Masterpiece alert!!!! 1976 Stevie Wonder released his eighteenth album Songs in the Key of Life. He was thinking of quitting the music industry but signed a new contract with Motown on August 5, 1975. This outlined a seven-year, seven-album, $37 million deal with full artistic control. At the time, it was the biggest recording deal in history.
It was the third album ever to debut at #1 and the first by an American act. The album won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
It produced two #1 singles on the Hot 100 and the Black Singles chart. "I Wish" (won the Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male) and "Sir Duke", followed by "Another Star" (#32 #18 #29 Club) and "As" (#36 on both charts.) "Isn't She Lovely" was never released as an official single, so no chart data, but a promotional version reached #23 on the Adult Contemporary charts.
The album also contains "Pasttime Paradise" which Coolio's cover "Gangsta's Paradise" was a smash, and "As" which George Michael and Mary J. Blige covered, it was a #57 R&B/Hip Hop song, but not released as a commercial single in America. (#4 in the UK.)
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