linguistic:translation, quality:corruption
1970s: Classic albums period

In September 1970, at the age of 20, Wonder married Syreeta Wright, a songwriter and former Motown secretary. Wright and Wonder worked together on the next album, Where I'm Coming From (1971), Wonder writing the music, and Wright helping with the lyrics. Around this time, Wonder became interested in utilizing synthesizers after hearing albums by electronic group Tonto's Expanding Head Band. Wonder and Wright wanted to "touch on the social problems of the world", and for the lyrics "to mean something". The album was released at around the same time as Marvin Gaye 's What's Going On. As both albums had similar ambitions and themes, they have been compared; in a contemporaneous review by Vince Aletti in Rolling Stone, Gaye's was seen as successful, while Wonder's was seen as failing due to "self-indulgent and cluttered" production, "undistinguished" and "pretentious" lyrics, and an overall lack of unity and flow. Also in 1970, Wonder co-wrote (and played numerous instruments on) the hit " It's a Shame " for fellow Motown act the Spinners. His contribution was meant to be a showcase of his talent and thus a weapon in his ongoing negotiations with Gordy about creative autonomy. Reaching his 21st birthday on May 13, 1971, Wonder allowed his Motown contract to expire.

During this period, he independently recorded two albums and signed a new contract with Motown Records. The 120-page contract was a precedent at Motown and gave Wonder a much higher royalty rate. He returned to Motown in March 1972 with Music of My Mind. Unlike most previous albums on Motown, which usually consisted of a collection of singles, B-sides and covers, Music of My Mind was a full-length artistic statement with songs flowing together thematically. Wonder's lyrics dealt with social, political, and mystical themes as well as standard romantic ones, while musically he began exploring overdubbing and recording most of the instrumental parts himself. Music of My Mind marked the beginning of a long collaboration with Tonto's Expanding Head Band (Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil), and with lyricist Yvonne Wright.

Released in late 1972, Wonder's album Talking Book featured the No. 1 hit " Superstition ", which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner Clavinet keyboard. Talking Book also featured " You Are the Sunshine of My Life ", which also peaked at No. 1. During the same time as the album's release, Wonder began touring with the Rolling Stones to alleviate the negative effects from being pigeonholed as an R&B artist in America. His touring with the Stones was also a factor behind the success of both "Superstition" and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life". Between them, the two songs won three Grammy Awards. On an episode of the children's television show Sesame Street that aired in April 1973, Wonder and his band performed "Superstition", as well as an original called "Sesame Street Song", which demonstrated his abilities with television.

Wonder's studio album Innervisions, released in 1973, featured " Higher Ground " (No. 4 on the pop charts) as well as the trenchant " Living for the City " (No. 8). Both songs reached No. 1 on the R&B charts. Popular ballads such as "Golden Lady" and "All in Love Is Fair" were also present, in a mixture of moods that nevertheless held together as a unified whole. Innervisions generated three more Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album is ranked No. 34 on Rolling Stone ' s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Wonder had become the most influential and acclaimed black musician of the early 1970s.

On August 6, 1973, Wonder was injured in a serious automobile accident while on tour in North Carolina, when a car in which he was riding hit the back of a truck. This left him in a coma for four days and resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell and a temporary loss of sense of taste. Despite orders from his doctor to refrain from performing, Wonder performed at a homecoming benefit for Shaw University in Raleigh, in November 1973. Shaw was facing financial difficulties, so Wonder, who was a member of the university's board of trustees, rallied other acts including Exuma, LaBelle, and the Chambers Brothers to join the concert, which raised more than $10,000 for the school's scholarship fund.

Wonder embarked on a European tour in early 1974, performing in France at the Midem convention in Cannes, in England at the Rainbow Theatre in London, and on the German television show Musikladen. On his return to the United States, he played a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden in March 1974, highlighting both up-tempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as " Living for the City ". The album Fulfillingness' First Finale appeared in July 1974 and set two hits high on the pop charts: the No. 1 " You Haven't Done Nothin' " and the Top Ten " Boogie on Reggae Woman ". The Album of the Year was again one of three Grammys won.

The same year, Wonder took part in a Los Angeles jam session with ex- Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney that would become known as the bootleg album A Toot and a Snore in '74. He also co-wrote and produced the 1974 Syreeta Wright album Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta.

On October 4, 1975, Wonder performed at the historic " Wonder Dream Concert " in Kingston, Jamaica, a benefit for the Jamaican Institute for the Blind. In 1975, he played harmonica on two tracks on Billy Preston 's album It's My Pleasure.

By 1975, at the age of 25, Wonder had won two consecutive Grammy Awards: in 1974 for Innervisions and in 1975 for Fulfillingness' First Finale. In 1976, when Paul Simon won the Album of the Year Grammy for his Still Crazy After All These Years, he wryly noted: "I'd like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn't make an album this year."

The double album-with-extra- EP, Songs in the Key of Life, was released in September 1976. Sprawling in style and sometimes lyrically difficult to fathom, the album was hard for some listeners to assimilate, yet is regarded by many as Wonder's crowning achievement and one of the most recognizable and accomplished albums in pop music history. The album became the first by an American artist to debut straight at No. 1 in the Billboard charts, where it stood for 14 non-consecutive weeks. Two tracks became No. 1 Pop/R&B hits: " I Wish " and " Sir Duke ". The baby-celebratory " Isn't She Lovely ?" was written about his newborn daughter Aisha, while songs such as " Love's in Need of Love Today " and "Village Ghetto Land" reflected a far more pensive mood. Songs in the Key of Life won Album of the Year and two other Grammys. The album ranks 4th on Rolling Stone ' s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Also in 1976, Wonder heard about the demonstration of the Kurzweil Reading Machine, the first multi-font reading machine for the blind, on The Today Show, and later became the user of the first production unit, beginning a long-term association between himself and Ray Kurzweil.

Until 1979's Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants", his only further 1970s release was the retrospective three-disc album Looking Back (1977), an anthology of his early Motown period.