Stevie Wonder was born Stevland Hardaway Judkins in 1950 on May 13 in Saginaw, Michigan to mother Lula Mae Hardaway (Jarnow 311). Stevie was born prematurely and developed retrolental fibroplasia within the first month of his life from being exposed to too much oxygen in his incubator, which made Stevie blind (Jarnow 311). Stevie has two older brothers, named Milton and Calvin from his mother’s previous relationship with Paul Hardaway while Stevie’s biological father was a man named Calvin Judkins, who was not around in Stevie’s life as a child (Jarnow 311; Mitchell 1). Lula Mae Hardaway moved Stevie and his older brothers Milton and Calvin out to Detroit in 1954 where they moved in with Paul Hardaway (Jarnow 311) Later, Stevie’s mother had three more children named Timothy, Larry, and Renee (Jarnow 311).…show more content… Stevie listened to many of these artists on the local R&B station- WCHB in Detroit- starting when he was around six years old (Jarnow 312). Stevie also performed songs by Johnny Ace on street corners in Detroit (Jarnow 312). Stevie taught himself to play the piano, drums, and harmonica before he was nine (Mitchell 1). Often, Stevie performed with his friend John Glover at parties and dances, calling themselves Stevie and John, and acts from Motown including Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and Marvin Gaye were an influence on them (Jarnow
