Oct 16th in Pop History
On this day, October 16th, in…
• 1976 - Stevie Wonder’s LP Songs In The Key Of Life hits # 1. By the end of 1975, Wonder seriously considered quitting the music business. After many years, he was worn out. Then came Songs In The Key Of Life. The album would come to be considered one of the greatest albums ever, ranking number 4 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Stevie Wonder has had ten US number-one hits on the pop charts, as well as 20 R&B number one hits, and has sold over 100 million records, 19.5 million of which are albums; he is one of the top 60 best-selling music artists with combined sales of singles and albums.
Songs in the Key of Life is the eighteenth studio album by Wonder, the gifted singer, songwriter and musician. It was released on September 28, 1976, by Tamla Records, a division of Motown. The double album has been regarded by music journalists as the culmination of Wonder's "classic period" of recording. The album was recorded primarily at Crystal Sound studio in Hollywood, with some sessions recorded in Sausalito, California, and some in New York City.
By 1974, Wonder was one of the most successful figures in popular music, with his two previous back to back albums having been critical successes. However, as previously mentioned, by the end of 1975 Stevie Wonder seriously considered quitting the music industry, and was considering moving to Ghana to work with handicapped children. Plans for a farewell concert had begun, but Wonder subsequently changed his mind and 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.
Songs in the Key of Life was released as a double album with a four-song bonus EP. It debuted at number one on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart. Debuted at number one! It was only the third album to achieve that feat and the first by an American artist at the time. Both the lead single I Wish and follow-up single Sir Duke reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Songs in the Key of Life spent thirteen consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the album with the most weeks at number one during the year. It was the second best-selling album of 1977 in the US. In 2005, the record was certified Diamond by the RIAA (translated: it sold more than 10 million copies)!
Songs in the Key of Life won Album of the Year at the 19th Grammy Awards. It is the best-selling and most critically acclaimed album of Wonder's career. It is widely regarded as his magnum opus, as well as one of the greatest albums in the history of recorded music.
Isn’t She Lovely • Stevie Wonder
(from Songs in the Key of Life)
The Best of Stevie Wonder
Live Concert at Hyde Park, London, 2016:
Also, on this day, October 16th, in…
• 1961 - Decca records released Crazy by Patsy Cline. The ballad, composed by Willie Nelson gave Cline a # 2 country hit in 1962. It spent 21 weeks on the chart for Cline, and eventually became her signature tune
• 1969 - Brian Wilson's (the Beach Boy) wife Marilyn gives birth to their 2nd child, Wendy. Along with Chynna Phillips and her older sister Carnie they later in the early 1990s form the group Wilson Phillips
Also, on this day in…
• 1972 - Creedence Clearwater Revival calls it quits, announcing in a press release: "We don't regard this as breaking up. We look at it as an expansion of our activities”
• 2001 - You gotta love this! Bob Dylan is turned away by security guards at his own concert at the Jackson County Exposition Center in Oregon because he doesn't have a credential. That’s a bad day at work for the security guards 😥
