Happy Birthday (Stevie Wonder song)

"Happy Birthday" is a 1981 single written, produced, and performed by Stevie Wonder for the Motown label. Wonder, a social activist, was one of the main figures in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. become a national holiday, and created this single to make the cause known.^[1] Besides being released as a single, the song also appears on Wonder's album Hotter Than July.

Background

The song, one of many of Wonder's songs to feature the use of a keyboard synthesizer, features Wonder lamenting the fact that anyone would oppose the idea of a Dr. King holiday, where "peace is celebrated throughout the world" and singing to King in the chorus, "Happy birthday to you". The holiday, he proposes, would facilitate the realization of Dr. King's dreams of integration and "love and unity for all of God's children".

Wonder used the song to popularize the campaign, and continued his fight for the holiday, holding the Rally for Peace Press Conference in 1981. United States President Ronald Reagan approved the creation of the holiday, signing it into existence on November 2, 1983. The first official Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, held the third Monday in January of each year, was held on January 20, 1986, and was commemorated with a large-scale concert, where Stevie Wonder was the headlining performer.

Although the single failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100, it charted on the R&B chart, and it became one of Wonder's biggest hits in the UK, reaching No.2 in the charts in August 1981.^[2]

Wonder also performed this song at the Diamond Jubilee Concert in London for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.^[3]

Personnel

Stevie Wonder - Vocals, Synthesizer, Drums, Background Vocals, Arp, Keyboards, Bass Melodeon

References

↑ "MLK Day: Why on Monday and what was Stevie Wonder's role?". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
↑ Chartstats.com - "Happy Birthday" UK chart info
↑ "Stars perform at Diamond Jubilee concert". BBC News. 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2012-06-06.

External links

Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

Stevie Wonder

Studio albums	The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie Tribute to Uncle Ray With a Song in My Heart Stevie at the Beach Up-Tight Down to Earth I Was Made to Love Her Someday at Christmas Eivets Rednow For Once in My Life My Cherie Amour Signed, Sealed & Delivered Where I'm Coming From Music of My Mind Talking Book Innervisions Fulfillingness' First Finale Songs in the Key of Life Hotter than July In Square Circle Characters Conversation Peace A Time to Love Ten Billion Hearts When The World Began Lula

Live albums	Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius Stevie Wonder Live Live at the Talk of the Town Natural Wonder

Soundtracks	Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants" The Woman in Red Jungle Fever

Compilations	Looking Back Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I Song Review: A Greatest Hits Collection At the Close of a Century Ballad Collection The Definitive Collection 20th Century Masters The Complete Stevie Wonder

Top ten singles	"Fingertips - Part 2" "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" "Blowin' in the Wind" "A Place in the Sun" "I Was Made to Love Her" "I'm Wondering" "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" "For Once in My Life" "My Cherie Amour" "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" "Never Had a Dream Come True" "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" "Heaven Help Us All" "If You Really Love Me" "Superstition" "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" "Higher Ground" "Living for the City" "He's Misstra Know-It-All" "You Haven't Done Nothin'" "Boogie On Reggae Woman" "I Wish" "Sir Duke" "Send One Your Love" "Master Blaster (Jammin')" "I Ain't Gonna Stand for It" "Happy Birthday" "That Girl" "Do I Do" "Ebony and Ivory" "I Just Called to Say I Love You" "Love Light in Flight" "Part-Time Lover" "That's What Friends Are For" "Go Home"

Other singles	"Hey Harmonica Man" "I Don't Know Why" "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" "Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)" "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" "As" "Another Star" "Lately" "Ribbon in the Sky" "Overjoyed"

Other songs	"You and I (We Can Conquer the World)" "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" "They Won't Go When I Go" "Knocks Me Off My Feet" "Pastime Paradise" "Isn't She Lovely" "Black Man"

Collaborations	"Ebony and Ivory" "We Are the World" "Just Good Friends"

Related articles	Discography Lula Mae Hardaway Syreeta Wright KJLH Motown Soul music Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Wonderin' Wonder-ful

Book Category Commons Wikiquote

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Speeches, movements, and protests

Speeches	"Give Us the Ballot" (1957) "I Have a Dream" (1963) "How Long, Not Long" (1965) "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" (1967) "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)

Writings	Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (1958) The Measure of a Man (1959) "What Is Man?" "Second Emancipation Proclamation" Strength to Love (1963) Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963) Why We Can't Wait (1964) Conscience for Change (1967) Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)

Movements and protests	Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956) Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom (1957) Albany Movement (1961–1962) Birmingham campaign (1963) March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963) St. Augustine movement (1963–1964) Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) Chicago Freedom Movement (1966) Mississippi March Against Fear (1966) Anti-Vietnam War movement (1967) Memphis sanitation strike (1968) Poor People's Campaign (1968)

People

Family	Martin Luther King, Sr. (father) Alberta Williams King (mother) Christine King Farris (sister) A. D. King (brother) Coretta Scott King (wife) Yolanda King (daughter) Martin Luther King III (son) Dexter Scott King (son) Bernice King (daughter) Alveda King (niece)

Other leaders	Ralph Abernathy (colleague) Ella Baker (colleague) James Bevel (strategist / colleague) Dorothy Cotton (colleague) Jesse Jackson (protégé) Bernard Lafayette (colleague) James Lawson (colleague) John Lewis (colleague) Joseph Lowery (colleague) Benjamin Mays (mentor) Diane Nash (colleague) James Orange (colleague) Bayard Rustin (advisor) Fred Shuttlesworth (colleague) C. T. Vivian (colleague) Wyatt Walker (colleague) Hosea Williams (colleague) Andrew Young (colleague)

Assassination

James Earl Ray Lorraine Motel (now National Civil Rights Museum) Funeral MLK Records Act Riots Loyd Jowers trial

Media

Film	King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970 documentary) Our Friend, Martin (1999 animated) Boycott (2001 film) The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306 (2008 documentary) Alpha Man: The Brotherhood of MLK (2011 documentary) Selma (2014 film)

Television	King (1978 miniseries) "The First Store" (The Jeffersons episode, 1980) "Great X-Pectations" (A Different World episode, 1993) "The Promised Land" (New York Undercover episode, 1997) "Return of the King" (The Boondocks episode, 2006)

Plays	The Meeting (1987) The Mountaintop (2009) I Dream (2010) All the Way (2012)

Illustrated	Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story (1957 comic book)

Music	"Abraham, Martin and John" (Dion) "March! For Martin Luther King" (John Fahey) "Martin Luther King's Dream" (Strawbs) "Happy Birthday" (Stevie Wonder) "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (U2) "MLK" (U2) "King Holiday" (King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew) "By The Time I Get To Arizona" (Public Enemy) "Shed a Little Light" (James Taylor) "Up to the Mountain" (Patti Griffin) "Never Alone Martin" (Jason Upton) "Symphony Of Brotherhood" (Miri Ben-Ari) Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King (1995 album) "A Dream" (Common featuring Will.i.am) "Glory" (Common and John Legend)