Stevie Wonder: It's all about love

It doesn't take a private detective to work out Stevie Wonder is having a love affair - with his music.

The 30 top ten hits, 100 million worldwide album sales and a record-breaking 22 Grammy Awards are all the evidence you need.

But come face-to-face with the musical legend and it's easy to understand this is one affair that goes deeper, holds faster and is more intense than most. It's all about him and music. Their relationship, the intimacy and the dates. It's something truly beautiful.

"Music is like making love," he said softly, reaching out to touch my hand. "You never want to stop doing it. To be in love. You never want to stop being in love."

Stevie Wonder speaks to Radio 2’s Nick Robinson about how he keeps his music fresh:

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Relaxing on a white leather sofa, pink roses on a few tables in his temporary dressing room backstage at Yas Arena, Wonder answers interview questions in his own time, not afraid to stop, pause and consider part way through each response.

"Music is another gift from my body," he added followed by a long silence. Realising I was sitting on the edge of my seat almost willing the next words to come out I checked myself and shuffled back. "Being able to create music, to write it and to sing it. I just want to be able to sing about things that people are confronted with or are dealing with. I'm excited about that."

Every line was worth waiting for and given I'd waited more than five hours to meet the man I planned on relishing each syllable.

Ahead of his first gig in the Middle East, Wonder was visibly excited to be in the UAE and was full of questions. Speaking exclusively to Gulf News Radio 2 and tabloid! he said he was taking his affair around the world.

"It's my first time in the UAE," he said, instantly followed with a barrage of questions I didn't have the answers to. "How difficult is it to start a radio station here?" he asked as I briefly considered running outside to find someone — anyone — who knew the answer. "I'd love that. Obviously I'd like to make a bit'a money along the way," he joked. "I love what I do."

A blind child prodigy, Wonder, now 60, started playing the piano at seven and mastered the instrument in two years. While performing for friends in 1961, he was discovered by the Miracles' Ronnie White and was soon writing songs under the name Little Stevie Wonder.

Little Stevie emerged as a star of record label Motown, quickly maturing through the '60s into one of its most important and successful artists. But it was when he turned 21, the fruits of his early love with music began to show worth, forcing Motown to give him complete creative control in order to keep his contract through adulthood.

"My favourite part is all of the night. Because obviously you're meeting the people for the first time and so they are meeting you for the first time. It's a joint connection. A marriage. A first date. It's always exciting. I don't really call it work," he said pulling at his navy pyjama suit having just left the stage from a 150-minute sound check.

"I mean when you do a tour you have maybe 20 or 30 dates you know, it becomes repetitive. The way I try not to make it repetitive, keep the music the same but make variations as the days go by. A jam session before the show is always good."

Family man

Although the music may always be the backbone of this man, his love for his family is also extremely apparent.

Wonder first married in 1970 to Syreeta Wright but divorced two years later. In 2001, he married fashion designer Kai Milla Morris. He has seven children from several relationships, including his second marriage.

"My children keep me very busy," he said then admitting he was going to describe them in a very different way. "I was gonna say something really crazy," he joked. "Obviously I have two little ones. And before my life ends I hope to have many more. My goal is to have twins."

Wonder met many of my expectations — warm, approachable, intelligent, passionate. But one trait which I didn't expect (don't ask me why) was his sense of humour.

Finding out Radio 2 presenter, Nic Robinson's wife was due to give birth on May 13 he stopped dead in his tracks and put on a thick southern American accent. "My youngest one is born the same day as me — May 13. You make sure that baby comes out on my birthday boy," he said throwing his head back and laughing uncontrollably.

And then the accents just kept coming. "I like tea, green tea actually," he said retending to put a tea cup to his lips.

"I like English breakfast tea but prefer green tea. I like Moroccan tea. Ginger tea," admittedly a little unsure where this was going (a self-confessed control freak) I told myself I'm sitting in a room with Stevie Wonder, some things you just have to let go. And so they did...

Wonder is now not only recognised for his hits over the years but for creating a politically-charged blend of soul, jazz, and funk that transformed R&B forever.

That said, he only had good things to say about this decade's artists, a particular penchant for songs with a message and yes, you guessed it, love.

"I'm excited about the music of the day because it's going through it's own evolution," he said. "R&B and hip-hop is in a whole other place. It's about love songs with people like Ne-Yo who's writing some great stuff. Even though this is not R&B because I'm a lover of all music you got Lady Antebellum who's got again some love songs. And it's always exciting to hear people talk and sing about that thing which makes the world go round. Love.

"But as well as that you've got songs that are talking about and dealing with situations we are all confronted with. You have combinations that are really good. Drake and Lady Gaga. Drake doing stuff with Nicki Minaj. When you have grown up listening to something it's only natural to want to go back to things you love. I love Usher," he said lovingly referring to him as "my boy from Atlanta".

Adding another string to his bow, Wonder became a UN Ambassador of Peace in 2009. "Specifically I work going around talking to various leaders and corporations and industries about making the world more accessible to those with physical disabilities," he said. "There should not be anywhere in the world where a person who is deaf, paraplegic, quadriplegic or blind can't go. Particularly in the time we're living in, the world we're living in," he said touching the Braille studs on his pyjamas which read "Just B U", also embroidered above

As with any true love affair, it will stand the test of time and Wonder says it's not time to call it a day and he's not sure that day will ever come.

"I'll always write music," he said. "I'm working on two projects. Tribute to my mother — I always promised her I'd do this it's called Gospel Inspired by Lula. And the other project is Through The Eyes of Wonder. I'll always be here for you."

A promise his millions of fans worldwide will be happy to hear.