Aug. 10, 1963 - Taking the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 today is “Fingertips,” a recording by Little Stevie Wonder. Wonder, who is 13 years old and blind, is the youngest artist ever to top the chart. In 1961, at the age of 11, Wonder sang his own composition, "Lonely Boy", to Ronnie White of The Miracles. White then took the boy and his mother to an audition at Motown Records, where CEO Berry Gordy signed Wonder to Motown's Tamla label. Before signing, producer Clarence Paul gave him the name Little Stevie Wonder. His true name is Stevland Hardaway Judkins. He was born six weeks premature which, along with the oxygen-rich atmosphere in the hospital incubator, resulted in “retinopathy of prematurity,” a condition in which the growth of the eyes is aborted and causes the retinas to detach, causing blindness. In addition to singing and composing, Wonder plays percussion, the keyboard, and harmonica.
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