Stevie Wonder "That Girl"

A Greatest Hits album isn't complete without a couple new tracks, right? In the case of Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I, the 11 greatest hits came with four newcomers including "That Girl".

Stevie Wonder "Go Home"

Speaking of Stevie Wonder, he managed to top both the Dance and Adult Contemporary Charts with "Go Home". His mid-tempo synth-laden tune took its sweet time to become a hit. Originally recorded in 1984, Stevie actually performed the song on Saturday Day Night Live a year prior.  It was released in 1985 and turned into a #1 song in 1986.

Bruce Springsteen "My Hometown"

Bruce Springsteen ruled the Adult Contemporary Chart just one time. It happened the week of February 1, 1986 when his tender "My Hometown" ironically knocked "Go Home" from Stevie Wonder from the top spot.

Julio Iglesias & Stevie Wonder "My Love"

A handful of celebrities appeared on The Golden Girls as themselves. Notably, Burt Reynolds appeared as himself as did singer Julio Iglesias. About a year after charting the duet "My Love" with Stevie Wonder, Julio played himself in the episode Valentines Day. Throughout that particular show, Sophia (Estelle Getty) claimed to have a date for the infamous Hallmark holiday while the rest of the girls sat around the kitchen table sharing exploits from past Valentine's Days. Finally, at the end of the episode, Sophia's date entered and he turned out to be Iglesias.

Celine Dion & Clive Griffin "When I Fall in Love"

This July marks the 25th anniversary of the romantic comedy "Sleepless in Seattle" that centers on a boy who urges his widowed father to phone into a local radio show to talk about how much he misses his wife. The movie's soundtrack featured an updated version of the ballad "When I Fall in Love". Originally, Celine Dion was to sing alongside Stevie Wonder in the song--but the role later went to British pop singer Clive Griffin.

Stevie Wonder "If You Really Love Me"

"You'll never guess who called me on the request line tonight," Robin, the station's overnight host, asked me as I walked into the studio.

Still half-asleep, I replied, "Who?"

"STEVIE WONDER!" 

"Wait. Stevie Wonder called....here?"

"YES! I mean, I think it was him. Someone dialed the phone for him and told me to hang on because someone wanted to talk to me. So, I did, and then Stevie Wonder got on the phone and told me he was listening to the station and really liked the music," Robin explained.

Most radio stations use a computer program called VoxPro to record and edit phone conversations.  At some point during Robin's conversation with Stevie, she pressed "Record" on VoxPro. At some point during the long conversation, 1998 technology reared its ugly head and the computer crashed. Instead of a recorded conversation with one of the biggest musicians in the world, Robin simply had this ominous symbol:

She asked if I knew how to salvage the audio from our vintage Mac computer. I tried every trick I knew without any luck. The next weekend, Robin revealed that our IT department couldn't recover her conversation with Stevie.

Elton John "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues"

FUN FACT:

Stevie Wonder gets credited for appearing on Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues"not for his voice, but for his harmonica work. 

Stevie Wonder "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"

Stevie Wonder gets all the credit for "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", yet his voice is actually the third you hear in the love song. Jim Gilstrap sings the first two lines of the song followed by Lani Groves on the next two. Then, around 45 seconds into the song (which is barely three minutes in length), we finally hear from Stevie. The song soared to #1 on the Hot 100 and Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary Charts in 1973.

Dionne Warwick & Friends - "That's What Friends Are For"

Here is a short list of Dionne Warwick's friends: Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John.  That aside, when a throw-down happens among songs about Friends, I much prefer the theme song to The Golden Girls.

Stevie Wonder - "Part Time Lover"

It's a shame that I used to judge Stevie Wonder's career simply by the two songs I was exposed to as a kid: "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and "Part Time Lover".  Those songs represented his 1980s pop/adult contemporary phase whereas his earlier work represented combined funk, soul, and Motown influences that artists have been sampling ever since.