American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder was born on 13 May 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan in the United States of America.
Wonder is the son of Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. His five brothers and sisters are Calvin Hardaway, Larry Judkins Hardaway, Milton Hardaway, Renee Hardaway and Timothy Hardaway.
Wonder was born six weeks prematurely. This, combined with the oxygen-rich environment of the hospital incubator, caused him to develop retinopathy of prematurity, a condition in which the development of the eyes is stunted and the retinas detach, leaving him blind.
When Wonder was four years old, his mother filed for divorce from his father and moved to Detroit, Michigan, where Wonder joined the Whitestone Baptist Church choir as a young child.
She later rekindled her relationship with the father of her first child, whose surname also happened to be Hardaway, and changed her name back to Lula Hardaway. She went on to have two more children.
Stevie’s surname was legally changed to Morris when he joined Motown in 1961; according to Lula Mae Hardaway’s authorised biography, this was an old family name. Little Stevie Wonder was the stage name invented by Berry Gordy.
He started playing piano, harmonica and drums at a young age. Together with a mate, he formed the singing duo Stevie and John. They regularly performed at events such as dances, parties and on street corners.
Wonder attended Fitzgerald Elementary School in Detroit when he was younger. His debut album, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, was released in 1962, and he soon enrolled at the Michigan School for the Blind in Lansing, Michigan.
Stevie Wonder Children
Wonder has been blessed with nine children, fathered by several women throughout his life.