The concert was held to commemorate the 60 th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II inheriting the British crown. This event was attended by members of the British Royal Family. Stevie Wonder performed this song in 2012 at the Diamond Jubilee Concert in London.Martin Luther King is the only American who was not a President whose birthday is a national holiday.

King’s widow) finally came into fruition in November of 1983 through the approval of US President Ronald Reagan.

The efforts to create a Martin Luther King national holiday (spearheaded by Stevie Wonder and Coretta Scott King, Dr.

King holiday failing to get passed into law.

On multiple occasions, Wonder said he wrote this song in direct response to a 1979 bill to create a nationwide Dr.

It’s noteworthy to mention that Wonder began this campaign when he was just 17.

In other words, Stevie Wonder used the song as part of his campaign to create a national holiday in honor of Dr.

(the same place Martin Luther King made the unforgettable “I Have a Dream” speech back in 1963) to get the holiday legalized. Over 100,000 people attended this event, and of course Stevie performed “Happy Birthday” at the rally. As such, on 15 January 1981 Stevie Wonder organized a rally at the National Mall in Washington D.C. King and a call for others to join Stevie in observing 15 January 1981 “as a national holiday” a few years before Martin Luther King Day was officiated.

Moreover the sleeve liner of the entire “Hotter Than July” album served as a tribute to Dr.

In fact on the B-side of the “Happy Birthday” single were excerpts of speeches by Dr.

This song was actually written in recognition of the birthday of renowned civil rights leader Dr.

Wonder also served a number of other roles in the creation of this track, including playing the drums, bass melodeon, ARP synthesizer and keyboard synthesizer.

In addition to writing and singing lead vocals on the track, Stevie Wonder also produced it.

“Happy Birthday” was released on 29 September 1980 as part of Stevie Wonder’s 19 th album, “Hotter Than July”.

Morgan Freeman, Cyndi Lauper, Aretha Franklin, Ringo Starr and Dave Stewart were just some of the many famous faces that surrounded Wonder and sang with him during his performance. During the performance, Wonder was joined on stage by numerous big names in the world of entertainment.

Happy birthday song by stevie wonder