The genius of producer Barry Gordy was already at work. Wonder, a promising singer and harmonica player, was there to record a live version of "Fingertips" which had been recorded previously in the studio but was too long to release as a single. The live song, or rather its flip side "Fingertips-Pt. 2" would become the first live recording to make No. 1. That was the side on which the kid gets the groove going by shouting "Everybody say 'Yeah!', and during a reprise a musician can be heard yelling "What key? What key?"
It was the key of life for Stevie Wonder, who would have his first of eight No. 1 singles. Wonder and Wells could only have dreamed that day what might become of their careers. Did they even know at the time that they shared the same birthday?
Ritchie Valens (1941-1959): Singer
Donna, La Bamba
Mary Wells (1943-1992): Singer
My Guy, Two Lovers, You Beat Me to the Punch, The One Who Really Loves You
Danny Klein (1946): Bass, J. Geils Band
Give It to Me, One Last Kiss, Freeze-Frame, Centerfold, Land of a 1000 Dances
Overend Pete Watts (1947): Bass, Mott the Hoople
All the Young Dudes, Ballad of Mott, All the Way to Memphis, Saturday Gigs
Stevie Wonder (1950): Singer/songwriter
Fingertips (Pt. 2), Superstition, You Are the Sunshine of My Life, I Just Called to Say I Love You
Paul Thompson (1951): Drummer, Roxy Music, Concrete Blonde
Do the Strand, Editions of You, Street Life, All I Want is You, Out of the Blue, Joey
Marvin Gaye played drums on "Fingertips."
ReplyDeleteGotta love Stevie Wonder..... songs in the key of life, was the first album I ever bought by him..... all the rest of his songs were 45's, back then. I especially like his "Superstition" which I also have on my Ipod.
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