Stevie Wonder is returning to the road for a special tour celebrating 50 years of Songs in the Key of Life, one of the defining albums of his career and a landmark in popular music. The 76-year-old icon will begin the European leg on October 13 in Birmingham, UK, before bringing the anniversary performances to major U.S. cities.
Promoted by Live Nation, the tour marks Stevie Wonder’s first tour in more than a decade and will center on the music of Songs in the Key of Life. European dates will continue through early November with stops including Paris and Copenhagen, followed by U.S. performances in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Detroit and Los Angeles.
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Tickets for the Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life 50th anniversary tour go on sale Thursday, September 10 at 10 a.m. local time through Live Nation. Given the rarity of a full-scale Wonder tour in recent years, the announcement immediately positions the concerts as a major live-music event rather than a routine run of dates.
Songs in the Key of Life was released by Tamla Records on September 28, 1976. Wonder’s 18th studio album arrived as a double LP accompanied by a four-song bonus EP and represented the culmination of the extraordinary creative period that had already produced Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions and Fulfillingness’ First Finale.
The album also arrived at a pivotal moment in Stevie Wonder’s career. In 1975, he had seriously considered leaving the music industry and moving to Ghana to work with children with disabilities before signing a new seven-year, seven-album Motown contract that gave him unprecedented artistic control. The resulting project became one of the most ambitious releases of the decade.
Songs in the Key of Life debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making Wonder only the third artist to achieve that feat at the time and the first American artist. It remained at No. 1 for 13 consecutive weeks, while “I Wish” and “Sir Duke” both reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The album’s legacy has only grown in the decades since its release. Songs in the Key of Life won Album of the Year at the 19th Grammy Awards, was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and was inducted into both the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Recording Registry.
Stevie Wonder previously brought the album to the stage during his Songs in the Key of Life Tour, performing the record in its entirety during a run that grossed more than $40 million. Nearly 50 years after the album first reshaped the possibilities of soul, pop and R&B, the upcoming concerts offer a new generation the chance to hear its music performed by the artist who created it. See all dates below.
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