Maps of Music

For Once in My Life (1968)

Where the lyrics of For Once in My Life take you, and where it was really made.

The title track of Stevie Wonder's album was written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden, not by Wonder, and it reached No. 2 on the Hot 100.

Key places

Recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. (1968)

Recording site Hitsville USA — The album was recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit, Michigan, the Motown studio where the label's hits were made. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• For Once in My Life: tenth studio album by Stevie Wonder
• Released November 1968 on Motown Records
• Made when Wonder was 18 years old
• Documents his growth as a vocalist and songwriter
• First album on which he shares credit as producer
• Four songs charted on the Hot 100
• Debut of the Hohner Clavinet on a Stevie Wonder album

Background

• Wonder had already established himself as one of Motown's consistent hit-makers
• Title track written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden, not by Wonder
• Other songs by outside writers include "Sunny" by Bobby Hebb and "God Bless the Child" by Arthur Herzog Jr. and Billie Holiday
• Twelve tracks, six on each side

Recording

• Recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit, Michigan
• Wonder plays vocals, harmonica, piano, organ, clavinet, drums and percussion
• The Originals and The Andantes provide backing vocals
• Earl Van Dyke plays piano on the title track
• James Jamerson on bass, Uriel Jones on drums, Robert White on guitar
• The Funk Brothers play all other instruments

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Stevland Hardaway Morris, known as Stevie Wonder, was born May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan, and became blind shortly after birth.
• He signed with Motown's Tamla label at age 11 in 1961, receiving the name Little Stevie Wonder.
• His single "Fingertips" topped the Billboard Hot 100 when he was 13, the youngest solo artist ever to do so.

Career

• Music of My Mind and Talking Book (1972) marked the start of his classic period, moving away from the Motown sound toward synthesizer- and keyboard-driven music.
• Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs in the Key of Life (1973–1976) won three consecutive Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, and he is the only artist to have done so.
• In the 1980s he campaigned to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday and scored several number-one hits, including "Ebony and Ivory" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You".
• He has sold more than 100 million records and won 25 Grammy Awards, the most by a male solo artist.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Four songs from the album reached the Hot 100 charts
• Title track "For Once in My Life" reached No. 2
• "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" reached No. 9
• "You Met Your Match" reached No. 35
• "I Don't Know Why" reached No. 39
• Modest hits compared with the two biggest singles

Records

• Hot 100 positions: No. 2, No. 9, No. 35 and No. 39 for the four charting songs
• Released in November 1968 as Wonder's tenth studio album
• Source gives no critics' reviews, so the entry records chart results only

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Wonder was 18 years old when the album came out, and he had already been one of Motown's steady hit-makers
• The album marked the debut of the Hohner Clavinet on a Stevie Wonder album, and the instrument later became a mainstay on his records
• "I'd Be a Fool Right Now" was remixed in 1977 for the Looking Back Anthology
• The title track was written by outside writers, Ron Miller and Orlando Murden
• Earl Van Dyke played piano on the title track, while the Funk Brothers played the other instruments

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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