Happy Birthday Stevie Wonder: Ms. Jessica Shares a Special Story
Back in October, I was invited to LA to help produce one of the concerts at the Taste of Soul Festival. Now if you are not familiar with Taste of Soul, it is one of the biggest festival held on the historic Crenshaw Blvd and Barack Obama Blvd. with 5 sound stages and over 350,000 people in attendance. I, along with 6 other women, were responsible for coordinating everything for 1 of those sound stages. I’m talking SZA, PJ Morton, Fred Hammond, 702, Jon B., Ralph Tresvant, (just to name a few) and the legend himself….STEVIE WONDER! Yup, I was producing a huge concert in LA with Stevie Wonder as the headliner.
See Stevie Wonder and SZA in the background!
When I arrived in LA, my mentor had a car waiting and it immediately took me to our planning area. No hotel, no quick shower, no change of clothes. Nope….we got straight to work.
We were about 5 hours in and all of a sudden I see this man, tall man, long locs, walk right by the door. It was him….STEVIE WONDER! He stopped by to chat with my mentor (the one who booked me for the job) and to check on things.
I was FROZEN. I remember thinking to myself, “Stevie Wonder is in the next room. I am in the same building as Mr. “Superstition”. The man that created the black people Birthday song is just a couple feet away from me. OMG!”
I asked my mentor if I could meet him. She replied “Sure” and walked me and the other ladies down a hallway to a room where he was doing an interview and a live performance. YALL! I was standing in a room with about 8 people watching Stevie sing and play multiple instruments. But it gets better. While he was playing, he invited us to sing along with him. (As soon as I got home I added “Background singer for The Stevie Wonder” to my resume).
When he was done performing, he took pictures with all of us. When it was my turn, I stood beside him, he grabbed my hand and said, “I like your shoes!” I paused (cuz…you know), laughed, and said thank you! I had on the most colorful pair of crocs you have ever seen.
Ms. Jessica, Stevie Wonder, and her colorful shoes
The next day was the concert. It was a HUGE success and we received rave reviews for our work. But the best part for me was meeting The Stevie Wonder. Happy Birthday to a legend!
These are 5 of the 6 DYNAMIC WOMEN, that I now call sisters, that I had the pleasure of not only working with but learning from. This was us when we left the festival. Yes, all 6 of us are crammed into a little car. WE WERE TIDE (but still smiling)! While meeting Stevie Wonder was amazing, these ladies (known as “TJS”) are my blessings!
