'{{Short description|American songwriter (1930–2006)}} {{Infobox person | name = Lula Mae Hardaway | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|01|11|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[Eufaula, Alabama]], U.S. | nationality = American | death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2006|05|31|1930|01|11}} | death_place = [[Los Angeles|Los Angeles, California]], U.S. | othername = | occupation = [[Songwriter]] | years_active = }} '''Lula Mae Hardaway''' (January 11, 1930 – May 31, 2006) was an American songwriter and the mother of musician [[Stevie Wonder]]. She spent her early adult life in [[Saginaw, Michigan|Saginaw]], [[Michigan]], but from 1975 until her death in 2006, lived in [[Los Angeles, California]].<ref name="newyorktimes">{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/09/arts/music/09hardaway.html?_r=1 | title = Lula Mae Hardaway, 76, Stevie Wonder's Mother, Dies | date = 9 June 2006 | work = The New York Times |agency=The Associated Press | access-date = 9 February 2011 }}</ref> == Life == Lula Mae Hardaway was born in [[Eufaula, Alabama]], on January 11, 1930, the daughter of sharecropper Noble Hardaway.<ref name="newyorktimes" /> Her childhood years were marked by much hardship and she was moved around among relatives before eventually reaching [[Saginaw, Michigan]], where she married the much older Calvin Judkin, father of her children. The blindness of her third child, [[Stevie Wonder|Stevland]], is attributed to having been born weeks prematurely and then receiving too much oxygen in an incubator.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20060611&slug=hardawayobit11|title=Lula Hardaway, pop star's mother|newspaper=[[Seattle Times]]|first=Jocelyn Y. |last=Stewart|date=June 11, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=African American Lives|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rYgRDAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Lula+Mae+Hardaway%22&pg=PA907|editor-first=Henry Louis |editor-last=Gates|editor-link=Henry Louis Gates, Jr.|editor2=[[Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham]]|page=907|chapter=Wonder, Stevie|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2004| isbn=978-0-19-516024-6 }}</ref> After moving with her family to [[Detroit]], she divorced.<ref name="newyorktimes" /> It was in Detroit that the musical talents of Stevland – who by the age of 10 "was playing and singing gospel tunes in church, and then joining adults singing rhythm and blues on the street corners" – came to the notice of [[Berry Gordy]], founder of [[Motown Records]], who dubbed him "Little Stevie Wonder".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_D8JAQAAMAAJ|title=Blind Faith: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway, Stevie Wonder's Mother : an Authorized Biography of Lula Hardaway|isbn=978-0-684-86979-7 |via=Google Books |last1=Love |first1=Dennis |last2=Brown |first2=Stacy |date=2002 |publisher=Simon & Schuster }}</ref> Hardaway co-wrote many of her son's songs during his teenage years, including the hit singles "[[I Was Made to Love Her (song)|I Was Made to Love Her]]", "[[Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours]]", "You Met Your Match" and "[[I Don't Know Why I Love You]]", co-writing four songs on the 1968 album ''[[For Once in My Life (Stevie Wonder album)|For Once in My Life]]''.<ref name="newyorktimes" /> For co-writing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered", she was co-nominated for the 1970 [[Grammy Award for Best R&B Song]]. In 1974, Hardaway was with her then 23-year-old son at the [[Hollywood Palladium]] when he received his [[16th Annual Grammy Awards|first Grammy]], one of several he received that night.<ref name="Los Angeles Times"/> ==Legacy== Hardaway was the subject of a 2002 [[authorized biography]] entitled ''Blind Faith: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway, Stevie Wonder's Mother'' ({{ISBN|0-7435-2695-3}}) by Dennis Love and Stacy Brown.<ref name="Los Angeles Times">{{cite web | url=http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jun/10/local/me-hardaway10 | title=Lula Mae Hardaway, 76; Stevie Wonder's Mother Helped Him Write Lyrics | work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=June 10, 2006 | access-date=December 17, 2014 | author=Jocelyn Y. Stewart}}</ref> When she died in 2006, she had 20 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A service for her was held at [[West Angeles Church of God in Christ]]. There were remarks by Motown founder [[Berry Gordy]] and songs by gospel singer [[Yolanda Adams]] and others.<ref name="Los Angeles Times"/> She is interred at [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]] in [[Glendale, California]].<ref>[https://rnbphilly.com/118401/stevie-wonder-visits-michael-jacksons-tomb/ WRNB]</ref> == References == {{Reflist}} == External links == * {{Allmusic|class=artist|id=mn0000323968}} * {{IMDb name|1922383}} {{Authority control}} {{Stevie Wonder}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardaway, Lula Mae}} [[Category:1930 births]] [[Category:2006 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American musicians]] [[Category:20th-century American women musicians]] [[Category:American women songwriters]] [[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)]] [[Category:Musicians from Saginaw, Michigan]] [[Category:People from Eufaula, Alabama]] [[Category:Songwriters from Alabama]] [[Category:Songwriters from Michigan]] [[Category:Stevie Wonder]] {{songwriter-stub}}'