8 Living Legend

CHAPTER 8 Living Legend In 2009, Stevie was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. "He has consistently used his voice and special relationship with the public to create a better and more inclusive world, to defend civil and human rights, and to improve the lives of those less fortunate," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Stevie Wonder is a true inspiration to young people all over the

world about what can be achieved despite any physical limitations." By then, Stevie was a friend to several world leaders. In the early 1990s, the president of Ghana invited Stevie to visit the West African country. In his six weeks there in 1993, Stevie wrote many of the songs that appeared on his album Conversation Peace. Stevie rejoiced at the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994 and, two years later, met Nelson Mandela, who had been elected the president of South Africa. In 1998, he performed for President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House.

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Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) Nelson Mandela was outspoken against apartheid, the official policy of racial segregation (separation) in South Africa that lasted from 1948 to 1994. For organizing against the unfairness of apartheid, Mandela spent twenty-seven years in jail. After his release in 1990, he helped negotiate with the South African government for the end of apartheid. Mandela then was elected president of South Africa, a position he held until 1999.

Stevie married again in 2001. His wife, Kai Millard, was a fashion designer. That marriage lasted eleven years. Stevie and Kai had two children together. In 2004 Stevie's brother Larry died of cancer. Two years later, Lula died at age seventy-six. Stevie was saddened, but kept on performing. "I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around," he said after Lula died.

Stevie continued to perform and was on the road again in 2014 and 2015 with his Songs in the Key of Life Tour. November 2016 was the fortieth anniversary of Stevie's most popular album. Many famous musicians, including Prince and Elton John, have stated that Songs in the Key of Life is one of the greatest albums ever made. "Stevie has a unique voice, and a unique soul that feeds that voice," Motown founder Berry Gordy once said. "Whenever he sings any song, it brings up the love, the soul, the feeling."