It's A Wonder

I've watched Stevie Wonder up close for a long time, being annoyed with him very frequently for some of the stunts he's pulled and people let him get away with it because he's blind. But I finally learned that while he and Ray Charles both happened to be blind, they are/were extremely different in personality. It was wrong of me to expect them to be the same. Example: if RC said I'll be there at 9 a.m., open your door at 8:59--Ray was coming through. Stevie was/is as likely to show up at nine at night or at nine a.m. or some day one week later. Ray didn't particularly like people around. He rolled with only one person who variously served as valet, driver, and a thousand other areas that he took responsibility for. Stevie has a hundred people it seems who serve in various roles. Stevie is warmer, outgoing. Not Ray, closed, private. They did share a clear genius when it comes to music. There just aren't bad notes--with either of them. Yet at Michael's funeral, Stevie hit some bad notes when he sang "I Never Thought You'd Leave In Summer," I wanted to go put arms around him and often some comfort to the boy who once was the "12 Year Old Genius" because that child he once was understood the child that Michael once was. Little Stevie is now 59 (jeez, when did that happen) just nine years older than Mike and when he said he wished he "had not lived long enough to see this day," every bit of his Little Stevie self and the man he became was open and in pain. His grief broke my heart. It will be a long time before I ever get mad at Steve again --Here's a bit of trivia for you. Both men have Grammys in double digits, they both recorded "Livin' For the City." Which one won a Grammy for that? --I'm Ruth Adkins Robinson with some answers.