• Janet Gioffre Harrington
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Stevie Wonder

Hi yas. Here's my latest , and a little history lesson to go along with it. Stevie Wonder (born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950, name later changed to Stevland Hardaway Morris), is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. A prominent figure of 20th century popular music, Wonder has recorded more than thirty top ten hits, won twenty-two Grammy Awards (a record for a solo artist), plus one for lifetime achievement, won an Academy Award for Best Song and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame. Opera star Luciano Pavarotti once referred to him in a concert as a "great, great musical genius".[citation needed] Blind from infancy, Wonder signed with Motown Records as a pre-adolescent at age twelve, and continues to perform and record for the label to this day. He has nine U.S. number-one hits to his name and album sales totaling more than 100 million units. Wonder has recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles, and writes and produces songs for many of his labelmates and outside artists as well. A multi-instrumentalist, Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bongos, bass guitar, organ, melodica, and clavinet. In his early career, he was best known for his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills. Stevland Judkins was born prematurely in Saginaw, Michigan to Lula Mae Hardaway on May 13, 1950. It is thought that he received excessive oxygen in his incubator which led to retinopathy of prematurity, a destructive ocular disorder affecting the retina, characterized by abnormal growth of blood vessels, scarring, and sometimes retinal detachment. Mrs. Hardaway instructed her other children (there would eventually be four boys and one girl in the home) to treat Stevland the same as any other child, and not to tease or over-assist him because of his blindness. The family moved to Detroit, Michigan and Stevland began singing and playing instruments in church at an early age. He took to the piano, congas, and harmonica in particular. He was educated at the Michigan School for the Blind in Lansing, Michigan where he was trained in classical piano. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Wonder

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Anonymous Guest

bobby haynes 13 Jun 2008

Your pencils are just MARVELOUS! I love your style! Great work!

Artist Reply: hey, Bobby. Thanks so much for taking the "tour" around my drawings. 'ppreciate the comments, and the compliments~ Janet

HOWARD GENTRY 12 Apr 2008

great work

lynda Mangoro 08 Dec 2007

Amazing, I love your work.

walt larsen 03 Nov 2007

awesome work of art, wow

Jean M. Laffitau 01 Nov 2007

The master of portraits strikes again!!! Your pencil works are so full of life an soul, MAGICAL!!!!