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Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder
The first definitive biography of music legend Stevie Wonder Stevie Wonder's achievements as a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer are extraordinary. During a career that has spanned almost fifty years, he has earned more than thirty Top 10 hits, twenty-six Grammy Awards, and a place in both the Rock and Roll and Songwriter Halls of Fame—and he's not finished yet. On the verge of turning sixty, he is still composing, still touring, and still attracting dedicated fans around the world. For the first time, Signed, Sealed, and Delivered takes an in-depth look at Stevie Wonder's life and his evolution from kid-soul pop star into a mature artist whose music helped lay the groundwork for the evolution of hip hop and rap. Read Signed, Sealed, and Delivered to explore the life and work of one of pop music's most compelling masters of invention.
460 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 25, 2010
19 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Mark Ribowsky
44 books60 followersMark Ribowsky is the author of seven books, including the New York Times Notable Book Don't Look Back: Satchel Paige in the Shadows of Baseball. He lives in Plainview, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 3, 2010
Sentence after sentence is cliché after cliché.
I read this just before Stevie's 60th birthday in May, which this is meant to honor. It provides a great view of his early life adding much needed perspective toward understanding the artist and his success. But the writing is rather painful and at times it will make you want to give up on the author.
Only recommended for the serious fan.
I read this just before Stevie's 60th birthday in May, which this is meant to honor. It provides a great view of his early life adding much needed perspective toward understanding the artist and his success. But the writing is rather painful and at times it will make you want to give up on the author.
Only recommended for the serious fan.
February 3, 2015
I am struggling to get through this book. Being a biography, it seems fairly impersonal and dry - it focuses more on the evils of Motown as a record company, than about Stevie's life or perception of events. I will have to finish it, as I can't leave books unread. What a chore though... eurgh.
September 17, 2015
Full disclosure: I did not finish this book. I couldn't. It was terrible.
Here's an opportunity to write about one of the most influential and original artists of the 20th century and the author makes it murky, quirky and just plain dull. Doesn't this guy (Ribowsky) have an editor? Did the publisher just dump this thing onto the market knowing it was hopeless? Read the folowing and see what I mean:
"Such an involuntarily residual attachment may well have been why all the songs Stevie had had (sic) a hand in writing until now bore as a writer's credit the name 'Stevie Judkins,' which of course he had eschewed at Lila Mae's insistence when he signed his Motown contract."
What?!? Does anybody know what he's getting at here?
Sorry, I'll wait for someone else's book on the wonder that is Stevie. This one doesn't cut it.
Here's an opportunity to write about one of the most influential and original artists of the 20th century and the author makes it murky, quirky and just plain dull. Doesn't this guy (Ribowsky) have an editor? Did the publisher just dump this thing onto the market knowing it was hopeless? Read the folowing and see what I mean:
"Such an involuntarily residual attachment may well have been why all the songs Stevie had had (sic) a hand in writing until now bore as a writer's credit the name 'Stevie Judkins,' which of course he had eschewed at Lila Mae's insistence when he signed his Motown contract."
What?!? Does anybody know what he's getting at here?
Sorry, I'll wait for someone else's book on the wonder that is Stevie. This one doesn't cut it.
July 10, 2010
Being a Stevie Wonder fan, I enjoyed the book overall but the author could have said it with less. It felt like he was impressed with himself for writing and just went on and on.
July 30, 2021
This biography ran out of steam in the late 1970s. I’d bet since Cecil and Margouleff were sources, detail is lost when they get cut out of Wonder’s life. The early part is really good but then I just wanted it to end.
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January 25, 2021Out of all the many wonderful, talented, and inspiring artists, Stevie Wonder is definitely a musician icon. When you think of music, usually Stevie pops into your mind, or other familiar artists that have expanded the taste and variety of music itself. Stevie Wonder was born on may 13, 1950. He was born in Michigan, but soon moved to Detroit with his mother Lula and his two other brothers, Calvin and Larry. Before Lula gave birth to Stevie, doctors were telling her that he had a low chance of surviving after being born because of the abuse she has suffered all her life. Once Stevie was born, they noticed that his eyesight was off, and even after running many tests on young Stevie, they realized that he was blind. After hearing the news from the doctors, Lula was very confused and disheartened; she had already struggled enough by living in very poor conditions with two children and one abusive and alcoholic father. Because of this, she worked as much as she could to raise enough money to move away from Saginaw.
God knew Stevie had a plan, but Lula didn’t know until she realized how interested Stevie was with music, Since he couldn’t see, he loved hearing sounds and making them, even as a toddler. But later on as a young teen, he started to do more singing and learning instruments, which he eventually mastered. This really impressed people, especially considering the fact that he was blind. At 11 years old he got signed to his first record label known as Motown's Tamala, which was also the town he lived in when he was younger. This was only the beginning of Stevie Wonder’s career. He would, not only be known as the blind man who could sing, but he would also be recognized as a part of music history and a musician who inspired many other artists to be themselves and beat the odds of people telling you what you can’t do.
Overall, I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the inspirational life of Stevie wonder. This book is also a very good read to those who are interested in music itself and the history behind artists lives and how they got to where they are now as a musician. Out of ten I would rate this book a solid 9.5 due to the very impactful story of Stevie and the journey he took to get to where he is now as a famous, successful, and talented musician.
God knew Stevie had a plan, but Lula didn’t know until she realized how interested Stevie was with music, Since he couldn’t see, he loved hearing sounds and making them, even as a toddler. But later on as a young teen, he started to do more singing and learning instruments, which he eventually mastered. This really impressed people, especially considering the fact that he was blind. At 11 years old he got signed to his first record label known as Motown's Tamala, which was also the town he lived in when he was younger. This was only the beginning of Stevie Wonder’s career. He would, not only be known as the blind man who could sing, but he would also be recognized as a part of music history and a musician who inspired many other artists to be themselves and beat the odds of people telling you what you can’t do.
Overall, I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the inspirational life of Stevie wonder. This book is also a very good read to those who are interested in music itself and the history behind artists lives and how they got to where they are now as a musician. Out of ten I would rate this book a solid 9.5 due to the very impactful story of Stevie and the journey he took to get to where he is now as a famous, successful, and talented musician.
Read
May 11, 2021Pretty good. Ribowsky does a pretty decent job of expounding on Stevie's achievements while not just crawling sycophantically up his backside. He outlines the hypocrisy and narcissism as well as the genius. For instance cheating prolifically on each of his wives and long-term partners but as soon as they got sick of his s**t, instead of trying to make things work he wrote a song lamenting how he tried but they didn't want him any more and moving onto some fresh romance.
He busted out of his set Motown sound with the help of two white Jewish dudes (whose game-changing synthesizer album "Zero Time" inspired him to get in contact with them) they helped shape his brilliant 70s albums but he shafted them, giving them little to no credit, promising them royalties and such but not following through. Eventually he surrounded himself with enough anti-white black dudes that the two guys were edged out.
To be fair though, Stevie himself was shafted by Motown through much of his youth, it was how he'd learned to do business.
The book handles the unreliability of memory in places by presenting different interviewee's accounts of the same events. One thing irked me slightly: he writes in a fairly eloquent, academic way but every so often he'd throw in some "aint' that a bitch" "the sounds, my god, the sounds" he'd kind of slip from his detached analysis and try to get 'down with the kids' or something, which jarred a little. I get that he was trying to phrase it in the voice of his subject/s but as these passages weren't direct quotes it seemed a bit contrived.
He busted out of his set Motown sound with the help of two white Jewish dudes (whose game-changing synthesizer album "Zero Time" inspired him to get in contact with them) they helped shape his brilliant 70s albums but he shafted them, giving them little to no credit, promising them royalties and such but not following through. Eventually he surrounded himself with enough anti-white black dudes that the two guys were edged out.
To be fair though, Stevie himself was shafted by Motown through much of his youth, it was how he'd learned to do business.
The book handles the unreliability of memory in places by presenting different interviewee's accounts of the same events. One thing irked me slightly: he writes in a fairly eloquent, academic way but every so often he'd throw in some "aint' that a bitch" "the sounds, my god, the sounds" he'd kind of slip from his detached analysis and try to get 'down with the kids' or something, which jarred a little. I get that he was trying to phrase it in the voice of his subject/s but as these passages weren't direct quotes it seemed a bit contrived.
May 13, 2020
Signed, Sealed, and Delivered opens with the naming of the date on which "baby boomers officially get to feel like grumpy old men." That date? May 13, 2010, the day when "Stevie Wonder begins drawing breath in his seventh decade."
Ten years later, Wonder is onto his eighth decade, baby boomers have a lot more to feel grumpy about, but "the eternal man-child some of us old fossils still remember as 'Little Stevie'" remains as much an enigma as ever. If you're new to The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder, Ribowsky's biography is a good place to start.
I reviewed Signed, Sealed, and Delivered for The Current.
Ten years later, Wonder is onto his eighth decade, baby boomers have a lot more to feel grumpy about, but "the eternal man-child some of us old fossils still remember as 'Little Stevie'" remains as much an enigma as ever. If you're new to The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder, Ribowsky's biography is a good place to start.
I reviewed Signed, Sealed, and Delivered for The Current.
September 11, 2020
A solid biography of an American music legend. Lots of good stuff in this book about Motown as well, and all the famous acts of the 60s and 70s. The inclusion of negative reviews of "Songs in the Key of Life" and other late 1970s albums by former associates who clearly have an ax to grind against Stevie seemed unnecessary, especially when history has more than proved those negative reviews wrong. Still, this is a fabulous and definitively told story of Stevie and his journey.
August 2, 2025
I honestly did NOT need to know that much about Stevie. Nevertheless, I am proud to be a member of the generation who sang along with his songs, when I heard him on the radio. My mom would not let me and my sisters purchase SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE until we could quote her most of the words of the song "I Wish." To this day, I know almost all the words to all of the songs on that double-album set.
December 21, 2025
Was hoping for a great book about Stevie wonder.. It should be a been titled Motown and how Berry Gordy got rich. It was a really dreary read. I rarely stop readin a book but I've given up at 60% - such a disappointment
January 24, 2018
Interesting story of a geniuses life.
May 24, 2015
This biography of Stevie Wonder had the potential to live up to it's highly critical introductory preface, but somewhere midway through, it failed to capitalize on that promise. Still a good introduction to Stevie Wonder fans, new or veteran, it could have sustained a more critical (scholarly) assessment of Wonder's work than reprinting or printing some of the fanfare of Wonder's life. No doubt his life IS an American accomplishment, but "Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder" truncates that life into a spare 300+ page volume more well set up for the publicity starved fans than the music curious fan base that is legion.
February 2, 2014
Stevie Wonder has so many things happening before his eyes, even though he is blind. When SW's contract with Motown was over, he didn't renew it the contract, he went to New York and found another music industry. He made a album with over 30 songs on it, and named it The Talking Book. His first award / or Grammy was for the song. " Signed, Sealed, and Delivered, I'm Yours" he had his first kid Aisha Wonder with his second wife. He wrote over 100 songs for himself and other singers. He still has a lot to come.
January 21, 2016
Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: the Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder by Mark Ribowski (John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2010)(780.92). Of interest principally as to why he tanked at the height of his fame in the 80’s. It turns out that he believed his own press clippings and fired his synthesizer gurus. My rating: 5/10, finished 9/1/2010.
July 19, 2010
Everything I always wanted to know and never knew about Stevie Wonder and how he created his music. This book serves as a wonderful volume of music criticism as well as a biography.
Mark Ribowsky writes in a sophisticated, concise style, yet makes it easy for the reader to follow along.
Mark Ribowsky writes in a sophisticated, concise style, yet makes it easy for the reader to follow along.
February 16, 2011
A good account of Stevie's musical career, particularly the early days and his career explosion in the mid-70s. The 80s, 90s and 00's pass by pretty quickly. Lots of typos and a few incorrect dates. I think Ribowsky's editor was asleep at times. But overall I learned a lot about Stevie Wonder.
February 4, 2011
I question Mr. Ribowsky's use of language in some instances (goes in and out of slang). And Mr. Wonder is still alive. I wish there was more input (quotes) from the subject of this biography.
May 21, 2013
Finished long ago lol
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews