenced to ten years in jail. The

song used noise from the street—traffic and sirens and voices—to bring the sounds of the city directly into the story. "Living for the City" was a number one hit on the R&B chart. So was "Higher Ground," another song from the album. In August 1973, just three days after Innervisions was released, Stevie was involved in a terrible car accident. On his way to a concert in North Carolina, a log fell off a truck and crashed through the windshield of the car in which Stevie was riding. It struck Stevie in the face. Stevie spent several days in a coma and nearly died. No one was sure if he would be able to sing, write, or play music again.

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