Song title: Baby Doll
Artist: The Supremes
Composers: Stevie Wonder/Clarence Paul/Ted Hunt
Originally released on: The Supremes Sing Country Western & Pop - Motown 625
Release date: February 22, 1965
Currently available on CD: Not available, was on out-of-print release The Supremes Sing Country Western & Pop - Motown 31983-0327-2
Further info: Stevie had better luck with his second song for The Supremes - which was also his very first song written for another artist to be released. 'Baby Doll', co-written with Clarence Paul and Ted Hunt, was a fairly typical Motown production of a pleasant mid-tempo tune. The song should of course not be confused with The Supremes' second number one hit, 'Baby Love'.

In 1973, Stevie wrote a further song for the group, 'Bad Weather' (see Seventies page), although by that time Diana Ross had left the group. However, some 25 years after 'Baby Doll', Ms Ross recorded Stevie's 'The Force Behind The Power' (see Nineties and beyond).

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Song title: All I Do Is Think About You
Artist: Tammi Terrell
Composers: Stevie Wonder/Clarence Paul/Morris Broadnax
Recorded: December 16, 1965 and January 14, 1966
Originally released on: Unreleased until 2002
Release date: June 3, 2002
Currently available on CD: A Cellarful Of Motown! - Motown 544 619-2
Further info: One of the most mind-boggling aspects of the Motown story is the many unreleased tracks languishing in the record company archives. As Paul Nixon writes in his liner notes for A Cellarful Of Motown, "It's incredible to think that Motown producers, writers, arrangers, singers and musicians all tolied brilliantly on tracks that somehow never saw the light of day until now." The terrific 'All I Do Is Think About You' is a good example - it certainly should have been issued at the time of its recording and not 36 years later.

An alternate version of the song, performed by Brenda Holloway, was released in 2005 (see above). However, Stevie's own, later recording - featuring the slightly abridged title 'All I Do' - was the first version to be released. He began work on the track in the spring of 1977, and the completed recording was finally issued on his 1980 album Hotter Than July.

But despite the long history of 'All I Do', it seems Stevie was not done with this particular song just yet. In 1991 it was reported that he was reworking the song in a more uptempo fashion. "I've changed the whole beat around and put it back up in the original key", he explained. However, this version remains unreleased.

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Song title: Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
Artist: Four Tops
Composers: Stevie Wonder/Ivy Jo Hunter
Originally released on: 4 Tops On Top - Motown 647
Release date: July 1966
Currently available on CD: Four Tops On Top/Reach Out - Motown 013 360-2
Further info: Four Tops were still on the charts with their Top 20 hit 'Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)' when 'Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever' was released as a single (Motown 1096) in May 1966. Surprisingly, this extremely catchy song - featuring Stevie on drums - stalled at number 45 on the Billboard chart. However, it was the first of Stevie's "giveaways" to become something of a standard. Among other artists to record versions of the song are Marvin Gaye, Dion, The Band and Dionne Warwick.

Stevie later reflected on this first period of songwriting: "When I started to write music, I suddenly had the whole mind full of melodies, lyrics and ideas for songs. I don't know where they came from. Suddenly they were just there! I wrote 'Loving You...' for the Four Tops and it was all spontaneous. They were in the studio and I had a new song. I started to play the drums and then we just recorded the song. 'Tears Of A Clown' was done in a similar way."

Note: An alternate mix of 'Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever' was released in 2005 (see next entry).

Song title: Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever - alternate mix
Artist: Four Tops
Composers: Stevie Wonder/Ivy Jo Hunter
Recorded: April 5 and April 14, 1966
Originally released on: Unreleased until 2005
Release date: May 25, 2005
Currently available on CD: Lost Without You: Motown Lost & Found - Hip-O Select B0003626-02
Further info: Ivy Jo Hunter, Stevie's co-writer of 'Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever', was also the producer of the recording. However, he felt that the released mix (see previous entry), supervised by Brian Holland, was not what he had originally envisioned. In Hunter's opinion, Holland "cut things back way too far. It didn't have that oomph." Instead, according to Hunter, Holland was in love with Stevie's drumming and chose to emphasise that in the mix.

The alternate mix on the Lost Without You collection was apparently created especially for this release, and is closer to Ivy Jo Hunter's original concept. "It might have sold more records if it came out this way," says Hunter today.

Song title: What Am I Gonna Do Without You
Artist: The Temptations
Composers: Stevie Wonder/Ivy Jo Hunter
Recorded: April 9, April 27 and June 9, 1966
Originally released on: Unreleased until 1999
Release date: September 28, 1999
Currently available on CD: Lost and Found : You've got to earn it (1962-1968) - Motown 153 366-2
Further info: Yet another recording that was destined to remain unreleased for more than 30 years. In fact, of the two Temptations songs written by Stevie to have been made public, both were issued decades after they were recorded (see 'Angel Doll' below). 'What Am I Gonna Do Without You' was recorded around the time of the group's Top 20 hit, 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg.'

In July and August 1967, a completley new version of 'What Am I Gonna Do Without You' was recorded by The Detroit Spinners, less "bluesy" and more "poppy" than The Temptations' take on the song. Alas, this recording also remained unreleased for decades - 38 years to be exact. It was finally issued on A Cellarful Of Motown! Volume 2 (Motown 982 929-7). The first original Stevie Wonder song to be released by The Detroit Spinners was 'It's A Shame' (see Seventies section).

However, a recording of 'What Am I Gonna Do Without You' was in fact issued back in the Sixties. In October 1967, Chuck Jackson added his lead vocal to the backing track recorded for The Detroit Spinners. The completed recording was then included on his album Arrives (Motown 667), released in February 1968. Jackson's version was also featured on the B-side of his single 'Honey Come Back' (Motown 1152), issued in September 1969.

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The Detroit Spinners' version of 'What Am I Gonna Do Without You' is available on this CD:

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Chuck Jackson's version of 'What Am I Gonna Do Without You' is available on this CD:

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Song title: Everybody Needs Somebody (I Need You)
Artist: JJ Barnes
Composers: Stevie Wonder/Clarence Paul/Morris Broadnax
Recorded: November 17, December 22, 1966, and January 10, 1967
Originally released on: Unreleased until 2005
Release date: July 4, 2005
Currently available on CD: A Cellarful Of Motown! Volume 2 - Motown 982 929-7
Further info: JJ Barnes recorded two Stevie Wonder tracks that were left unreleased at the time, but instead were released by Stevie himself on his I Was Made To Love Her album. JJ Barnes' vocals for 'Everybody Needs Somebody (I Need You)' predated Stevie's vocal overdub, so in a roundabout way it qualifies for inclusion in this list. In the case of the other track - 'Every Time I See You I Go Wild' - it appears Stevie recorded his vocals first. However, more important than any of this nitpicking (!) is that both of Barnes' interpretations are available on the compilation CD A Cellarful Of Motown! Volume 2.

Song title: What Else Is There To Do (But Think About You)
Artist: Four Tops
Composers: Stevie Wonder/Clarence Paul/Morris Broadnax
Originally released on: Reach Out - Motown 660
Release date: July 1967
Currently available on CD: Four Tops On Top/Reach Out - Motown 013 360-2
Further info: Stevie's second and last song for the Four Tops was recorded around the time of his own I Was Made To Love Her album, in early 1967. 'What Else Is There To Do (But Think About You)' appeared on the Four Tops' sixth album, the hit-packed Reach Out.

Song titles:
1. My Love Is Your Love (Forever)
2. After You Put Back The Pieces (I'll Still Have A Broken Heart)
3. The Tears Of A Clown
Artist: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Composers:
1. Stevie Wonder/Clarence Paul/Ivy Jo Hunter
2. Stevie Wonder/Clarence Paul/Morris Broadnax
3. Stevie Wonder/Henry Cosby/Smokey Robinson
Originally released on: Make It Happen - Tamla 276
Release date: September 8, 1967
Currently available on CD: Make It Happen/Special Occasion - Motown 013 183-2
Further info: 'My Love Is Your Love (Forever)' was also recorded in a meatier version by The Isley Brothers in August and October 1967, arguably superior to The Miracles' interpretation. Apparently, it was then left in the vaults and wasn't released until May 1972, on a UK compilation album entitled Tamla Motown Presents The Isley Brothers (MFP 50014). Like The Contours' 'Just A Little Misunderstanding' (see above), this too became a Northern Soul classic.

This version of 'My Love Is Your Love (Forever)' is currently available on Motown Early Classics (Motown 552 122-2). Note: A previously unreleased alternate mix, billed as "single mix", was released on the Isley Brothers CD This Old Heart Of Mine/Soul On The Rocks (Motown 017 190-2) in 2002.

A song better suited to Smokey Robinson's intimate vocal style was the reflective 'After You Put Back The Pieces (I'll Still Have A Broken Heart)'. The track was recorded August 5, 1966.

Stevie's first hit as a songwriter for other artists came with Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' recording of 'The Tears Of A Clown' (co-written with Robinson and Henry Cosby, recorded September 26, 1966). Stevie wrote the tune in 1965, partly inspired by Chip Taylor's 'Wild Thing'. He presented the music to Smokey at a Motown Christmas party that year. "I had the music in my head and I hummed it for Smokey and then he and Henry Cosby wrote the lyrics," Stevie remembered. "We were living in the middle of the music in that studio (Motown) all the time, and there were always someone who needed some kind of help in there."

'The Tears Of A Clown' was included as track on the Make It Happen album - and that, initially, seemed to be that. However, three years later, John Marshall - the head of Tamla Motown in Great Britain - decided that the song had potential beyond the album and released it as a single. On September 12, 1970, 'The Tears Of A Clown' hit number one on the UK charts, the first such achievement for both The Miracles and Stevie Wonder.

While the song was making its way to the top in the UK, on September 2 it was remixed for single release in the US. Upon release later that month (Tamla 54199), it quickly became a hit and topped the US charts for two weeks in December. Again, this was the first number one hit for The Miracles. (The remixed US single version of 'The Tears Of A Clown' is available on the compilation album The Ultimate Collection - Motown 530 857-2.)

A year later, Stevie reflected on the origins of 'The Tears Of A Clown' and its subsequent unexpected success: "The lyric concept I had was completely different. The lyric was Smokey's thing. Anyway it was number one, and I couldn't believe it."

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The remixed US single version of 'The Tears Of A Clown' is available on this CD:

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The Isley Brothers' version of 'My Love Is Your Love (Forever)' is available on this CD:

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The "single mix" of The Isley Brothers' version of 'My Love Is Your Love (Forever)' is available on this CD:

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Song title: Try My True Love
Artist: Marvin Gaye
Composers: Stevie Wonder/Henry Cosby/James Dean
Originally released on: M.P.G. - Tamla 292
Release date: April 30, 1969
Currently available on CD: M.P.G./That's The Way Love Is - Motown 013 187-2
Further info: 'Try My True Love' was recorded in early 1967, but not released until two years later. This was the last song Stevie wrote for Marvin Gaye. However, the pair reunited on record in 1979, when they recorded the single 'Pops, We Love You' together with Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson.

Gaye's classic hit 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' has been a long-time favourite of Stevie's, and he has played it in concert many times. However, this was not the song he chose for his contribution to the 1995 tribute album Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye. Instead, he recorded a version of Gaye's very first hit single, 'Stubborn Kind Of Fellow'.

Finally, one last Marvin Gaye/Stevie Wonder connection. On the song 'Praise', from Gaye's 1981 album In Our Lifetime, he sings the line "Stevie, we really dig you, hope you don't mind this riff from you". It seems it was never made clear exactly which part of the melody or arrangement of the song Gaye felt he had "stolen" - even Stevie himself was unsure. "I don't know what it is from," he told a reporter. "I think it might be a little thing from 'Summer Soft'."