"Superstition" is a number-one single written, produced, arranged, and recorded by Stevie Wonder for Motown Records in 1972, when Wonder was twenty-two years old. Included on Wonder's Talking Book album, the song was released as a single in many countries and reached number one in the USA and number four in the UK in February 1973. Stevie Wonder (born Stevland Morris[1] on May 13, 1950), is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, musician, and social activist. ... Motown redirects here. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Talking Book is an album by Lindsay Hartley. ...

Stevie had actually written this song for Jeff Beck, but at the insistance of his manager, he recorded it first. Jeff Beck played guitar on Talking Book and later recorded his own version with The Jeff Beck Group. Geoffrey Arnold (Jeff) Beck (born June 24, 1944 in Wallington, Greater London, England) is a rock/blues guitarist who played in several influential bands in the 1960s and 1970s. ... The Jeff Beck Group was a rock band formed in 1968. ...

Wonder's music had been undergoing a marked change in his music style from Motown pop to a more personal style. This shift had been evident on his two prior albums, but it was Talking Book, and "Superstition" in particular that brought the new style to the awareness of the public in general. The Motown Sound is a style of soul music with distinctive characteristics, including the use of tambourine along with drums, bass instrumentation, a distinctive melodic and chord structure, and a call and response singing style originating in gospel music. ...

"Superstition" is immediately recognizable for its funky opening clavinet riff. The song also heavily features brass instruments, notably a saxophone lead by Trevor Laurence and the electronic Arp and Moog synthesizer sounds that Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff helped to create for the album. Funk music was originated by African Americans, e. ... A clavinet is a keyboard instrument, manufactured by the Hohner company. ... The Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks. ... Image of a trumpet. ... ARP Instruments, Inc. ... The term Moog (pronounced /moʊg/ to rhyme with vogue, not /muːg/) synthesizer can refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for analog and digital music synthesisers. ... A synthesizer (or synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument designed to produce electronically generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modelling synthesis, or phase distortion. ...

Wonder performed "Superstition" on the children's television show Sesame Street in 1972 as well as on Soul Train and WNET's Soul. Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Soul Train is a long-running American music-related syndicated television program. ...

The song has also been covered by Stevie Ray Vaughan (Vaughan and Wonder had mutual admiration for one another; Wonder would later write the song "Stevie Ray Blues" in honor of Vaughan), Melvin Van Peebles and Raven-Symone. Bucky Covington covered this song on the fifth season of American Idol, and his version was included on the CD. In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition (performance or recording) of a previously recorded song. ... Stephen (Stevie) Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990), born in Dallas, Texas, was an American blues guitarist, credited with reviving interest in blues in the 1980s. ... Melvin Van Peebles, as pictured on the movie poster for Melvin Van Peebles (born August 21, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor, director, screenwriter and composer, and the father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles. ... Raven-Symone as Raven Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman (born December 10, 1985 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA), known professionally as Raven-Symoné, is an African American actress, singer, and former model. ... Bucky Covington William Joel Bucky Covington (born November 8, 1977) is an American singer who was the 8th-place finalist on the fifth season of American Idol and was the fifth contestant to be eliminated from the final 12. ... American Idol, formerly known as American Idol: The Search for a Superstar, is an American television series. ...

The distinctive riff was used in a mash up with Alicia Keys' hit "Karma", which was dubbed the "Karmastition Remix". Although this was fairly successful on the dance circuit charts, it was only released to DJ's as a 12" vinyl in the UK. Bastard pop is a musical genre which, in its purest form, consists of the combination (usually by digital means) of the music from one song with the acapella from another. ... Alicia Keys (born Alicia J. Augello-Cook on January 25, 1980) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, composer, pianist, record producer, and occasional actress. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into The Diary of Alicia Keys. ...

Rolling Stone ranked Superstition at #74 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Rolling Stone is an American magazine devoted to music, politics and popular culture. ... The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone magazine published in November 2004. ...

Youre So Vain is a song written by and performed by Carly Simon in 1972. ... Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1945 in New York City) is an American musician who emerged as one of the leading lights of the early 1970s singer-songwriter boom. ... The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. ... This is a list of number-one hits in the United States by year from the Billboard Hot 100. ... January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Crocodile Rock is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. ... Sir Elton Hercules[1] John, CBE[2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. ...

See also

• Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1973 (USA)

These are the Billboard Hot 100 #1 Hits of 1973: See also: 1973 in music, List of Number 1 Hits (USA) Categories: No 1 hits in the United States ...

External links

• Lyrics for "Superstition"