Stevie Wonder Unvaults Four Songs From the Key of Life Sessions, Timed to the Minute of the Wrap

Stevie Wonder released four unheard songs from the Songs in the Key of Life sessions at 4:54 a.m. Pacific time on Monday (Sept. 28), the minute the original sessions wrapped. That was when bassist Nathan Watts said “Fo’FiftyFo’,” Rolling Stone reports, an in-joke Wonder and his musicians have used to mark the end of a session ever since.

The EP, called Songs in the Key of Life: The EP by Pitchfork and Songs in the Key of Life 50: The EP by Rolling Stone, arrived on the 50th anniversary of the album's Sept. 28, 1976 release. Wonder chose the songs himself from the outtakes: “It’s Easier,” “My Life Story of Love,” “I Can See the Sun in Late December” and “I’m Into Livin’.” The album's original engineers, John Fischbach and Gary O. Adante, mixed them.

We’ve lived with Songs in the Key of Life for fifty years, but there’s still more to hear. We didn’t add these songs to the album, but they were part of what I was feeling and discovering as we made it. They bring me back to that time in my life, and now they get to become part of yours.

Stevie Wonder, in a press release, Pitchfork

What's on it

Billboard hears an EP that sounds like it belongs with the album. “It’s Easier” is a buoyant breakup song on which Wonder sings every vocal and plays Fender Rhodes, drums, percussion and drum machines alongside Michael Sembello and longtime bassist Watts, and it has him seeking help from a “love physician.” “My Life Story of Love,” a bossa nova-like piece co-written with former Supremes member Susaye Greene, has Gregory Phillinganes on keys. “I Can See the Sun in Late December” is a gentle ballad about seeing the beauty of the natural world. “I’m Into Livin’” is a horn-spiked groove with backing vocals from Shirley Brewer, Thelma Houston and Deniece Williams.

It's EasierStevie Wonder - Topic · Watch on YouTube ↗

Why it matters

Songs in the Key of Life is still the benchmark for the idea of the album as an event. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, was the first album by an American artist to enter at the top and the third overall, spun off “I Wish” and “Sir Duke” as Hot 100 No. 1s, and won Album of the Year at the 1977 Grammys, Wonder's third straight win in the category, per Complex. Rolling Stone ranks it No. 4 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. (Other classic records are getting vault treatment too: see Bon Iver's 22, A Million anniversary edition, also out this week.)

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The songs also work as an advance for the road. Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life Performances: 50th Anniversary Tour plays the whole double album, 17 songs in all, according to Rolling Stone. It opens Oct. 13 at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, England, reaches Madison Square Garden on Nov. 19 and closes Dec. 19 in Los Angeles, and Complex says it is sold out.

What's next: the EP is on streaming now, and the Birmingham opener is two weeks away.

Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.