How Stevie Wonder Achieved a Net Worth of $110 Million

Stevie Wonder is one of the most famous musicians in the United States and beyond. As such, he isn’t one of those musicians who become famous for a short period of time before fading from the spotlight. Instead, he is someone who has been well-known for decades and decades. Based on this, it should come as no surprise to learn that Wonder’s musical successes have resulted in an estimated net worth of $110 million, which is sizable to say the least.

How Did Stevie Wonder Reach His Current Net Worth?

For those who are curious, Wonder was born with the name Stevland Hardaway Judkins. However, his legal name isn’t Stevland Hardaway Judkins but rather Stevland Hardaway Morris. This is because when his mother divorced his father, she brought her children with her to Detroit, MI where she reverted her name to Lula Hardaway before changing Wonder’s family name to Morris. As a result, Wonder has retained Stevland Hardaway Morris as his legal name ever since.

In any case, Wonder was born six weeks premature, which increases the chances of serious health issues. However, it was this combined with the increased oxygen levels in the hospital incubator that brought about a case of retinopathy of prematurity.

For those who are curious, this is an eye disease that is believed to be caused by the disorganized growth of retinal blood vessels in prematurely born babies that have received oxygen therapy because of their premature development of their lungs. Sometimes, retinopathy of prematurity is mild, so much so that it can resolve itself on its own. Other times, it can lead to blindness, as shown by Wonder’s case.

Regardless, Wonder became very musical at a very young age. For example, he was a member of the Whitestone Baptist Church’s choir. Likewise, he started playing a number of musical instruments that included the drums, the piano, and the harmonica.

Eventually, Wonder even struck up a singing partnership with a friend, with the result that they performed on street corners as well as at dances and parties. As such, when he was at the age of 11, Wonder managed to get a Motown contract by impressing Ronnie White of the Miracles.

Steve Wonder’s Albums

Soon enough, Wonder had put out two albums, which was followed by him heading out on tour via the Motortown Revue. However, what is particularly impressive is that he managed to release a single called “Fingertips” that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 when he was still just 13-years-old.

Unfortunately, this was the height of Wonder’s career for a time because his changing voice caused some serious issues for his subsequent efforts, so much so that Motown executives considered the cancellation of his contract. Fortunately, Wonder was able to score a subsequent string of successes, which was helped by a reinvention of his image.

His Meteoric Rise in the 70s

In the 1970s, Wonder’s career continued to build more and more momentum. For proof, look no further than the fact that he managed to win two consecutive Grammy Awards for the Album of the Year in 1974 and 1975, which prompted a joke from the winner in 1976 that he wanted to thank Wonder because he didn’t release an album in that year.

However, it was in the 1980s that Wonder reached the height of his success, which went hand-in-hand with political impact, high-profile collaborations, and other signs of success. Unsurprisingly, this meant increased earnings as well, not least because of increased sales.

By the 1990s and 2000s, the rate of Wonder’s new releases had slowed down by a considerable margin, though they have never stopped altogether. For instance, he announced in 2013 that he had been recording new material for a couple of new albums called When the World Began and Ten Billion Hearts, which remain unreleased at this point in time,

There can be no doubt about the fact that Wonder is one of the most influential musicians of the second half of the 20th century. After all, he has earned a record-breaking total of 25 Grammy Awards, which are on top of a host of other awards and accolades. Something that speaks volumes about the lasting impact that he has made upon multiple genres of music.

Moreover, Wonder has sold more than 100 million records, thus making it very clear that his critical success has been backed up by plenty of commercial success as well. As such, while Wonder is past his heyday, his impact can be seen just about everywhere in the music industry.

Further Considerations

Of course, it is important to note that the figure of $110 million is nothing more than an estimate. After all, people aren’t going to disclose information about the state of their finances for the public to see without very good reason, meaning that interested individuals aren’t working off of complete sets of documents but much more patchwork sources of information.

On top of that, while there is bound to be plenty of curiosity about the net worth of musicians, there isn’t the same scrutiny for them like there is for, say, politicians. Something that makes the estimates even less reliable. Still, while interested individuals shouldn’t expect the $110 million to be a perfect assessment of Wonder’s finances, it should nonetheless provide them with a general sense of things.

In any case, the source of Wonder’s wealth isn’t exactly mysterious. He is one of the most successful musicians of recent decades, so it stands to reason that the bulk of his net worth came from his tours, his releases, and his other music-related activities.

Endorsements and Investments

Besides that, Wonder has presumably being able to benefit from the usual money-making methods that come hand-in-hand with being such a successful musician, with examples ranging from endorsements to Investments. In the present time, Wonder remains active in the music industry.

However, it is clear that he isn’t as active now as he was in earlier decades, so it seems reasonable to speculate that there won’t be sudden upswings in the size of his net worth in the near future. Still, the idea of him releasing something new is far from being impossible, which in turn, could mean interesting things for the state of his finances.

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