![]() He was a child of the civil rights movement.” So Stevie was someone who had a very evolved political consciousness. But even as an adolescent, he recorded a version of ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,’ the Bob Dylan song. “When King was assassinated, I believe he was about 18. Wonder came by his activism as “a product of the ’60s,” said George. “It’s not a political song that would scare people - it’s a political song that’s a singalong song,” said George. The music - a rubbery groove percolating with joyful gospel spirit - made the message hard to deny. It was a really nice thing to see Stevie leverage his cultural authority in pursuit of this.” Politics and social commentary had always been part of his music, so when he got involved in this it wasn’t out of character. He was without a doubt the preeminent black artist in America and arguably the preeminent music artist in America. “The thing that people probably don’t know who are younger now is how big Stevie was at that time. I was covering it because it was a music story Stevie,” said the author, filmmaker and culture critic. “I had just started work at Record World magazine. Alamy Stock Photoīrooklyn native Nelson George, 63, took the Amtrak train down from New York to DC to join the masses. Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King III - Wonder made his biggest statement when he sang “Happy Birthday.”Ĥ “Happy Birthday” debuted on Wonder’s 1980 album Hotter Than July. King was a champion for justice and liberty.”īut for many in attendance - including African-American stars such as Diana Ross, Gladys Knight and Gil Scott-Heron, as well as civil rights activists such as the Rev. Designating his birthday a national holiday would create an event for all Americans, for Dr. In his speech delivered that day, Wonder said, “We ought to have a way to honor this human being and reaffirm the ideals he lived and died for. More than 25,000 people descended upon the National Mall, marching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument in the quest for MLK Day. The song - with its jubilant “Happy birthday to ya!” chorus - has been sung at countless birthday celebrations in the 40 years since it was released as a single in 1981 after first appearing on Wonder’s 1980 album “Hotter Than July.”īut the R&B legend gave perhaps the most important performance of the tribute tune at a Washington, DC rally he spearheaded, which was held on King’s birthday, Jan. Reinventing the “Happy Birthday” song is kind of like reinventing the “ABC’s.”īut that’s exactly what the genius of Stevie Wonder accomplished with his “Happy Birthday” classic that became the anthem of the movement to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday. Martin Luther King Jr.: The best of America King’s impact on Black athletes during the Civil Rights Movementĭear Abby: None of my coworkers remembered my birthday and my manager made me cry single it charted on the R&B chart, and it became one of Wonder's biggest hits in the UK, reaching No.2 in the charts in August 1981.Dexter Scott King, son of Martin Luther King Jr., dead at 62 after battling prostate cancerĭr. ![]() Although the single failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100, probably due to it not being released as a U.S. Day, held the third Monday in January of each year, was held on January 20, 1986, and was commemorated with a large-scale concert, where Stevie Wonder was the headlining performer. The first official Martin Luther King, Jr. United States President Ronald Reagan approved the creation of the holiday, signing it into existence on November 2, 1983. Wonder used the song to popularize the campaign, and continued his fight for the holiday, holding the Rally for Peace Press Conference in 1981. King's dreams of integration and "love and unity for all of God's children". The holiday, he proposes, would facilitate the realization of Dr. King holiday, where "peace is celebrated throughout the world" and singing to King in the chorus, "Happy birthday to you". The song, one of many of Wonder's songs to feature the use of a keyboard synthesizer, features Wonder lamenting the fact that anyone would oppose the idea of a Dr. Besides being released as a single, the song also appears on Wonder's album Hotter Than July. become a national holiday, and created this single to make the cause known. Wonder, a social activist, was one of the main figures in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. " Happy Birthday" is a 1981 single written, produced and performed by Stevie Wonder for the Motown label.
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