Child prodigy, studio pioneer, cultural force and one-man band – few artists have reshaped popular music quite like Stevie Wonder. In May 2026, a comprehensive 116-page special edition magazine from Record Collector was published. Expertly edited by Charles Donovan, it explores the many facets of this Michigan marvel’s life and career: from the 60s Motown pop hits to the extraordinary run of 70s albums that takes in the Music Of My Mind to Songs In The Key Of Life and much more.
I’m happy to report that I’ve written a four-page, three-and-a-half thousand word feature for the publication, entitled Another Star. It details some of the more coruscating collaborations across Stevie’s storied career. Some prolonged (his third cousins, the Jackson clan), some fleeting (Eurythmics) but always interesting. What follows are the first two entries, though mindful of not wishing to detract from the mag’s digital or print sales (deets at the very end of this article, natch) it’ll probably be a while before I get around to publishing the rest.
Let’s boogie on down as we survey the stars with Stevie…
Few musicians are as noted for their love of playing on other people’s records as Stevie Wonder… STEVE PAFFORD selects some of the legend’s most memorable creative partnerships myriad talents to innumerable titans of tune: a radio session with Jimi Hendrix here, a live thing with Bob Marley there. His joy in collaborating is such that he never seems to say no when anyone extends an invitation.
Indeed, sometimes when he hears that a friend is making a new album he simply calls and suggests himself.
THE BEACH BOYS
Now that’s what I call cash-in. Masterminded by Culture Club’s knob-twiddler Steve Levine, the Beach Boys’ eponymous 1985 album was rushed out to tie in with their Sanatogen-sponsored appearance at Live Aid, with its penultimate cut authored by one of the twin gig’s disappointing no-shows, Stevie himself.
On paper, a collision of the Detroit deity and the California crusties shouldn’t work but I Do Love You is all bright jazz harmonies and sweet harmonica over an endearing mid-tempo Motown rhythm, with Wonder providing all the instrumentation. Put it this way, it’s better than Kokomo.
DIONNE, ELTON & FRIENDS
Stevie’s been friends with this next band of cohorts for over half a century. Though, the odd live guest spot aside, it wasn’t until the 80s that he joined forces with Elton John, Dionne Warwick and Gladys Knight, his 60s labelmate, on record. Described as a “dress rehearsal for We Are The World” by the producer of both, Quincy Jones, Donna Summer’s all-star choir on 1982’s spiritual gem State Of Independence was where Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie, as authors of We Are The World, tested the ensemble idea with Warwick and Wonder, among others.
After a series of flops which included a cover of the Wonder-written Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever (a duet with Kiki Dee), in 1983 Reg struck back with I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues, a rollicking piano ballad ably assisted by Stevie’s trademark harmonica.
Shortly after their 3-track team-up on The Woman In Red, in 1985 Wonder and Warwick spearheaded a charity single with Elton and Gladys to benefit AIDS research. Billed as Dionne & Friends, That What Friends Are For was a Bacharach and Bayer-Sager ballad previously recorded by Rod Stewart. The fab four trade off in a series of mildly competitive yet oddly moving powerhouse vocals, turning a slight song into a huge hit. When it went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986, it would be the sixth single featuring Stevie to have gone to the top in either the US or UK in just 16 months.
Following cameos on the all-star Eddie Murphy track Yeah in 1993, there was a reunion of sorts on Elton’s Duets album the same year, with Stevie masterminding a new song, the so-so synth-funker Go On And On And On, for Reg and Glad to sing. In 1994, the portly piano player from Pinner was traded in for Ol’ Blue Eyes when Sinatra’s final album, Duets II, kicked off with a redo of For Once In My Life. It’s worth the price of admission just for the opening salvo of Stevie’s harmonica, before he announces the main vocalists in brilliantly commanding fashion with “Sing Frank and Gladys!”
After a musical contribution to 2001’s funky Dark Diamond, from Elt’s Songs From The West Coast album, it would be another 20 years before what was billed as the Wonder John’s “first true duet”, with the gorgeous gospel of The Finish Line a highpoint of the Brit’s 2021 album The Lockdown Sessions, a patchwork project that roped in everyone from Stevie Nicks and Dua Lipa to Gorillaz and Pet Shop Boys.
Steve Pafford
ORDER HERE: https://recordcollectormag.com/rc-specials/record-collector-presents-stevie-wonder
