cover image BLIND FAITH: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway and Her Son, Stevie Wonder

BLIND FAITH: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway and Her Son, Stevie Wonder

Dennis Love, . . Simon & Schuster, $24 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-684-86979-7

Love and Brown, two freelance journalists, based this rambling account of the rock 'n' roll legend on interviews they conducted with Wonder and Hardaway, both of whom cooperated with this bio. Blind since birth, Steveland Judkins (born in 1952) was a musical prodigy who, as a child, played for coins on the street. By the time he was 10, he had mastered the harmonica, piano, organ and drums without taking a lesson. After moving with his family to Detroit, he was introduced to Berry Gordy of Motown Records, who signed him to a record contract and nicknamed him "Little Stevie Wonder." After his first big hit, "Fingertips Part Two," Wonder continued to produce hits for Motown until he was 21, when he negotiated a contract that gave him artistic freedom. The authors accurately portray Wonder's amazing musical ability, but they offer little insight into their subject's character other than stressing his good nature and commitment to social causes. More engrossing is their treatment of Hardaway, who was deserted by her parents and endured a childhood marked by poverty and abuse. Calvin Judkins, her husband and father of their children (including Stevie), drank, beat his wife, and forced her into prostitution in order to feed her family. She finally was able to extricate herself from this relationship and support her three children by finding a job that was low paying, but above the board. Love and Brown describe how Wonder greatly improved his mother's life after he became successful, but, unfortunately, they essentially end their account with Wonder's recovery from a 1973 automobile accident. (Sept.)