FROM THE ARCHIVE: Vintage prints from 1975-76 of Stevie Wonder

Digging into the Songs in the Key of Life era means stepping into a world where Stevie Wonder wasn’t just making records—he was reshaping the entire conversation around Black music, artistry, and possibility. The vintage pressings from 1975 and 1976 carry that energy in their grooves: the early test cuts with handwritten timing notes, Motown promotional labels sent to radio stations, and regional press variations that reflected how fast demand was surging even before the album officially dropped.

But the story doesn’t stop at the vinyl. Flip through Jet Magazine issues from those years and you’ll find Stevie on the verge of something seismic—articles tracking his contract negotiations with Motown, his political organizing, and the way he was reimagining what a crossover artist could stand for. Newspaper clippings from Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles read like dispatches from a cultural shift in real time, following the marathon studio sessions, the musicians flowing in and out of the room, and the anticipation that this album would mark a turning point.

Together, the records, the magazines, and the scattered paper trail form an analog archive of a moment when Stevie Wonder was at the height of his experimentation and conviction. Each pressing, each Jet feature, each newspaper column captures a different angle of a genius building one of the most ambitious albums ever released—piece by piece, take by take, headline by headline.

Archive and Photography by Curt Saunders