VANCOUVER — Stevie Wonder had a dream. A dream that felt so real, had such an impact, it sent him back on the road to tour – something he had decided to stop for a while, following the death of his mother in May, 2006. But it was his mother, speaking to him in the dream, that changed his mind.
It was one of those dreams where you think you're awake, but you're not. One of his assistants called him to the phone, insistent that he take the call. When Wonder finally did, he heard his mother's voice on the other end. “I started jumping around the room and like almost flying around the room saying, ‘Mom,' ” Wonder told reporters during a recent telephone press conference.
“I said ‘Well, where are you? Can I come over?' ” She said no, and told him that she just wanted to know how he thought she sounded, and she told him she was fine.
This woke Wonder up, but when he fell back asleep, the dream continued. This time his mother was telling him that he shouldn't stop performing.
“That really made me feel as if she was saying to me through the dream, ‘You have to continue on with the gift that God has given you of music, of song and you can't stop.' ” So Wonder uncancelled a performance he'd called off for Hawaii and planned the tour that will take him to Vancouver this Saturday, his only Canadian stop.
“I – from that [Hawaiian] performance – decided that I wanted to go throughout the country ... thanking everyone just for ... allowing me through the success of my music, making it possible for me to have been able to give my mother a far better life than probably she would have had, as well as my children and family.”
Family figures prominently on this tour, with an entourage that includes his daughter Aisha Morris and his brother Milton.
Touring extensively for the first time in years at the age of 58, Wonder is more concerned with travelling in comfort than in style – right down to his footwear. “I take my Crocs with me everywhere I go.”
And he is promising a set list that will include some of his biggest hits – My Cherie Amour, Superstition and tracks from Songs in the Key of Life ( Sir Duke, I Wish, Isn't She Lovely).
There's certainly a wealth of material to choose from. Wonder, who was born Steveland Judkins in Saginaw, Mich., in 1950, has a long list of recordings and accolades, including 22 Grammy Awards (plus a lifetime-achievement Grammy), an Academy Award and inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2004 he received the Billboard Century Award. His most recent studio album, A Time to Love, came out in 2005 and a best-of album ( Number Ones) came out last year.
This is not a farewell tour, he stresses, and he is continuing to work on projects and create music. He has two recordings in development: Gospel Inspired by Lula (also referred to as The Gospel Inspired by Lula) – a tribute to his mother, Lula Mae Hardaway, and Through the Eyes of Wonder – a project meant to show sighted people how he sees the world.
He is also looking at recording an album with Tony Bennett, to be produced by Quincy Jones. He'd like to do something in Arabic as well.
Touring, he says is good inspiration for writing, something he'll need with so many projects in the works. “There's something [about] being on the road and travelling from place to place and meeting different people,” he said.
Beyond music, politics looms large in Wonder's life these days as well. The widely reported inclusion of his music on Barack Obama's iPod and the naming of Wonder by Obama as his “musical hero” was perhaps not a surprise (Wonder is an Obama supporter who spoke at a rally for the now presumptive Democratic presidential nominee earlier this year). The cross-promotion is likely to continue. Wonder says that, should the opportunity arise, he will use the stage to discuss the presidential election and his political preference.
Beyond personal endorsements, Wonder says he has deep concerns about social and political issues ranging from homelessness to gas prices to terrorism.
But above all, he says, it is cohesion that concerns him.
“You know, we have to get beyond these places of colour and cultural boundaries,” he said.
“I think that we have to really come together to common ground and be about the perpetuation of life – no matter what religion or ethnicity or colour that we are.”
Stevie Wonder plays Vancouver's GM Place on July 12 at 8 p.m.
