Episode 18: Stevie Wonder: "I wanted to be where the music was"

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Today, one of the most influential musicians of the modern era celebrates his 76th birthday.

Blind since infancy, Stevie Wonder turned extraordinary hardship into extraordinary art — creating some of the most joyful, political and beloved music ever recorded.

HOT1027’s Tara Penny takes a look...

13 May English South Africa Music

Episode 27: Amy Winehouse: "I make music I'd like to hear"

Today would have been Amy Winehouse’s 43rd birthday. With the beehive, the tattoos and that extraordinary voice, she looked and sounded like nobody else. But behind the tabloid headlines was a gifted songwriter who turned heartbreak into some of the most brutally honest music of her generation. HOT1027’s Tara Penny…

14 Sep 3 min

Episode 36: Freddie Mercury: "I don't think anyone will ever know the real me"

Today would have been the 80th birthday of one of rock music’s greatest showmen. Freddie Mercury could hold 70-thousand people in the palm of his hand — yet away from the stage, Queen’s flamboyant footman was intensely private. HOT1027’s Tara Penny takes a look …

4 Sep 3 min

Episode 35: Michael Jackson: "I just wanted to be loved by everyone"

Today would have been Michael Jackson’s 68th birthday. Few artists have ever reached his level of fame — and perhaps even fewer paid such a complicated price for it. HOT1027’s Tara Penny takes a look…

28 Aug 4 min

Episode 34: Shania Twain: Episode 34: Shania Twain: "I didn't want to get up in front of people"

Today, Shania Twain turns 61. She’s the woman who took country music into the pop mainstream, sold more than 100-million records and gave us some of the biggest singalong anthems of the 1990s. But behind the leopard print and infectious confidence is an extraordinary story of poverty, violence, devastating loss,…

28 Aug 3 min

Episode 33: Madonna: "I'm hardwired to just keep going"

Today, Madonna turns 68. She’s sold more than 300-million records, reinvented herself across five decades and changed the rules for women in popular music. But the Queen of Pop didn’t arrive with money, connections or an easy road to fame. Her story is one of extraordinary ambition, survival — and…

15 Aug 3 min