RICHARD DYERS STAR THEORY

Stevie Wonder

STARS AS CONSTRUCTIONS
Stevie Wonder is a Motown musician who was born blind due to premature birth. His original birth name is Stevland Hardaway Morris but is known by his stage name which he constructed when he was 12. Due to his circumstances he has no opinion on how he looks because he has never actually seen himself. Therefore once he reached such high acclaim he had to rely on others to help him create an aesthetic image for himself, so to a degree he is constructed but it is out of necessity and not choice, which makes him a unique individual and also gives companies trying to market him a USP. However unlike most Pop stars of the current era Wonders real opinions are expressed as he isnt limited by a company telling him what he should and shouldnt be saying. A reason for this could be that the genre of music he works in doesnt have an image to uphold and its more about the music than the image of the artists.

INDUSTRY AND AUDIENCE

Although Stevie Wonder has had numerous number 1 hits such as Superstition, I Just Called to Say I Love You and Fingertips Pt2 and multiple Grammy awards in categories like Best R&B vocal performance, Male and Album of the year he has never just wrote music that is safe and what the record labels think the mass audience want. The care he takes in his music can be seen with the list of other artists he has worked with; the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John and Michael Jackson. Due to Wonders acclaimed career he appeals to everyone and is one of the most recognised Motown artists of all time and has therefore played countless different venues for countless different occasions.

IDEOLOGY AND CULTURE

A personal philosophy that Wonder holds is that it doesnt matter what your faith, belief, creed, race, age, ethnicity or gender is you can still make or listen to the music that you want to because he cant even see you, only hear you. He also believes that everyone is of an equal status to everyone else Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes, doesnt mean he lacks vision. The opinions expressed by Wonder are more personally moral than anything else so it would be an individuals decision if they agreed with what he was saying which means he isnt trying to appear false and appeal to a target audience.

CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY

Around the time Wonder was emerging as a musician there was still a racial gap in all aspects of society, not just music and he opposed it by saying he didnt care about the colour of your skin because he couldnt see it, which would go against social conventions at the time. I think Stevie Wonder has been around for so many years because he is a true musician and speaks what he believes in and doesnt act in a false manner to achieve the fan base that he has, which a percentage of modern pop musicians could considered to be.