Entertainment

Stevie Wonder: How He Became a Ladies’ Man

Published

11 years ago

March 3, 2015

Stevie Wonder performs during the finale of “Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life – An All-Star Grammy Salute,” at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

by Stacy M. Brown
Special to the NNPA from The Washington Informer

Stevie Wonder practices what he preaches. One of our greatest love-song writers, composer of “My Cherie Amour” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” recently fathered his ninth child — with a fifth woman.

“No one has been a greater advocate for the power of love in this world than I have, both in my life and in my music,” Wonder once said.

Just prior to his “Songs in the Key of Life” concert that aired Feb. 16 on CBS, friends described his remarkable knack for finding pretty ladies. They say the 64-year-old Casanova met his fiancée, 40-year-old Tomeeka Robyn Bracy, with that same instinct.

“Like he does with all of the other women, they were at the same gathering and he smelled the kind of perfume she was wearing, she walked past him and he said she seemed light on her feet so she must be a pretty lady,” the source said.

Wonder himself has previously described how he meets women, saying that he was taken by his first wife, the late Syreeta Wright, because “she was fresh.”

He said he sensed her sexiness by touching the sleeves of her blouse.

“A lady that wears an expensive top, is not loud when she speaks and smells good, that’s how I know,” he said. “I know a lady of the world when I’m around her, so I really don’t need anyone to tell me she’s the one or she’s not.”

One former girlfriend, whom Wonder met in a Los Angeles church during Sunday worship, said that the singer’s entourage helps as well.

“I mean look, he’s sitting in the pew right behind me. He’s Stevie Wonder. Later, I found out that one of his guys that were with him told him, ‘Wow, she’s got a nice butt and a face to match,’ ” she said.

“But, I remember him tapping me on the shoulder, and his pick-up line was asking me what was it that brought me to church. I said, ‘I’m here every single Sunday because I believe in God’ and he says that he could give me all of the things God has promised to give me, only I didn’t need to pray to him.”

Another ex-girlfriend, who dated the singer for nearly five years, said Wonder wooed her by repeatedly showing up at church, even staying late, stealing her heart by giving piano lessons and turning gospel songs into love songs.

“He’d change the words and insert my name and his name in there and he’d even talk about what he thought would be good baby names and how he’d buy the most fabulous of houses and how he knew I could help him to take care of himself and do his heart right,” she said. “So, naturally, it wasn’t hard to fall for.”

Wonder has been married twice but fathered children — aged two months to 40 — with five women. His first child, Aisha, was born in 1975 and became the subject of hit song “Isn’t She Lovely.” Even Wonder’s mom, who died in 2006, acknowledged some of her son’s antics.

“He’d pick out a woman like Diana [Ross], or Martha Reeves and, before they’d come into the building, he’d get someone to tell him what color dress they were wearing,” Lula Hardaway said.

“When they’d come in, Steve would run up to them and say, ‘I love that red dress. I love those black shoes,’ and they’d be stopped in their tracks.”

But Wonder would soon learn that Ross — who was having an affair with Motown Records founder Berry Gordy — was off-limits.

“He flirted, but when it came to Diana, we had to let him know that she was the boss’ woman and the boss doesn’t play,” said Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops.

Stacy Brown is the co-author of “Blind Faith: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway, Stevie Wonder’s Mother.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Related Topics:Songs in the Key of Life tour Stevie Wonder stevie wonder florida boycott

Up Next

Stevie Wonder: How He Became a Ladies’ Man

Don't Miss

Reel-ality TV

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

Published

6 days ago

January 2, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 24 – 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

Published

2 weeks ago

December 25, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Bling It On: Holiday Lights Brighten Dark Nights All Around the Bay

On the block where I grew up in the 1960s, it was an unwritten agreement among the owners of those row homes to put up holiday lights: around the front window and door, along the porch banister, etc. Some put the Christmas tree in the window, and you could see it through the open slats of the blinds.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

Christmas lights on a house near the writer’s residence in Oakland. Photo by Joseph Shangosola.

By Wanda Ravernell

I have always liked Christmas lights.

From my desk at my front window, I feel a quiet joy when the lights on the house across the street come on just as night falls.

My father, the renegade of the block, made no effort with lights, so my mother hung a wreath with two bells in the window. Just enough to let you know someone was at home.

Two doors down was a different story. Mr. King, the overachiever of the block, went all out for Christmas: The tree in the window, the lights along the roof and a Santa on his sleigh on the porch roof.

There are a few ‘Mr. Kings’ in my neighborhood.

In particular is the gentleman down the street. For Halloween, they erected a 10-foot skeleton in the yard, placed ‘shrunken heads’ on fence poles, pumpkins on steps and swooping bat wings from the porch roof. They have not held back for Christmas.

The skeleton stayed up this year, this time swathed in lights, as is every other inch of the house front. It is a light show that rivals the one in the old Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

I would hate to see their light bill…

As the shortest day of the year approaches, make Mr. King’s spirit happy and get out and see the lights in your own neighborhood, shopping plazas and merchant areas.

Here are some places recommended by 510 Families and Johnny FunCheap.

Oakland

Oakland’s Temple Hill Holiday Lights and Gardens is the place to go for a drive-by or a leisurely stroll for a religious holiday experience. Wear a jacket, because it’s chilly outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 4220 Lincoln Ave., particularly after dark. The gardens are open all day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the lights on from dusk until closing.

Alameda

Just across the High Street Bridge from Oakland, you’ll find Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.

On Thompson Avenue between High Street and Fernside drive, displays range from classic trees and blow-ups to a comedic response to the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lights turn on at dusk and can be seen through the first week in January.

Berkeley

The Fourth Street business district from University Avenue to Virginia Street in Berkeley comes alive with lights beginning at 5 p.m. through Jan. 1, 2026.

There’s also a display at one house at 928 Arlington St., and, for children, the Tilden Park Carousel Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 4, 2026. Closed Christmas Day. For more information and tickets, call (510) 559-1004.

Richmond

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display, featuring a recreation of the town of Bethlehem with life-size figures, is open through Dec. 26 at 7501 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito.

Marin County

In Marin, the go-to spot for ‘oohs and ahhs’ is the Holiday Light Spectacular from 4-9 p.m. through Jan. 4, 2026, at Marin Center Fairgrounds at 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael through Jan. 4. Displays dazzle, with lighted walkways and activities almost daily. For more info, go to: www.marincounty.gov/departments/cultural-services/department-sponsored-events/holiday-light-spectacular

The arches at Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Dr. will also be illuminated nightly.

San Francisco

Look for light installations in Golden Gate Park, chocolate and cheer at Ghirardelli Square, and downtown, the ice rink in Union Square and the holiday tree in Civic Center Plaza are enchanting spots day and night. For neighborhoods, you can’t beat the streets in Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and Bernal Heights. For glee and over-the-top glitz there’s the Castro, particularly at 68 Castro Street.

Livermore

The winner of the 2024 Great Light Flight award, Deacon Dave has set up his display with a group of creative volunteers at 352 Hillcrest Avenue since 1982. See it through Jan. 1, 2026. For more info, go to https://www.casadelpomba.com

Fremont

Crippsmas Place is a community of over 90 decorated homes with candy canes passed out nightly through Dec. 31. A tradition since 1967, the event features visits by Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Dec. 18 and Dec. 23 and entertainment by the Tri-M Honor Society at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. Chrippsmas Place is located on: Cripps Place, Asquith Place, Nicolet Court, Wellington Place, Perkins Street, and the stretch of Nicolet Avenue between Gibraltar Drive and Perkins Street.