Songs in the Key of Life - The EP

Stevie Wonder has marked the 50th anniversary of Songs in the Key of Life by opening the vault and releasing four previously unheard recordings from the original 1976 sessions. Songs in the Key of Life: The EP features “It’s Easier,” “My Life Story of Love,” “I Can See the Sun in Late December” and “I’m Into Livin’.” Wonder wrote and produced all four tracks, with former Supreme Susaye Greene co-writing “My Life Story of Love.” The recordings also reconnect members of Wonder’s original musical circle, including Gregory Phillinganes, Michael Sembello and Nathan Watts, while Thelma Houston and Deniece Williams contribute background vocals to “I’m Into Livin’.”

The EP significantly expands Wonder’s 50th-anniversary celebration beyond the previously announced 18-date tour, which will feature Songs in the Key of Life performed in its entirety. Rather than contemporary recreations, these are recordings made during the same creative period that produced “Sir Duke,” “I Wish,” “As” and “Isn’t She Lovely,” giving listeners another window into one of Wonder’s defining eras. Original album engineers John Fischbach and Gary O Adante returned to mix the newly released material.

The release also carries a deliberate connection to the album’s history. Wonder issued the EP exactly 50 years after the original album and tied its timing to the final recording session, which reportedly ended at 4:54 a.m. With the anniversary tour bringing the landmark album back to the stage and the EP bringing four recordings out of the archive, Wonder is simultaneously revisiting what audiences have known for five decades and revealing part of the story they had never heard.