In the 1970s, as pop music fractured into a thousand competing subgenres, Stevie Wonder blended pop, jazz, soul, rock, funk, and reggae without trivializing or pastiching. As he grew from child prodigy to music's foremost ambassador, he topped the charts while winning three consecutive Album of the Year Grammy awards. A producer, arranger, composer, singer, and master of numerous instruments, Wonder also did more than anyone to tame the synthesizer, transforming it from special effect to musical instrument. Lyrically, he addressed everything from social inequity to romance and heartbreak, from Plant Rights to the birth of his daughter; and topped it all off with unrelenting good humor.

Born prematurely on May 13, 1950, Stevland Judkins (later Stevland Morris) lost his sight while in a hospital incubator. From his earliest years he demonstrated an aptitude for music, banging on anything he could get his hands near until...