September 28, 1976: Stevie Wonder Releases "Songs In the Key of Life"

September 28, 1976: Stevie Wonder releases Songs In the Key of Life on the Motown subsidiary Tamla Records. It is usually considered his greatest album.

And that's saying something. Since releasing The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, under the name "Little Stevie Wonder" (he was born in 1950 with the name Stevland Hardaway Judkins, but his legal name is Stevland Morris, for his mother's family) at the age of 12, with the Motown-billed nickname of "The 12-Year-Old Genius," he had a bunch of hit singles through the 1960s, and then moved on to making great albums, once he and Marvin Gaye were finally able to talk Motown boss Berry Gordy Jr. into letting them write and sing about social issues.

He released Where I'm Coming From in 1971, Music of My Mind and Talking Book in 1972, Innervisions (the title reflective of the fact that Stevie is blind) in 1973, and Fulfillingness' First Finale in 1974. The last 2 each won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

He wanted his next album to be a masterpiece, and took his time to get it right. For 1975, the Grammy for Album of the Year went to Still Crazy After All These Years by Paul Simon. Accepting the award, Simon thanked a few people, including, "I'd also like to thank Stevie Wonder, for not releasing an album this year." The line got more applause than laughter.

Through early 1976, Stevie would arrive in the recording studio wearing a T-shirt saying, "IT'S ALMOST FINISHED!" When Songs In the Key of Life was finished, it was everything he hoped it would be. The singles "I Wish" and "Sir Duke" hit Number 1 in early 1977. The latter was a tribute to jazz legends, name-checking, in order, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong (using his nickname, Satchmo), Duke Ellington ("the king of all, Sir Duke") and Ella Fitzgerald. It began with a line that could have been Stevie's motto: "Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand."

On February 2, 1975, while the album was in progress, Stevie's 1st child was born, a daughter named Aisha Morris. Her mother was Yolanda Simmons, a secretary at Motown. Stevie said of Aisha, "She was the one thing that I needed in my life and in my music for a long time." For her, Stevie wrote "Isn't She Lovely?", put her baby voice on the recording, and put the song on the album, and it also became a hit single.

As Paul Simon seemed to be predicting, Songs In the Key of Life, like its 2 immediate predecessors, won the Grammy for Album of the Year. In total, Stevie has won 22 Grammys. 

While he was one of the most productive performers of the 1960s, '70s and '80s, and continues to perform into the 2020s, his last 3 albums of new material have been the soundtrack to the film Jungle Fever in 1991, Conversation Peace in 1995, and A Time to Love in 2005.

It seems unfair to have expected Stevie Wonder to keep up the pace he set between the ages of 12 and 37 -- 23 albums in 25 years -- but, like his contemporary and fellow keyboard (and harmonica) player Billy Joel, he seems content with being just a touring act in the back half of his life. In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Stevie is currently married for the 3rd time, and has 9 children, with 5 different mothers. His daughter Aisha Morris has sung with him on recordings and tours, and his son Kailand Morris has drummed for him.

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September 28, 1976 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played on that day: 

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 7-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Butch Hobson and Jim Rice hit home runs, and Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Thurman Munson hit a home run, on his way to becoming the 1st (and still only) Yankee ever to win the American League's Rookie of the Year (in 1970) and its Most Valuable Player. The Yankees had clinched the AL Eastern Division title 4 days earlier. It was their 1st time finishing 1st since their 1964 Pennant.

* A doubleheader was split as Shea Stadium. The New York Mets won the opener, 5-4. Ed Kranepool went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs, in support of Nino Espinosa. The Montreal Expos won the nightcap, 4-2. Met manager Joe Frazier (definitely not to be confused with the boxer of the same name) didn't even put Kranepool in that game, ignoring his hot hand. Frazier would be fired early the next year, replaced by Joe Torre, who didn't play in the 1st game here, but went 0-for-3 with a walk in the 2nd game.

* The Baltimore Orioles swept a doubleheader from the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-5 and 7-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Bobby Grich won the opener with a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Wayne Garland pitched all 11 innings, advancing to 20-7 on the season. He then became a free agent, signing with the Cleveland Indians, but all the wear and tear on his shoulder ruined him.

Reggie Jackson, in his only season and last week with the Orioles, went 1-for-8 with a walk and 3 RBIs over the 2 games, including a homer in the nightcap. Brooks Robinson, 39 years old and in his last full season, went 1-for-5 in the opener, but didn't play in the nightcap. (He and Reggie have the same birthday: May 18.) For the Brewers, Robin Yount went 2-for-10 with an RBI. The soon-to-retire Hank Aaron did not enter either game.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* A doubleheader was split at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Detroit Tigers won the 1st game, 4-0. Mark Fidrych pitched a 5-hit shutout, extending his remarkable Rookie of the Year season to 18-9. The Cleveland Indians won the 2nd game, 6-1.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Gaylord Perry pitched a 6-hit shutout. Rod Carew got 1 of those hits. No word on whether Carew thought Perry had thrown him, or any of his teammates, a spitball.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Lou Brock went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4. Former Cardinal catcher Tim McCarver, now playing for the Phillies, went 3-for-4.

McCarver was catching because he was the "personal catcher" of Steve Carlton. In 1972, Carlton won 27 games for a Phils team that otherwise won only 32 games. When he was set to start, he would tell his teammates, "It's Win Day." He won 241 games for the Phillies, 329 overall, but this was not one of them: He fell to 19-7 on the season, but did get a 20th win.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). In a rare non-start for him, Pete Rose came into the game as a pinch-hitter, and went 1-for-2 with an RBI. Johnny Bench was put in left field, and went 0-for-4. Dave Winfield did not play for the Padres in this game.

The Reds went on to sweep the Phillies in the National League Championship Series and the Yankees in the World Series. Their 7-0 record remains the best in postseason history. Since the advent of the 3-tier Playoff setup in 1995, the best is the 11-1 of the 1999 Yankees.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. J.R. Richard pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 1-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Mike Torrez pitched a 2-hit shutout. George Brett did not get either of those hits. Hal McRae did. Brett (.333) would edge McRae (.332) and Carew (.331) for the AL batting title, and the Royals dethroned the 5-time defending AL Western Division Champion A's, before losing the World Series to the Yankees.

* And in a rare rainout in Anaheim, the California Angels were unable to play the Chicago White Sox. The game was never made up.