The 20th of February 1972
Official U.K. Albums Chart results from Sunday the 20th to Saturday the 26th of February 1972
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 19th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 20th,
announced on Tuesday the 22nd,
and broadcast on B.B.C. Radio 1 on Sunday the 27th of February 1972.
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2
At No.50 on the The Top 50 U.K. Albums Chart on the day I was born is Stevie Wonder with “Stevie Wonder’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2”.
And so we start on the UK Top 50 Album Chart Run-Down…
…(as it was back then) for the 20th of February 1972.
Now, the Album chart is a different beast compared to the Singles Chart.
Both act like the way they are played.
A single will stay on the chart for a number of weeks whereas a Long Player can stick around for a matter of months, and in some cases years, or even decades.
Saying all that, the first Album we come to, a collection of hits, ended up acting like the former and only spent a few weeks in the chart.
Stevie’s 2nd Greatest Hits collection…
…had entered the chart on the 6th of February 1972 and spent it’s first week at it’s highest position of No.30.
With most musical artists who have had some degree of success, releasing just one greatest hits collection would be the culmination of 10 years of creative achievement.
Not so for Stevie, who had attained so much success, that Motown had to release a second compilation, only 3 years after the first had hit the shops.
So to put that into perspective, that’s 2 greatest hits sets, with no fillers, no repeats, and all by the time he was barely out of his teens.
There was also another reason why the time felt right for this second round-up, and it wasn’t just because it culminated his career into a nice rounded number of 10 years. There was another purpose, for which I will get to further down.
Stevie,..
…who was named Stevland Hardaway-Judkins (after his mother and father respectively), would grow up in the cultural atmosphere of Detroit, Michigan, from the age of 4, after his mother moved her young family 100 miles south from Saginaw, after divorcing Stevie’s father (although unlike what Paul Simon would soon do, I don’t think they hitchhiked).
From a vey early age, the musical talent was evident within young Stevland, either from playing a piano, harmonica, drums, or his singing ability.
By the time his world had completed 11 laps around the sun, he’d been discovered by Ronnie White, co-founder of the ‘Miracles’ (and who provided the distinctive baritone voice for that group), who invited him over to meet the boss of Motown records.
It was clear, after Stevie auditioned for Motown founder Berry Gordy, that they had a child prodigy in their presence, and so Berry promptly set about getting him a contract, paying him and his mother for any expenses, and also funding his private education.
Due to his age, his contract began as a rolling 5 year contract, and any royalties he would accumulate would go into a trust fund, which would mature when he reached 21.
So impressed was he with this 11 year-old, that Berry decided to call him ‘Little Stevie Wonder’.
In that first year,..
…with the assistance of producer and songwriter Clarence Paul, he recorded two albums. The first of them in a homage to the great Ray Charles was titled ‘A Tribute To Uncle Ray’, which included one of his first recorded compositions, a joint effort with Clarence, titled “Sunset” (in which Stevie is songwriter credited in brackets as S. Judkins).
The second album he recorded…
…was an instrumental set entitled ‘The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie’, which he again contributed a couple of his own arrangements, again with Clarence. One of those, not only highlighted his piano and percussive skills, but also his harmonica playing, which was named (for want of a better title) “Session Number 112”.
By the time he became 12 years old,..
…Berry had written him a song that would become his first single release, which had the long title of “I Call It Pretty Music, But The Old People Call It The Blues”.
It missed the ‘Billboard’ chart by one place.
As Stevie entered his teenage years,..
…Berry was confident that Stevie was ready to go on a small Motown package tour, which would display ‘Little Stevie’s talent first hand to an appreciative crowd.
He became such a big hit with the audiences, that on one occasion at the Regal Theatre in Chicago, he was welcomed back onstage for an unexpected encore and began playing his harmonica, which caught out the bass player unawares, who is heard to ask loudly which key it was in.
Taped for prosperity, Berry, upon hearing the recording, decided split the song in half, and issue it over both sides, as Stevie’s next single.
It became his first American No.1, which also made Stevie the youngest recording artist ever to top the ‘Billboard 100 Singles Chart’ in the U.S.A.
In the U.K.,.
…although that single was released over here, it went virtually unnoticed, and failed to chart.
It was also around this time that Stevie’s young voice began to break, leading to some powerful figures in the Motown house to consider if it was time to ditch Berry’s little Wonder’s contract.
In the meantime, they decidd to feature him in a couple of films directed at the beach-party teen market.
Cooler heads eventually prevailed,..
…and Stevie was able to retain his contract, and justifiably so, as he was to achieve his biggest hit yet, near the end of his first 5 years.
Stevie (now 15), would score a U.K. Chart hit with the song he co-wrote called “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” in February 1966. A year which would see him turn 16 in the summer.
The song had been inspired by hearing the Rolling Stones’ perform “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” when he’d accompanied the group as a support act during part of their American Tour.
With his contract safely renewed,..
…he also began integrating into the songwriting department, where he composed the music which would eventually become “Tears of a Clown”.
He presented it to Smokey Robinson at their Christmas party, and wondered if he could put any words to it.
Smokey loved the motif which sounded like an old steam fair pipe organ, which gave him the idea of a circus, eventually leading to clowns. Especially the type which featured in the Ruggero Leoncavallo Italian opera ‘Pagliacci’ (hence the mention of it in the lyric he wrote).
Another project,..
…which Stevie administered, was releasing an instrumental album under the pseudonym Eivets Rednow (Stevie Wonder spelled backwards), including a released Bert Bacharach composed tune, from the film of the same name, “Alfie”.
Along with his impressive playing of the harmonica,..
…Stevie also visited Europe, where he took part in the Sanremo Music Festival, where he sang in Italian.
And back home, he’d also show his drumming prowess,..
…at the Harlem Cultural Festival, which would feature in the film ‘Summer of Soul’ many years later.
It would be after Stevie’s 18th birthday…
…when his first ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation released in the U.K. and subsequently gave him his first Album Chart attendance here. Spending 10 weeks on chart in total, and getting up to No.25.
By the time it gets to this 2nd collection of hits,..
…only 3 more years had passed. However, this would now be a watershed moment in Stevie’s life.
It had been 10 years since 11 year old Stevland had first walked into Motown and had been given that first 5-year rolling contract.
Stevie had reached the age of 21, was now legally entitled to collect the royalties which had accumulated, and which were showcased on, these two Greatest Hits albums.
He had also now come to the end of his second 5 year contract, had recently got married, and was now looking to renegotiate new terms which would give him the artistic freedom he now desired.
To Stevie Wonder, this wasn’t just a second collection of hits, this was the end of a defining chapter in, not only his music and his life, but also in Motown’s legacy.
Included on this new collection…
…was a new single, which preceded the album’s release. A collaboration with his new wife Syreeta.
After the album’s first U.K. Album Chart appearance a few weeks later in early February, it would slip back from No.30 to No.39, before teetering on the edge of the chart for this week when I turn up in the world.
However, a final surge will bring it back up to No.37 next week, before it finally leaves after the 4th of March, only achieving 4 weeks in total.
For most artists, this collection, let alone the one which came before it, would have summed up their whole musical career, which they would quite happily have lived off into retirement.
Not so for Stevie.
This would be a precursor of much greater things to come, as has often happened since, with other artists releasing a Greatest Hits compilation before accomplishing their greatest achievements.
Stevie was to be no exception to that elite collective.
As I mentioned earlier, this was a watershed moment for him, and he was more than ready for it.
Motown’s first child superstar was now all grown up, ready to leave the nest at Hitsville, and soar into a very big blue east coast sky.
Side 1
Side 2
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