This is an Action Project for my core class Journalism. This unit we focused all on voices and how they can impact people. For this Action Project, we were tasked with finding an influential voice that has affected people in history. I paired up with a partner and together we decided to research and talk about a voice that has been very influential in our past. Together we chose Stevie Wonder. The blind male solo artist who raised millions of dollars for charities around the globe. Stevie Wonder has changed the music industry in such a positive way that it has affected many generations. It is a voice that has affected the world in the way that people will remember Stevie Wonders voice easily. Stevie's voice has targeted a lot of people in the African American community. His happy birthday cover alone influenced millions of homes across the world and it is being sung everywhere I go. His voice has not only influenced me and the way that I live, but also millions of people on the planet.
[00:20] - CJH
Stevie Wonder's voice has a huge impact. Like, it's one of those voices that you can recognize immediately.
[00:27] - HP
You hear them everywhere in every, like, halfway, like, large thing. Like in the past couple of decades, you'll probably see his voice somewhere represented by elements of it or something.
[00:41] - CJH
Absolutely. I definitely grew up listening to Steve Wonder a lot. Like it's just in my household. His voice is just extremely impactful in the way that you can listen to his music and memorize the words easily. Another great thing is that he's blind and the fact that he's able to play piano and sing that well while blind. That's one of the things that amazed me.
[01:07] - HP
Yeah, I know. Like, playing while singing is something so difficult and then adding on not being able to see the keyboard and then add on to this, like, it's complex, harmonization, all these complex ideas he's pulling from jazz, funk, gospel, bebop.
[01:26] - CJH
Some could quite literally say he created a whole new genre, especially for him. He was definitely one of the reasons why I got into music because I'm like, Well, if a blind man can do it and be that good at it, then. I absolutely think I could learn guitar or play piano or do all this other cool stuff.
[01:45] - HP
His voice has got special ability to be able to endure. Like you said, the reason why I heard about Stevie Wonder is because my dad loves. My dad was in his twenties and 70s. That's the range when he got really popular. So of course, my dad still plays a lot of his music and just came over to me. And I feel like a lot of people, especially African American communities, have had that extra recycling of his music.
[02:14] - CDH
Absolutely. Definitely. We actually have one of his records hanging up on our wall. Basically, it's like in our windowsill. I don't know, man. It's crazy. How, like, I barely hear him now, but I still know all of the lyrics to, like, Superstition, Isn't too lovely. There's a lot.
[02:43] - HP
Such a clever man, especially considering, like, he started off, like, the reason why got so good is that he started off, like, so young, like, you're starting to play piano, I think at four-ish, whereas I can say, like, party level sort of stuff he's still putting out.
[03:01] - CJH
I think he actually just started not really an album, but he featured on a song with what's his name. I'm forgetting his name. That's so annoying. It starts with an e.
[03:20] - HP
Yes. I have no idea.
[03:22] - CJH
Whoever sang Rocket Man.
[03:24] - HP
Elton John!
[25.11] - CJH
Elton John! Thank you. Elton John is coming out with a new album, and Stevie Wonder is actually featuring on one of his songs, and I listened to it. It is so good, man.Like, he still has it.
[03:37] - CJH
It's been years.
[03:38] - HP
He's one of those relics of the past that I feel like he's going to be still listening to for really long, especially in jazz. I know. He sort of reached this golden standard of, like, all this music is just amazing complex in here at one time, you know, everything about it. But at the same time, you have all these complex ideas going on.
[03:59] - CJH
Absolutely. Absolutely.
(Living for the City plays)
[04:03] - HP
So Stevie Wonder, he's not only using his voice, represent his ideas, but he's also using it to his voice to act as the face or the mouth of movements.He's taken the time to represent these massive ideas held by many people, like, sort of help given anthem and help rally people together into one big community instead of a bunch of people working towards the same, just happening to work towards the same goal, like supporting stuff like disabilities, AIDS, cancer. Those are grand things that, like, threaten us all, something that I have to respect him for.
[05:09] - CJH
Absolutely. He's written, produced and performed songs for these charities. So, like, disability, AIDS, cancer. Like you were saying, so the fact that he's able to come up with new songs for these specific type of charities and still put them out and they're still, like, amazing.
[05:32] - CJH
He's earned probably, like, millions of dollars for these charities. It's just crazy to see honestly.
[05:42] - HP
One of those people are really good. And we're just, like, a one hit Wonder or Fluke. So he keeps enduring as obvious as, like, the reason why he has his activism is because he's, like, born blind, so he knows. And I guess that tenderness is in his heart for people that just got a bad hand.
[06:01] - CJH
In 2009, he was actually designated a messenger of peace with a focus on people with disabilities. So he would advocate for the adoption of people with blind or visually impaired disability. So you can definitely see him taking his disability and just turning into something amazing and just advocating for other people who have the same disability. So he's made a huge impact on.the entire community
(Superstition plays)
[07:08] - CJH
Steve, I wonder. He's worked with a lot of collaboration, like, he's had a lot of collaborations over the years.
[07:14] - HP
True. He's, like, sort of, like, work with, like, all the Kings of whatever. Exactly. Like Michael Jackson, King of Pop, Jimmy Hendrix. Some of those big names stick around.
[07:24] - CJH
Gladys Night, Bruce Springsteen. Yeah, there's a lot then.
[07:32] - HP
I mean, he's one of those men that earned being at the very top, the Hall of Fame and all that.
[07:40] - CJH
1989 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's crazy.
[07:45] - HP
Like rounding that out with being the winningest, person that received Grammy, I guess.
[07:51] - CJH
The most amount of Grammys, one for a male solo artist. 22 Grammys
[07:59] - HP
impressive. Like, track record
[08:01] - CJH
22! That's insane!
[08:03] - HP
And he's still going, he's still making music, like he mentioned, I was in Elton John, and, like, what is the thing that he did about representing something? It's like some sort of event that you did recently, but,
[08:23] - CJH
You're talking about he's joining Global System Stage to headline the Global Citizen Live concert.
[08:31] - HP
He's still not afraid to use his voice.
[08:39] - CJH
He's playing to be part of the recovery plan for the World campaign. So it's to defend the plan and defeat poverty. Yeah, but, yeah, like he said, he's still using his voice, like, as much as he can to advocate for a lot of different. I'm forgetting the word. He's using a lot of his voice to just influence the world and to make it a better place, trying to use his life to affect people in a positive way.
[09:18] - HP
Like one of those best things. I'm like with a lot of older men, famous men. It's not like one of those last things to make a legacy, like last second. And it actually feels like it's coming from, like, a genuine place of wanting to make the world a better place instead of just like last second. Improve the world a bit. Get your name on the textbooks or whatever.
[09:41] - CJH
Definitely.
[09:42] - HP
Like with him backing MLK day.
[09:49] - CJH
Yeah, when, when Martin Luther King was shot, he flew down to his funeral, like immediately
and after that, he spent the next couple years trying to like, turn, Martin Luther King Jr. 's birthday into a national holiday. So he's been a huge advocate for that. And he created a song Happy Birthday.He didn't create the Happy Birthday song, but he created a version of it that has been, like reused throughout. Like until today, actually.
[10:21] - HP
Yeah, it's like one of those like, that sort of like, you hear it every in a lot of places. But like, you don't know what's from him. Like one of those like super impressive, like, weird, crazy things that you learned, like, that makes sense.
[10:33] - CJH
Yeah, absolutely. Like, before I actually heard that he made it. Like when I first started, like, really? I mean, I've heard that everywhere. And I had no no idea that it was Stevie Wonder.
[10:45] - HP
I mean, but like after you're hurt after you get told that it's like sort of like, it's his style. It's obvious. The second we get told that absolutely.
[10:58] - CJH
closing statements?
[11:03] - HP
I guess, in summary, he's an important man, the world would different without him.
[11:06] CJH
Absolutely. Very influential voice. Yeah, thank you for listening. And we'll see you next time.
(Sir Duke plays)
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