Not only did Stevie Wonder’s discography profoundly shape R&B, soul and the entire pop culture canon, he also created a blueprint for how musicians can leverage their influence for righteous causes. For Wonder, one of those causes was the fight for racial justice and the creation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
After a bill to create a federal holiday in honor of the civil rights leader failed in the House of Representatives in 1979, the King Foundation launched a campaign and recruited celebrities to energize the public. Wonder, by then a superstar with a dozen Grammys, was outspoken about racial equality in and outside of his music, and naturally lent his voice to the fight.
1980 saw the arrival of Wonder’s chart-topping album Hotter Than July, whose inner record sleeve featured a portrait of MLK along with photos of white police officers facing off against peaceful, Black protestors. He dedicated one of the album’s singles, “Happy Birthday” — now a staple at celebrations where Black folks are present — to King. Wonder’s hit supercharged the campaign, whose petition garnered six million signatures, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day finally became a national holiday in 1983.
On Jan. 13, during Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, a concert produced by Living Jazz at Oakland’s historic Paramount Theatre will honor the ways King’s and Wonder’s legacies have intertwined. Led by music director Kev Choice, an MC and classical pianist, In the Name of Love: Featuring the Music of Stevie Wonder brings together an eclectic group of musicians, including jazz bassist Aneesa Strings, genre-fusing multi-instrumentalist La Doña, singers PHER, Nona Brown and Rhonda Benin, and Choice himself. Awesöme Orchestra Collective and the Howard Wiley Band will accompany these artists in reimagined versions of Wonder’s beloved hits and deep cuts.
Choice, an educator and community organizer, says he’s long looked to Wonder for inspiration when it comes to using his art for a bigger purpose. “He’s always had that message in his music and used his voice,” says Choice. “There’s numerous recordings of him at concerts. He’ll literally stop a show and just go off talking about the importance of the issues that he’s representing in his music — of love, of seeing humanity, of equality, of anti-war, of racial justice.”
