On this day in 1963, Little” Stevie Wonder, aged 13, released his first single, “Fingertips”
The song made history as the first live (non-studio) recording to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Fun fact, this soundtrack is from a film that is now lost media! It was directed by and stars Bahamian actor Calvin lockhart, (my cousin yes I’m flexing) and Jamaican composer Boris Gardner. It’s about a Jamaican man returning back to his home to meet famous reggae bands and that’s all we know, along with the sound track.
apparently it was so shocking that almost everyone in the theaters got up and walked out at the time, and it was only released in the Bahamas and Jamaica, but he made it as a reclamation of black creativity and power, aiming to take away the legacy of the word “nigger” and change its meaning.