Stevie Wonder Performs Sketches of a Life

Singer, songwriter Stevie Wonder, the awardee of the second Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, premieres Sketches of a Life, a sprawling, hybrid popclassical concerto, written between 1976 and 1994. The work was unveiled through a commission for the Library of Congress in the Coolidge Auditorium. Speaker Biography: Born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1950, Stevie Wonder became blind shortly after birth. He learned to play the harmonica, piano and drums by age 9. By the time he was 10, his singing and other musical skills were known throughout his neighborhood, and when the family moved to Detroit, impressed adults made his talents known to the owners of Motown Records, who gave him a recording contract when he was age 12. His early hits included Fingertips, Uptight (Everything s All Right) For Once in My Life, My Cherie Amour, Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I m Yours, and If You Really Love He under