''Fulfillingness' First Finale'' is the seventeenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, musician, and producer

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

, released on July 22, 1974, by Tamla, a subsidiary of

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. It is the fourth of five albums from what is considered Wonder's "classic period". The album was Wonder's second to top the ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tapes chart, where it remained for two weeks, and also reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Soul LPs chart, where it spent eight non-consecutive weeks between October 5 and Christmas 1974. At the 17th Annual Grammy Awards, it won in three categories: Album of the Year (Wonder's second consecutive win in this category), Best Male Pop Vocal, and Best Male Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance (for " Boogie On Reggae Woman") at the ceremony held in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. Retrospectively, the album was voted number 413 in the third edition of

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...

's ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...

'' (2000) and included in the book '' 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''.

Recording

Following the epic scope and social consciousness themes of '' Innervisions'', ''Fulfillingness' First Finale'', in contrast, projected a more reflective, personal, and somber tone. The

musical arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing Composition (music), composition. Differences from the original composition may include Harmony (music), reharmonization, Musical phrasing, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or M ...

used in several songs, especially the bleak "

They Won't Go When I Go "They Won't Go When I Go" is a song co-written and performed by Stevie Wonder from his 1974 album ''Fulfillingness' First Finale''. This song is the only one on the album that Wonder did not write by himself. His co-writer was Yvonne Wright, wh ...

" and the understated "Creepin'", were sparse compared to those of some of Wonder's other 1970s tracks. Wonder had not completely foregone

social commentary Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace ab ...

, as evidenced by the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one single " You Haven't Done Nothin'", which launched a pointed criticism of the Nixon administration bolstered by

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

, and a cameo by the Jackson 5.

Track listing

All songs written by

, except "

", written by Wonder and Yvonne Wright. ;Side one #"Smile Please" – 3:26 #"Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away" – 5:01 #"Too Shy to Say" – 3:31 #" Boogie On Reggae Woman" – 4:54 #"Creepin'" – 4:17 ;Side two #" You Haven't Done Nothin'" – 3:27 #"It Ain't No Use" – 3:58 #"

" – 5:59 #"Bird of Beauty" – 3:46 #"Please Don't Go" – 4:06

Personnel

"Smile Please" *Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal,

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

, drums * Michael Sembello – electric guitar * Reggie McBride – electric bass *

Bobbye Hall Bobbye Jean Hall is an American percussionist who has recorded with a variety of rock, soul, blues and jazz artists, and has appeared on 20 songs that reached the top ten in the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Early career, work for ...

–

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

* Jim Gilstrap – background vocals *

Deniece Williams June Deniece Williams (née Chandler; born June 3, 1950) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great Soul music, soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs "Free (Deniece Williams song), Free", "Silly (song ...

(credited as Denise) – background vocals "Heaven Is 10 Zillion Years Away" *Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, Hohner

, drums, Moog bass *

Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter and actor. His songs include " Diana", “ You Are My Destiny", “Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also wr ...

– background vocal *

Syreeta Wright Syreeta Wright (born Rita Wright, February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), known mononymously as Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights were songs ...

– background vocal *Shirley Brewer – background vocal *Larry "Nastyee" Latimer – background vocal "Too Shy to Say" *Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, piano *

James Jamerson James Lee Jamerson (January 29, 1936 – August 2, 1983) was an American bassist. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases un ...

– acoustic bass * Sneaky Pete Kleinow – pedal steel guitar "Boogie On Reggae Woman" *Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, Fender Rhodes, piano, harmonica, drums, Moog bass *

Rocky Dzidzornu Kwasi "Rocky" Dzidzornu, also known as Rocky Dijon, was a Ghanaian-born percussionist known for his 1960s and 1970s work with rock and R&B artists. Biography Dzidzornu was born in the British Gold Coast colony (later Ghana), on 28 February 1932 ...

– congas "Creepin'" *Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, Fender Rhodes, harmonica, drums, Moog bass, T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer *

Minnie Riperton Minnie Julia Riperton (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979) was an American soul singer and songwriter best known for her 1974 single " Lovin' You", her five-octave vocal range, and her use of the whistle register. Born in 1947, Riperton grew ...

– background vocal "You Haven't Done Nothin" *Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, Hohner clavinet, bass drum, hi-hat, cymbal *Reggie McBride – electric bass *

The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5, later known as the Jacksons, are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was formed in Gary, Indiana in 1964, and originally consisted of brothers Jackie, Ti ...

– background vocals * Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil – synthesizers *Horns,

– uncredited "It Ain't No Use" *Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, Fender Rhodes, drums, Moog bass *Lani Groves – background vocal *Minnie Riperton – background vocal *Deniece Williams – background vocal "They Won't Go When I Go" *Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, piano, T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer *Bob and Malcolm – programming Moog "Bird of Beauty" *Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, Fender Rhodes, Hohner clavinet, drums, percussions, Moog bass *Bobbye Hall – cuíca *Shirley Brewer – background vocal *Lani Groves – background vocal *Deniece Williams – background vocal *

Sérgio Mendes Sérgio Santos Mendes (; 11 February 1941 – 5 September 2024) was a Brazilian musician. His career took off with worldwide hits by his band Brasil '66. He released 35 albums and was known for playing bossa nova, often mixed with funk. He ...

– Portuguese lyrics"Bird of Beauty" partial Portuguese lyrics provided by Sergio Mendes
/ref> *Drum machine – uncredited "Please Don't Go" *Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, piano, Fender Rhodes, harmonica, handclaps, drums, hi-hat, Moog bass *Michael Sembello – acoustic guitar * The Persuasions – background vocal *Shirley Brewer – background vocal *Deniece Williams – background vocal

Charts

Weekly charts

Singles

References

External links

* Hughes, Tim. Extensive musicological analysis o
"You Haven't Done Nothing" in ''Groove and Flow: Six Analytical Essays On The Music Of Stevie Wonder''
(University of Washington PhD dissertation, 2003)
Stevie Wonder interview by Pete Lewis
''Blues & Soul'', March 1995 {{Authority control Stevie Wonder albums 1974 albums Albums produced by Malcolm Cecil Albums produced by Stevie Wonder Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios Albums recorded at Record Plant (Los Angeles) Albums recorded at Westlake Recording Studios Grammy Award for Album of the Year Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Progressive soul albums Tamla Records albums