Is there a bigger act in the world of music than Stevie Wonder?

Certainly no one person alive has made a bigger impact on the industry. Beginning in 1963 when he hit the scene as a 12-year-old prodigy, Wonder went on to record 22 top-10 U.S. hits, among them the immortal “Superstition” (1972) and “I Just Called to Say I Love You” (1984), both of which hit No. 1. Wonder has also collected 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other solo artist, the most recent this year for a collaboration with Tony Bennett, “For Once In My Life,” a cover of Wonder’s original 1968 hit.

Quite simply, Stevie Wonder is an American treasure, a modern-day Mozart who seemed destined from birth to bring great music to the world. And like the great Austrian composer, it didn’t take long for the world to notice him.

Stevland Hardaway Judkins was born on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw Michigan, one of six children of Lula Mae Hardaway. Like many great success stories, Wonder benefited from a mother’s undying devotion and tough love: She insisted that her son — blind from infancy — be treated like anyone else.

It was his mother who noticed his musical genius, moved the family to Detroit, and enrolled him in piano, conga and harmonica lessons. He was educated at the Michigan School for the Blind in Lansing, Mich., where he was trained in classical piano. (When “Innervisions” won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1973, Wonder refused to accept the award unless Lula walked with him to the podium where he proclaimed, “her strength has led us to this place.” His mother died in 2006).

It wasn’t long before Motown’s Berry Gordy signed him to a record contract — at the age of 11 — and Little Stevie Wonder was on his way.

“For me, everyone who was over 13 was my parent,” Wonder said in an Internet interview last year. “With Motown, I grew up with people that would not let me do certain things. My mother gave me an understanding that as good as you think you are, you’re not so great. There’s always room for improvement. The reality is when people don’t have someone to give them a sense of guidance, and say, ‘Hey, man, that’s not happening,’ it’s really hard.”

But to Stevie Wonder, it’s always been about more than just the music. He is a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party and a civil rights activist who was instrumental in helping persuade Congress to establish the Martin Luther King holiday. He is also active in fighting blindness with the Stevie Wonder Vision Awards, and hunger (Charge Against Hunger).

How does Stevie Wonder want to be remembered?

“Well, I hope in the coming years to do a book about myself,” Wonder said to the Web site Rock Around the World. “There have been people that have set out to write different things about Stevie Wonder in book form. But I believe that the book that I will write will speak of things that many people don’t know about, and definitely would not know about if they have not heard any of my music. But my music actually speaks closer to me than anything I could ever do.”

He has seven children, the youngest, a son named Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris, was born in 2005. He is the second son of Wonder and his current wife, fashion designer Kai Milla Morris. His daughter, Aisha Morris, is a singer, and was the baby heard on his hit single “Isn’t She Lovely,” He was previously married to singer Syreeta Wright, who died of cancer in 2004.

“If you listen to the songs I’ve written, or to the songs of others I record, you will hear how I feel,” Wonder said. “I guess it’s the deepest me. Sometimes I feel that the people who listen to my music, or the fans that I have, are closer to me than some of the people who are my close acquaintances or friends. And that’s why it’s so important to me to give you all that I’m feeling.”