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Stevie Wonder Returns to the Studio

When Stevie Wonder returned to the studio after a 10-year hiatus to record "A Time to Love," he was doing more than getting back to work. He was getting back to the message that has formed the cornerstone of his legendary career.

"Of all the needs that we have right now, more than anything we need a time for love," Wonder said recently, sitting in front of a mixing board in his Wonderland Studios, where his new album was recorded.

The 15 tracks touch on love in all its forms, from physical to unrequited to family affection to the way people treat strangers on the street. Sensing a lack of respect coming "from people in their relationships as well as our leaders in government," Wonder hopes his latest effort will give them all something to think about.

"We need to have more respect for each other," Wonder says, leaning forward for emphasis. "Things have just gone really crazy, out of control. ... We're on a very weird kind of cycle."

At the same time, he acknowledges he wouldn't mind seeing "A Time to Love" revive his critical and commercial acclaim. "I would be VERY happy!" he says, flashing that famous megawatt smile and cackling with delight.

Wonder has recorded more than 30 Top 10 hits, won nearly two dozen Grammys, including one for lifetime achievement, and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame. But at 55, he hasn't had a hit record in more than a decade. He's gained plenty of weight, and most of the hair on top of his head has receded.

Some critics have implied his creative powers also have receded since the 1970s, when he recorded four legendary albums Ч "Talking Book," "Innervisions," "Fulfillingness First Finale" and "Songs in the Key of Life," the last of which included his classic single "Love in Need of Love Today."

Not surprisingly, Wonder disagrees. "For however long it's been, I've just been doing life," he says of his hiatus.

It's been a life filled with both joy and sorrow, which he also captures on the album.

Self-taught on piano, harmonica and other instruments, Steveland Morris was just 12 when he first wowed national television audiences on shows like Dick Clark's "American Bandstand." He was "Little Stevie Wonder" back then, a name he says someone at Motown Records, he can't remember exactly who, came up with.

From his earliest days as a prodigy covering Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" through such songs of his own as "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," "My Cherie Amour" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours," his music has sought to uplift and inform as well as entertain.

With his latest album, he's contributing the royalties from one of the songs, "Shelter In the Rain" to Hurricane Katrina relief.