Jim Otey / Pollstar
Updated 10:00 PDT Thu, Aug 09 2007

The day after Stevie Wonder announced he was going out on tour for the first time in more than 10 years, Pollstar got a chance to spend a few minutes talking with the R&B legend about the tour, his upcoming album and what inspires him.

Of course, the first question that came to mind was what kept Wonder off the road for so long. The singer explained he's just been busy doing other things.

"Well you know, I have two new children, and I've been working on producing some stuff and just kind of living life," he told Pollstar. "I have a radio station, and I've also been busy with that."

He said something that happened shortly after the death of his mother - who was the inspiration for his hit "I Just Called To Say I Love You" - led him to the decision to tour again.

"It was last year, in the latter part of May, when my mother passed away," Wonder said. "I was supposed to do this wedding that was on the books in Hawaii, and I was kind of undecided.

"I said, 'Well, I'm not going to do it.' [And then] it was kind of like the spirit of my mother came into my mind and my soul and said, 'You know what? You need to take every single opportunity that you can to show love…and share in celebration of song for those who are experiencing something wonderful. Use this time to take that pain and turn it into love.'"

Wonder played the show in Hawaii, and came to a realization.

"You know what?," he said. "I need to go out on the road throughout the country and just show my appreciation to the people that made it possible for me to do many things for my family and loved ones in their lifetimes. And my mother, [to] give her an opportunity and chance that she would have never had had it not been for the blessing that God gave me and I was able to share with you all."

The venues for his tour are all mid-sized amphitheatres, and ticket prices are a fraction of the price an artist of Wonder's stature could easily command. The singer explained he was very involved in both the decision to play smaller venues to keep things relaxed this go round and to keep ticket prices down.

"I think ultimately I'm going to come back out and do some other stuff, but it'll be different than this," he said. "This is a very intimate, close situation, a night of intimate excitement - a Wonder summer night! - a chance to do a lot of different songs with a smaller group. Probably five musicians and myself will be there. We'll just do our thing, and we'll have the audience sing sometimes in the background. We'll just have fun with this thing.

"I also wanted to keep it fair and keep it reasonable, in a time when things are a little crazy. As much as, you know, obviously this is my keep, how I do my thing, [this tour's] not as much about that as it's really about me doing what I'm saying."

Wonder said while he loves touring as much as he loves being in the studio, they're very different things.
"One is kind of like having a canvas that you're working with, and one is kind of like [you're] on your feet and moving. But they both have their very significant place."

During the tour, Wonder will be performing hits from throughout his career, along with something else his fans have been waiting some time for - songs from a new album.

"It's a tribute to my mother, so it's going to come out before her birthday, which would have been the 11th of January. It's called Gospel Inspired By Lula, but it's not - there's a couple of traditional songs obviously - but it's not gospel as you know it."

The singer said he believes gospel is any song that "spreads the good word" and deals with "the principles that were given us that we need to live by," like love, caring and doing right by your fellow man.

"A lot of what people see as being political is really just social and moral rights that should happen for people.

"As much as 'Love's In Need Of Love Today' and 'A Time To Love' may not be considered gospel songs, they're speaking of those things we need to confront and deal with. So a lot of the songs will have those kind of themes."

Since his reason for touring again is to reach as many fans as possible, Pollstar asked Wonder about the possibility of a Vegas residency à la Celine Dion and Elton John. The singer said it wasn't out of the question, but he'd have to overcome a couple of things first.

"It's a thought. I think that if I could do it and not feel that I was going to be bored after a few days. That it didn't get repetitious. If I had the flexibility of being able to be expressive in a kind of limitless situation.

"I can't say that I won't ever do it. I can say that whenever it does happen, it will be different than how it's typically been done."

Because it's not every day you get to pick the mind of a living legend, we asked who Wonder is listening to these days.

"I love Beyoncé a lot, and there's really good rap stuff I like a lot, like Common. I like Ne-Yo too."

Does the singer think having so many R&B artists at the top of the charts right now is a sign of a resurgence of the genre? His answer was pure Stevie Wonder.

"I don't think it ever really went anywhere. I just think that people like Amy Winehouse are re-discovering it and coming up with a different way of making statements.

"I think music is a circle, like life's a circle. We go here and we go there and then we come back to the basics."

Wonder's tour kicks off August 23 at Humprey's Concerts By The Bay in San Diego and will hit 13 cities around the country before wrapping up September 20 at Bank Of America Pavilion in Boston.

Tickets start going on sale August 11 through Ticketmaster.