Additional Information
Personnel includes: Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Betty Wright, Angela Winbush, The O'Jays. All tracks have been digitally remastered. By the time HOTTER THAN JULY was released in 1980, Stevie Wonder had spent the '70s making his transition into adulthood by redefining pop music and winning widespread public and critical acclaim (along with a boatload of Grammys). As was usually the case on previous albums, Wonder's first release of the '80s featured him playing a variety of instruments, supported by a number of famous guests including Angela Winbush, Michael Jackson, Betty Wright and members of the Gap Band. The result was an album of breezy love songs ("Rocket Love"), deliciously upbeat pop ("I Ain't Gonna Stand For It") and a thinly disguised tribute to Bob Marley ("Master Blaster [Jammin']"). But the one song that Wonder gave himself most to was "Happy Birthday," a relentlessy positive compostion specifically written as part of this gifted artist's fight to get Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday recognized as a national holiday. Stevie Wonder eventually won that fight and by the mid-80s, his dream had become a reality.
