Description:
"More than a biography, It's No Wonder is a long-overdue act of recognition."--Booklist (starred review)
The biography of Sylvia Moy, Motown's first certified female in-house producer and songwriter, and one of the authors behind classic hits like "My Cherie Amour," "Uptight (Everything's Alright)," and a slew of other time-honored tunes.
Imagine a world without the music of Stevie Wonder. A world without hits like "I Was Made to Love Her" and "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day." That's the world we would live in had it not been for Sylvia Moy, a woman whose legacy has been carefully tucked away within the annals of music history--until now.
It's No Wonder examines the groundbreaking career of the pioneer who battled sexism and broke down barriers to become Motown's first certified female in-house songwriter and producer. As the lone woman in a room full of men, the odds were stacked against Moy from the start. Amidst racial strife at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, most African American women who were allowed into the music industry could only dream of a career as a singer. Nevertheless, the Detroit native found unprecedented success as both a songwriter and producer. In addition to single-handedly saving Stevie Wonder's early career at Motown, Moy solidified herself as one of the label's most prolific composers, penning many of Wonder's classic hits as well as songs for other Motown acts like "Honey Chile," "It Takes Two," "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)," "My Baby Loves Me," "(We've Got) Honey Love," "Forget Me Not," "With a Child's Heart," and countless others.
Meticulously researched and fiercely feminist, It's No Wonder is a historical corrective that restores Sylvia Moy to her rightful place at the forefront of music history.
Review Quotes: "It's No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown's Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy is not just a magnificently written biography, but also an endearing love poem to and for one of the great and unsung sheroes of American popular music and culture. With the sanctified tools of a journalist, historian, soul searcher, and educator, Dr. Margena A. Christian has un-erased Sylvia Moy, a woman, a Black woman, who created hit records for Motown legends like Stevie Wonder, Kim Weston, Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, The Isley Brothers, and Michael Jackson, but has been largely forgotten--until this book. Both a songwriter and producer when few women were even given the chance, let alone their full credits, Sylvia Moy pre-dated and predicted giants like Carole King, Madonna, Missy Elliott, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, and Taylor Swift. Indeed, this is her-story, as only a writer of Christian's immense talent and compassion could produce."--Kevin Powell, bestselling author, acclaimed cultural-music-political critic, Grammy-nominated poet