Isn’t She Lovely

When Stevie Wonder composed Isn’t She Lovely, he was celebrating a very personal moment: the birth of his daughter Aisha. The recording captures that intimacy in a very direct way. In fact, the song begins with the first cry of a baby, recorded during the actual birth. Later on, we hear Wonder bathing Aisha when she was a little older, sounds that blend with an extensive solo of chromatic harmonica. It’s interesting to note that, while Greg Phillinganes contributed some keyboard parts, most of the instruments we hear are performed by Stevie Wonder himself. Even the bass line, which Nathan Watts initially recorded as a guide, was replaced by Wonder’s own keyboard bass performance.

This track, which lasts more than six minutes in its album version, was included on the album Songs in the Key of Life, released in 1976. Stevie Wonder decided not to release it as a commercial single because he didn’t want to shorten the piece to fit the standard 7-inch format. Despite not being a single, the song gained so much radio airplay that it reached number 23 on the Adult Contemporary chart in January 1977. Over time, it has become a benchmark in both jazz and pop, and many other artists have covered it. In 2012, Stevie Wonder performed it live for Queen Elizabeth II at her Diamond Jubilee concert, adapting the lyrics for the occasion.