NEW YORK (AP) – Stevie Wonder gave an emotional speech that silenced the crowd, Garth Brooks was misty eyed and Billy Joel was classic when he performed “New York State of Mind.”
The ASCAP Centennial Awards on Monday night honored the musical icons – including Joan Baez and Stephen Sondheim – at a gala in New York City.
“It is an amazing world when you think about writing songs and talking about things when people say, ‘How can you write about that and you can’t see them?’ But the reality is seeing is feeling them; feeling them is in the spirit,” Wonder, 64, told the crowd at the Waldorf Astoria.
“You hear (about) pictures about how someone looks and you write songs like ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ – a song I wrote about my first child, Aisha,” he continued. “You write songs like ‘If It’s Magic’ because you say, ‘What is the most magical thing in the world?’ And the most magical thing I see in the world is love.”
Wonder closed the night, singing such staples as “Superstition.” Grammy-winning R&B singer India.Arie honored the legend with a medley of songs including “Blame It on the Sun” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” She said she failed a Greek art class in college because she spent too much time writing down Wonder lyrics.