Happy birthday ( Stevie Wonder song ) - wikipedia Happy birthday ( Stevie Wonder song ) This song has no relation to the traditional song of the general title. `` Happy Birthday '' UK 7 '' single cover Single by Stevie Wonder from the album Hotter than July B - side Excerpts from Martin Luther King 's speeches ( 12 `` ) `` Happy Birthday ( Sing Along ) '' ( 7 `` ) Released 1981 Format 7 '' single, 12 '' single Recorded 1980 Genre R&B Length 5 : 53 Label Motown Songwriter ( s ) Stevie Wonder Producer ( s ) Stevie Wonder Stevie Wonder singles chronology `` Lately '' ( 1981 ) `` Happy Birthday '' ( 1981 ) `` That Girl '' ( 1981 ) `` Lately '' ( 1981 ) `` Happy Birthday '' ( 1981 ) `` That Girl '' ( 1981 ) German 12 '' single cover `` Happy Birthday '' is a 1981 single written, produced, and performed by Stevie Wonder for the Motown label. Wonder, a social activist, was one of the main figures in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. become a national holiday, and created this single to make the cause known. Besides being released as a single, the song also appears on Wonder 's album Hotter Than July. Contents 1 Background 2 Personnel 3 References 4 External links Background The song, one of many of Wonder 's songs to feature the use of a keyboard synthesizer, features Wonder lamenting the fact that anyone would oppose the idea of a Dr. King holiday, where `` peace is celebrated throughout the world '' and singing to King in the chorus, `` Happy birthday to you ''. The holiday, he proposes, would facilitate the realization of Dr. King 's dreams of integration and `` love and unity for all of God 's children ''. Wonder used the song to popularize the campaign, and continued his fight for the holiday, holding the Rally for Peace Press Conference in 1981. United States President Ronald Reagan approved the creation of the holiday, signing it into existence on November 2, 1983. The first official Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, held the third Monday in January of each year, was held on January 20, 1986, and was commemorated with a large - scale concert, where Stevie Wonder was the headlining performer. Although the single failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100, it charted on the R&B chart, and it became one of Wonder 's biggest hits in the UK, reaching No. 2 in the charts in August 1981. Wonder also performed this song at the Diamond Jubilee Concert in London for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Personnel Stevie Wonder - Vocals, Synthesizer, Drums, Background Vocals, ARP synthesizer, Keyboards, Bass Melodeon References Jump up ^ `` MLK Day : Why on Monday and what was Stevie Wonder 's role ? ''. USA TODAY. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 18. Jump up ^ Chartstats.com - `` Happy Birthday '' UK chart info Jump up ^ `` Stars perform at Diamond Jubilee concert ''. BBC News. 2012 - 06 - 04. Retrieved 2012 - 06 - 06. External links Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics Stevie Wonder Studio albums The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie Tribute to Uncle Ray With a Song in My Heart Stevie at the Beach Up - Tight Down to Earth I Was Made to Love Her Someday at Christmas Eivets Rednow For Once in My Life My Cherie Amour Signed, Sealed & Delivered Where I 'm Coming From Music of My Mind Talking Book Innervisions Fulfillingness ' First Finale Songs in the Key of Life Hotter than July In Square Circle Characters Conversation Peace A Time to Love Ten Billion Hearts When The World Began Gospel Inspired by Lula Live albums Recorded Live : The 12 Year Old Genius Stevie Wonder Live Live at the Talk of the Town Natural Wonder Soundtracks Stevie Wonder 's Journey Through `` The Secret Life of Plants '' The Woman in Red Jungle Fever Compilations Looking Back Stevie Wonder 's Original Musiquarium I Song Review : A Greatest Hits Collection At the Close of a Century Ballad Collection The Definitive Collection 20th Century Masters The Complete Stevie Wonder Top ten singles `` Fingertips - Part 2 '' `` Uptight ( Everything 's Alright ) '' `` Blowin ' in the Wind '' `` A Place in the Sun '' `` I Was Made to Love Her '' `` I 'm Wondering '' `` Shoo - Be-Doo - Be-Doo - Da - Day '' `` For Once in My Life '' `` My Cherie Amour '' `` Yester - Me, Yester - You, Yesterday '' `` Never Had a Dream Come True '' `` Signed, Sealed, Delivered I 'm Yours '' `` Heaven Help Us All '' `` If You Really Love Me '' `` Superstition '' `` You Are the Sunshine of My Life '' `` Higher Ground '' `` Living for the City '' `` He 's Misstra Know - It - All '' `` You Have n't Done Nothin ' '' `` Boogie On Reggae Woman '' `` I Wish '' `` Sir Duke '' `` Send One Your Love '' `` Master Blaster ( Jammin ' ) '' `` I Ai n't Gonna Stand for It '' `` Happy Birthday '' `` That Girl '' `` Do I Do '' `` Ebony and Ivory '' `` I Just Called to Say I Love You '' `` Love Light in Flight '' `` Part - Time Lover '' `` That 's What Friends Are For '' `` Go Home '' Other singles `` Hey Harmonica Man '' `` Hey Love '' `` I Do n't Know Why '' `` Never Dreamed You 'd Leave in Summer '' `` Superwoman ( Where Were You When I Needed You ) '' `` Do n't You Worry ' bout a Thing '' `` As '' `` Another Star '' `` Lately '' `` Ribbon in the Sky '' `` Overjoyed '' `` Faith '' Other songs `` You and I ( We Can Conquer the World ) '' `` I Believe ( When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever ) '' `` They Wo n't Go When I Go '' `` Knocks Me Off My Feet '' `` Pastime Paradise '' `` Is n't She Lovely '' `` Black Man '' Collaborations `` Ebony and Ivory '' `` We Are the World '' `` Just Good Friends '' `` California Roll '' Related articles Discography Lula Mae Hardaway Syreeta Wright KJLH Wonderin ' `` Wonder - ful '' Book Martin Luther King Jr. Speeches, movements, and protests Speeches `` Give Us the Ballot '' ( 1957 ) `` I Have a Dream '' ( 1963 ) `` How Long, Not Long '' ( 1965 ) `` Beyond Vietnam : A Time to Break Silence '' ( 1967 ) `` I 've Been to the Mountaintop '' ( 1968 ) Writings Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story ( 1958 ) The Measure of a Man ( 1959 ) `` What Is Man ? '' `` Second Emancipation Proclamation '' Strength to Love ( 1963 ) Letter from Birmingham Jail ( 1963 ) Why We Ca n't Wait ( 1964 ) Conscience for Change ( 1967 ) Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community ? ( 1967 ) Movements and protests Montgomery bus boycott ( 1955 -- 1956 ) Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom ( 1957 ) Albany Movement ( 1961 -- 1962 ) Birmingham campaign ( 1963 ) March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom ( 1963 ) St. Augustine movement ( 1963 -- 1964 ) Selma to Montgomery marches ( 1965 ) Chicago Freedom Movement ( 1966 ) Mississippi March Against Fear ( 1966 ) Anti-Vietnam War movement ( 1967 ) Memphis Sanitation Strike ( 1968 ) Poor People 's Campaign ( 1968 ) People Family Martin Luther King Sr. ( father ) Alberta Williams King ( mother ) Christine King Farris ( sister ) A.D. King ( brother ) Coretta Scott King ( wife ) Yolanda King ( daughter ) Martin Luther King III ( son ) Dexter Scott King ( son ) Bernice King ( daughter ) Alveda King ( niece ) Other leaders Ralph Abernathy ( colleague ) Ella Baker ( colleague ) James Bevel ( strategist / colleague ) Dorothy Cotton ( colleague ) Jesse Jackson ( protégé ) Bernard Lafayette ( colleague ) James Lawson ( colleague ) John Lewis ( colleague ) Joseph Lowery ( colleague ) Benjamin Mays ( mentor ) Diane Nash ( colleague ) James Orange ( colleague ) Bayard Rustin ( advisor ) Fred Shuttlesworth ( colleague ) C.T. Vivian ( colleague ) Wyatt Walker ( colleague ) Hosea Williams ( colleague ) Andrew Young ( colleague ) Assassination James Earl Ray Lorraine Motel ( now National Civil Rights Museum ) Funeral MLK Records Act Riots Loyd Jowers trial United States House Select Committee on Assassinations Media Film King : A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis ( 1970 documentary ) Our Friend, Martin ( 1999 animated ) Boycott ( 2001 film ) The Witness : From the Balcony of Room 306 ( 2008 documentary ) Alpha Man : The Brotherhood of MLK ( 2011 documentary ) Selma ( 2014 film ) All the Way ( 2016 film ) Television King ( 1978 miniseries ) `` The First Store '' ( The Jeffersons episode, 1980 ) `` Great X-Pectations '' ( A Different World episode, 1993 ) `` The Promised Land '' ( New York Undercover episode, 1997 ) `` Return of the King '' ( The Boondocks episode, 2006 ) Plays The Meeting ( 1987 ) The Mountaintop ( 2009 ) I Dream ( 2010 ) All the Way ( 2012 ) Illustrated Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story ( 1957 comic book ) Music `` Abraham, Martin and John '' ( Dion ) `` March ! For Martin Luther King '' ( John Fahey ) `` Martin Luther King 's Dream '' ( Strawbs ) `` Happy Birthday '' ( Stevie Wonder ) `` Pride ( In the Name of Love ) '' ( U2 ) `` MLK '' ( U2 ) `` King Holiday '' ( King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew ) `` By The Time I Get To Arizona '' ( Public Enemy ) `` Shed a Little Light '' ( James Taylor ) `` Up to the Mountain '' ( Patti Griffin ) `` Never Alone Martin '' ( Jason Upton ) `` Symphony Of Brotherhood '' ( Miri Ben - Ari ) Joseph Schwantner : New Morning for the World ; Nicolas Flagello : The Passion of Martin Luther King ( 1995 album ) `` A Dream '' ( Common featuring Will.i.am ) `` Glory '' ( Common and John Legend ) Related topics Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial National Historic Site King Center for Nonviolent Social Change Dexter Avenue Baptist Church National Civil Rights Museum Authorship issues Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity Season for Nonviolence U.S. Capitol Rotunda sculpture Oval Office bust Homage to King sculpture, Atlanta Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco Landmark for Peace Memorial, Indianapolis Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statue, Milwaukee The Dream sculpture, Portland, Oregon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library Memorials to Martin Luther King Jr. Eponymous streets America in the King Years Civil Rights Movement in popular culture Lee -- Jackson -- King Day Martin Luther King High School ( disambiguation ) Lycée Martin Luther King ( disambiguation ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Happy_Birthday_(Stevie_Wonder_song)&oldid=802366916 '' Categories : 1980 songs 1981 singles Stevie Wonder songs Protest songs Songs in memory of Martin Luther King Jr. Songs about Martin Luther King Jr. Songs written by Stevie Wonder Motown singles Hidden categories : Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows Music infoboxes with deprecated parameters Articles with hAudio microformats Talk Contents About Wikipedia Italiano עברית 日本 語 Português Edit links This page was last edited on 25 September 2017, at 18 : 40. 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Question: who did stevie wonder write happy birthday for
Answer: Martin Luther King, Jr.