August 10 – August 30, 1963

“Little” Stevie Wonder

Fingertips

What were you doing when you were 13?

As for myself, I was wallowing in self-pity in badly fitted and outdated clothes, and was petrified about what lay ahead me in high school.  I hate using the overused term “nervous wreck”, but that is precisely what I was.  

See, I am deeper than you thought!

Maybe, I’m not.

Let’s move on.

Like most of you, music was an escape, but I learned pretty early that while I can listen to a song and gauge with decent accuracy what influenced it, I knew I couldn’t play it.  I know for sure that if I was a child in 1963 and I saw “Little” Stevie Wonder on my television screen, I would wonder how did so much talent get into someone so young.  I am also wondering why the hell I can’t figure out how to play chopsticks on the piano. 

But I digress (again).

Born Stevland Hardaway Judkins in Saginaw, Michigan in 1950, was born six weeks early.  At the time of his birth, he had retinopathy of prematurity.  The doctors would place him in an incubator, but that would hasten the issues with his eyes, and he would become blind as an infant.

The Judkins family moved to Detroit, and their child, Stevland, showed an aptitude for music.  He would self-teach himself the drums, piano and harmonica before the age of 10 and he was a clear a musical prodigy on a level that nobody had seen in years.

Stevie would sing in the church choir and would perform anywhere he could.  At the age of 11, he was singing with his friends on the street corner and he caught the ear of Ronnie White, who was a member of the Miracles.  He would arrange an audition with Motown founder, Berry Gordy Jr., who knew he had something phenomenal on his hands.  Stevland Judkins was signed immediately.  “Little” Stevie Wonder was born.

The first output was an instrumental album, “The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie Wonder”, designed to showcase all of Wonder’s musical abilities.  It was followed with the natural follow-up, “Tribute to Uncle Ray”, which as the name suggests was an album of Ray Charles covers, who like Wonder was a multi-talented blind African-American.  His third album would be the one that placed him on the national stage, “Little Stevie Wonder the 12 Year Old Genius”, which might be the most appropriately named album of all time.

It was recorded live at the Regal Theatre in Chicago, and it notably had fellow future Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Marvin Gaye, playing the drums.  Released as a single, was “Fingertips”, an infectious and fun instrumental that featured Wonder’s harmonica abilities.  He would get national television spots where he performed it, and likeability was instantaneous.  That talent, that smile, that joy.  How could you not love him?

“Fingertips” made Stevie Wonder the youngest person to reach number one, which was broken by Michael Jackson of the Jackson 5 by the decade’s end, though he still holds the record for the youngest number one by a solo performer.

Had I been alive in 1963, the cynic in me would have thought that this would be the end of Stevie Wonder.  I would have thought how far could a blind harmonica master go in the modern music world?^[1]  As my wife likes to tell me (often), I would have been wrong.

I would like to think that many people in 1963 thought the same when prognosticating Wonder’s future.  With that one song, the wide breadth of Wonder’s skills was not on display.  The Songwriting, the voice, the other instruments he had mastered were not yet evident if you only knew him from this one song, and for a time, that is how much of America knew him.  Some people, viewed him as a curiosity, and you could easily think the fact that a blind black kid made it this far would be the pinnacle of his career.  Anyone, who would have listened to his album, “Little Stevie Wonder the 12 Year Old Genius”, or any of the other albums that he had already would have known better.

As it stands now, Wonder’s first number one hit likely isn’t even among his top twenty most known.  I could even argue that many people who claim to fans of Wonder may not even know this song at all.

We have a lot more of Stevie Wonder to come, but he won’t be “little” when we get there.

Other Notable Songs that charted but did not go to number one in this time period: August 10, 1963 – August 30, 1963.

8/10/63: Wipe Out by The Surfaris went to #2 and reached #10 on the R&B Chart.  

8/10/63: (You’re The) Devil in Disguise by Elvis Presley reached #3. 

8/17/63: Blowin’ in the Wind by Peter, Paul & Mary went to #2 but went to #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.  

8/24/63: More by Kai Winding went to #8 but would climb to #2 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.  

8/24/63: Denise by Randy & the Rainbows went to #10 and also hit #18 on the R&B Chart.  

8/24/63: I (Who Have Nothing) by Ben E. King hit #9, went to #16 on the R&B Chart, and also reached #10 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. 

8/24/63: These Foolish Things by James Brown reached #55, and went to #25 on the R*B Chart.  

^[1] I am painting that statement as if I only knew him from one song.  Remember, he didn’t sing in it, so initial listeners would not have any idea just how well he could do perform with his pipes.

August 3 – August 9, 1963

The Tymes

So Much in Love

There is so much I need to apologize for as I write this anthology.

No, I don’t mean at times where you might be offended by comments I make throughout.  If you got this far, then I expect that you know what you are getting into.

What I am referring to here is that when I am writing about this next song, I feel like I “have been, done that” with so many thoughts that are populating my synapses for this song.  The reason why I think that is obvious.  It is because I am repeating some tropes that I have used before, and some more that I will use many more times moving forward.

The first, is repeating the lens in which I view music.   I was born in 1972 and was raised in Canada, and this reflects every aspect on how I see pop culture.  I know that I have referenced Fast Times at Ridgemont High before, and I am going to do so again.^[1]  While I know I would have been nine years old when they film came out, its life on video cassette and cable reruns spoke to me, and I probably have seen this film fifty times.^[2]   It spoke to me as a pre-teen, a teen, a twenty-something, a thirty-something and now as a middle-aged man.  

Why do I bring this up?

Because, the first time I heard the song in question was a cover in Fast Times by former and future Eagles member, Timothy B. Schmidt. 

Seriously, just listen to that soundtrack and ask yourself if the whole thing does not have the Eagles all over it!

But as always, I digress.

I would learn later that Schmidt’s version was a cover of the Tymes #1 hit from 1963.  So now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to who the Tymes were.

Formed in 1956 in Philadelphia, the Tymes were originally called the Latineers, and were comprised of Donald Banks, Albert Berry, Norman Burnett and George Hilliard.  The quartet didn’t do much beyond playing clubs in Philly for four years and they would add George Williams in 1960, to front the group, thus making them a quintet.  A name change to the Tymes occurred, and they continued along, and would compete in a talent show sponsored by a local radio station.  That would lead to a local label, Cameo-Parkway signing them to a contract.

Williams penned “So Much In Love”, that would be reworked by Roy Stragis and their producer, Billy Jackson.  It was in the doo-wop form, was easy to hum along to, and was one of the sweetest sounding tunes of its day.

Like many groups in their day, and for that matter every “day” in music history, the first charting song for the Tymes was their biggest hit.^[3]  They had a second top-ten hit in 1963 with “Wonderful Wonderful” and their third song, “Somewhere”, would go to #19.  As far as solid chart success, this was it for the Tymes.  Sort of.

As with many doo-wop groups, the Tymes were rendered obsolete by the British Invasion.^[4]  This didn’t mean that they disbanded, as they would continue to record, though would embrace a more soulful sound.  This wasn’t doom and gloom for the Tymes as they were still able to tour and make a living throughout the rest of the 60s and early 70s, but a comeback for them was on the horizon, though not in the United States.

In 1974, the Tymes released a single called “Ms Grace” that only went to #91 in the United States and only #75 on the R&B Chart.  For whatever reason, this slow and soulful song would catch on in the United Kingdom and it went #1 in that musically influential nation.^[5]  It gave them a new lease on life, and another place to tour as long as some incarnation of their group existed.  This leads me to my final trope.

When you are an African-American group without charismatic (memorable) members, you can be interchangeable.  This would lead in the latter days to the band having members perform for them in concerts who were not there during their heyday, with many an audience member oblivious to that fact.  They would splinter and multiple versions would actually perform in the oldies circuit, but this was not exactly uncommon, hence why I called it a trope.

That’s it for this one.  I am sure we will replicate this series of tropes again,

And many others.

Other Notable Songs that charted but did not go to number one in this time period: August 3, 1963 – August 9, 1963.

8/3/63: Surfer Girl by The Beach Boys went to #7 and reached #18 on the R&B Chart.  

8/3/63: Detroit City by Bobby Bare reached #16 but climbed to #6 on the Country & Western Chart and to #4 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.  

8/3/63: Six Days n the Road by Dave Dudley went to #32 but went to #2 on the Country & Western Chart.  

^[1] I am sure I will do so again, and again.  

^[2] I have seen the Phoebe Cates pool scene 200 times.

^[3] Here is that second trope.

^[4] Here is another trope.

^[5] At some point, this makes me want to repeat this entire process for #1s in the U.K.

The son of the popular basketball player, Popeye Jones, Seth followed his father's footsteps to the arena, albeit on the ice instead of the hardwood.

Jones was highly coveted in the 2013 Draft, and the Predators landed him with the Fourth Overall Pick.  Jones made the team as a rookie, scoring 25 Points with an 11^th place finish in Calder voting.  He improved as expected in his second year, bringing his total to 27, but shoring up his weaknesses.  While Jones was a star on the rise, the Predators thought they needed to go in another direction, and they traded him straight up for Ryan Johansen in his third year.

Jones had 63 Points in 199 Games for Nashville.

Jordin Tootoo was not the most skilled hockey player, but he had toughness and grit, which allowed him to carve out a long career in the NHL, most of which were spent with the Predators.

Making history as the first player of Inuit descent to play in the NHL, Tootoo had four three-digit PIM seasons and scored 30 Points in 2011/12, his best in hockey.  Tootoo played his eight years for Nashville, joining Detroit as a Free Agent in 2012.

Tootoo would accumulate 125 Points for Nashville, but he is best known now for giving back to the Indigenous communities of Canada and his overall philanthropy.