Sir Duke

Stevie Wonder recorded Sir Duke during the Songs in the Key of Life sessions, which were centered at Crystal Sound in Hollywood with additional work at Record Plant and the Hit Factory. Wonder wrote, produced, arranged, and performed lead vocals, Fender Rhodes, and percussion, joined by Nathan Watts, Raymond Pounds, Michael Sembello, Ben Bridges, Raymond Maldonado, Steve Madaio, Hank Redd, and Trevor Lawrence. Sir Duke was released as a single in 1977 and became one of the major hits from Songs in the Key of Life. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard R&B chart, and its lyric saluted Duke Ellington alongside Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald. Sir Duke remains one of Wonder's defining celebrations of twentieth-century Black popular music and jazz lineage. Its horn-led arrangement and chorus have kept it prominent in radio rotation, live performance, school-band repertoire, and later covers.