Maps of Music

Signed, Sealed & Delivered (1970)

Where the lyrics of Signed, Sealed & Delivered take you, and where it was really made.

Wonder's first album with a heavy spotlight on his producer role also carried a Beatles cover that reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Key places

Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit (1970)

Recording site Hitsville USA — The recording location linked to this album is Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit. The point marks the building, not a studio room. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Signed, Sealed & Delivered: twelfth studio album by American recording artist Stevie Wonder
• Released August 7, 1970, by Tamla Records
• Four singles reached the Billboard Hot 100
• Wonder co-wrote seven of the album's twelve songs
• Album has twelve tracks split across two sides

Background

• Wonder's name had appeared in a shared production capacity on the 1968 album For Once in My Life
• This was the first album on which Wonder was heavily spotlighted for his producer role
• He personally produced two of the tracks and co-produced three others

Recording

• Recording location linked to Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit
• Lead vocals, harmonica, drums, percussion, piano, organ and clavinet by Wonder
• Backing vocals by The Andantes, The Third Generation and The Originals
• Bass by James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt; guitar by Dennis Coffey
• The Funk Brothers played 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

• Robert Christgau reviewed the album for The Village Voice in 1970, saying it has flawed moments
• Christgau placed the album eleventh on his 1970 year-end list for The Village Voice
• Christgau later called it the best soul album of the year
• Rolling Stone magazine's Vince Aletti said the album holds more creative singing than most performers' entire bodies of work
• Aletti felt not all songs match the energy of the title track, but the album has no bad song
• Aletti praised the cover of We Can Work It Out for its arrangement

Reappraisal

• In a retrospective review, Allmusic's Ron Wynn gave the album 5 out of 5 stars? No: three out of five stars
• Wynn noted Wonder's focus seemed more on social issues than commercial concerns
• Wynn found I Can't Let My Heaven Walk Away and Never Had a Dream Come True as intriguing as the hit title track

Records

• Four singles reached the Billboard Hot 100: Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours (No. 3), Heaven Help Us All (No. 9), Never Had a Dream Come True (No. 26), We Can Work It Out (No. 13)
• Album peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard Top LPs chart
• Album peaked at No. 7 on the R&B Albums chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Wonder's cover of the Beatles' We Can Work It Out reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100
• Track 1 was produced by Henry Cosby, while Tracks 2 and 3 were produced by Stevie Wonder
• Track 4 was produced by Ron Miller and Tom Baird
• Eddie Willis played sitar on side one, track three
• Richard 'Pistol' Allen played drums on the album
• Wonder co-wrote seven of the twelve songs

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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