Stevie Wonder ~ Do I Do 1982 Funky Purrfection Version

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After completing "The Secret Life Of Plants" for the 1979 soundtrack of a documentary the only single that charted was the sublime "Send One Your Love" and the rest of the album was a languid and tranquil affair that left many wondering where the kick ass tunes like "As", "Another Star" and "Sir Duke" went.

Stevie surprised us with a sudden burst of energy and the "Hotter Than July" singles that re-ignited his career with "Master Blaster" and "All I Do" in 1980. By the end of that year Motown lost two artists Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye and the Jacksons had already jumped ship a year before that. The Commodores had peaked and the only hope the label had was for Stevie to drop another album.

Jay Lasker, the President of Motown approached Stevie and Motown so he could compile a greatest hits album for release in 1982. Wonder's business affairs were bleeding money and Lasker reasoned that two million dollars would entice Wonder to release the album. Wonder was known to take his time completing albums and he decided to allow only his post 1971 recordings, which he had control over and that for another million, he would write four new songs for a double album project to be entitled "Original Musiquarium I".

Stevie delivered the first new song "That Girl" in December of 1981 and confirmed that he would deliver the rest of the songs and the album the following month. "That Girl" held the top spot on the R&B chart for nine weeks but he still had not completed the album at the time so there was no album to support the hit single. The song fell off the charts in April and Wonder finally delivered the album in May which Motown rush released to market. Lasker estimated that Motown and Stevie lost about a million album sales because of his celebrated tardiness.

"Do I Do" was then released on May 29, 1982, the highest new entry that week at #52 and eventually peaked at #13 on the Hot100. It was a return to form to songs like "Sir Duke" and "I Wish" and featured his idol on the trumpet legend Dizzy Gillespie. If you watch the video, you can see how his cheeks puff out when he blasts his trumpet. This is the same reason that Louis Armstrong was nicknamed "Satchmo" which was short for "satchel mouth" where a satchel was a purse. The song ended with Stevie rapping along with the best of them, something he rarely does.
Category
Funky