Uptight (Everything's Alright)
| "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" | |||||||||
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| Single by Stevie Wonder | |||||||||
| from the album Up-Tight | |||||||||
| B-side | Purple Rain Drops[1] | ||||||||
| Released | November 22, 1965 | ||||||||
| Format | 7" single | ||||||||
| Genre | Soul | ||||||||
| Label | Tamla | ||||||||
| Writer(s) | Stevie Wonder, Sylvia Moy, Henry Cosby | ||||||||
| Producer | Mickey Stevenson, Clarence Paul | ||||||||
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"Uptight (Everything's Alright)" is a 1966 hit single recorded by Stevie Wonder for the Tamla (Motown) label.[2] One of his most popular early singles, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" was the first Stevie Wonder single to be co-written by the artist.
The single was a watershed in Wonder's career for several reasons. Aside from the number-one hit "Fingertips", only two of Wonder's singles had reached the Top 40 of Billboard's Pop Singles chart, ("Workout, Stevie Workout" reached # 33 in late 1963 and "Hey Harmonica Man" reached # 29 Pop in the Summer of 1964) and the fifteen-year-old artist was in danger of being let go. In addition, Wonder's voice had begun to change, and Motown CEO Berry Gordy was worried that he would no longer be a commercially viable artist.
As it turned out, however, producer Clarence Paul found it easier to work with Wonder's now-mature tenor voice, Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby set about writing a new song for the artist, based upon an instrumental riff Wonder had devised.[3] On the day of the recording, Moy had the lyrics, but didn't have them in braille for Wonder to read, and so sang the song to him as he was recording it. She sang a line ahead of him and he simply repeated the lines as he heard them. In 2008, Moy commented that "he never missed a beat" during the recording.[4]
The resulting song, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", features lyrics which depict a poor young man's appreciation for a rich girl's seeing beyond his poverty to his true worth. A notable success, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" peaked at number-three on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in early 1966, at the same time reaching the top of the Billboard R&B Singles chart for five weeks.[5] An accompanying album, Up-Tight, was rushed into production to capitalize on the single's success.
"Uptight (Everything's Alright)" continues to be popular on oldies radio.
References [edit]
- ^ Rate your music.com
- ^ Stevie Wonder interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969).
- ^ Soul walking.co.uk - Writing credits for song
- ^ Martin Freeman Goes to Motown, BBC television6 January 2009
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 635.
External links [edit]
| Preceded by "A Sweet Woman Like You" by Joe Tex |
Billboard Hot R&B Singles number-one single January 22, 1966 – February 19, 1966 (five weeks) |
Succeeded by "Baby Scratch My Back" by Slim Harpo |
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