Celebrating 50 Years of Songs in the Key of Life

The album that emptied Motown’s pockets and changed music forever.

In 1976, at the height of his creative power, Stevie Wonder received from Motown the biggest contract ever granted to an artist up to that point: $37 million, along with almost complete artistic freedom. He then entered the studio to create the biggest, most ambitious, and most expensive album of his career.

The result was Songs in the Key of Life: a groundbreaking double album that brought together soul, funk, jazz, and pop; love, childhood, politics, and entire lives; and gave the world classics such as “Sir Duke,” “I Wish,” “As,” and “Isn’t She Lovely.”

The album entered the Billboard chart straight at number one, remained there for 13 consecutive weeks, won the Grammy for Album of the Year, and is currently ranked fourth on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Now, precisely as Stevie Wonder himself returns to the stage with a special tour marking 50 years since the album’s release, we return to the story behind the creation: the unprecedented contract, the lengthy recording sessions, the dozens of musicians, and the vision of one man who sought to fit all of life into a single album.

A lecture by Doron Giat—musician, drummer, producer, and veteran lecturer—who will take us behind the scenes of the album and reveal the stories, recordings, and ideas that made it a masterpiece.

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