Stevie Wonder: Songs In The Key of Life Performances

Stevie Wonder performs selected songs from the album Songs in the Key of Life at The O2 in London, on this visit to the capital. The night centres on the work of an American singer-songwriter.

Stevie Wonder is an American singer-songwriter who began recording in 1961 on the Motown label, exploring jazz, blues and rhythm and blues before moving into a broader soul and funk style. The genres of this evening are R&B, soul, funk, gospel and reggae, which together reflect the range of a career that has covered both popular and socially engaged songwriting.

The programme is built around Songs in the Key of Life, the album that gives the show its title. Its songs draw on the same mix of gospel harmony, funk rhythm and soul melody that runs through Wonder's music, and the performances are devoted to that record rather than to a general retrospective.

The O2 is a large arena on the Greenwich peninsula in south-east London, and it hosts concerts and shows throughout the year. The evening suits listeners who know the album or who want to hear its songs performed by the artist who wrote them.