"Did I Hear You Say You Love Me" by Stevie Wonder

Born Steveland Morris in Michigan, Stevie Wonder started off his illustrious career in music in 1962. Billed as "Little Stevie Wonder," he was only 13 at the time of his first hit. Wonder has been racking up chart hits since the early 60s, scoring #1 smashes in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. In addition to countless awards and honors, he is ranked as the 6th most successful chart artist of all-time.

Wonder has amassed nine #1 hits, his most successful being a duet with Paul McCartney: 1982's "Ebony And Ivory" stayed at the top for seven weeks. His first #1 goes back to 1963 when "Fingertips - Pt 2" hit the top spot and secured a place in the R&R Hall of Fame. Wonder himself was inducted in 1989. His final #1 was in 1985 when "Part-Time Lover" claimed the top spot. His final Top 10 was the follow-up single, "Go Home," which hit #10.

Wonder maintained a bit of a chart presence in the 90s with songs like "Gotta Have You" and "For Your Love," which reached #92 and #53, respectively. "For Your Love" earned him two more Grammys. His final chart appearance was in 2005 when "So What The Fuss" peaked at #96, a song that also featured En Vogue and Prince. With that song, Wonder became one of the elite artists to have had a charting single for 5 decades in a row.

"Did I Hear You Say You Love Me" is a hidden gem in his catalogue that kicks off his 1980 release, "Hotter Than July."

"I Can't Wait" by Deniece Williams

Hailing from Gary, Indiana, Deniece Williams started her career in music as a backup singer for Stevie Wonder in the early 70s. Her first charting single after striking out on her own was "Free," which reached #25 in 1977.

It wasn't long before the world embraced her vocal talents and helped Williams to the #1 spot. Williams claimed that honor twice: "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" hit #1 in 1978 and "Let's Hear It For The Boy," from the Footloose soundtrack, hit #1 in 1984.

Unexpectedly, her career began to wane after that massive success and "I Can't Wait," which seems like a perfectly suitable song for the era, stalled at #66 in 1988, and became her final chart appearance.

"Get Rid Of Him" by Dionne Warwick

Dionne Warwick is one of the most popular vocalists of all-time, ranking #34. She was also the 23rd most successful chart artist of the 60s. Her long-running chart career spans 4 decades and began when "Don't Make Me Over" peaked at #21 in 1963. The song has since earned an entry into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Warwick herself was awarded the Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in 2019.

Dionne Warwick is the older sister of Dee Dee Warwick and Whitney Houston's cousin. The bulk of her extensive catalogue was written by the epic songwriting duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The biggest hits Warwick had each decade include "(Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls" (#2 in 1968), "Then Came You" (#1 in 1974, a team effort with The Spinners), and "That's What Friends Are For" (#1 for four weeks in 1986, a group effort with Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight). Warwick scored one lone chart appearance in the 90s when a new superstar version of "What The World Needs Now Is Love" crawled up to #87 in 1998.

Going all the way back to the beginnings of her stellar career, Warwick was churning out so many great tunes that the chart couldn't hold them all. "Get Rid Of Him" from 1964 is a fine example.

"Knock Me Down" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Like most bands that have been going for four decades, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have undergone serious evolution in sound and style...yet you can always identify their tunes. These days, the boys have mellowed out considerably and their innovative funk and garage rock rap are largely a distant memory.

But the trade off was hits. The band scored their biggest in 1992 with the ballad, "Under The Bridge," which nearly hit #1 but had to settle for #2. Their two other top 10 hits were also ballads: "Scar Tissue" reached #9 in 1999 and "Dani California" #6 in 2006. Other notable radio-friendly tunes included "Soul To Squeeze" (#22, from the movie Coneheads), "Otherside" (#14), and "Snow (Hey Oh)" (#22). Why the excellent "Tear" from the 2002 album "By The Way" didn't hit the charts is a mystery - it contains one of their greatest choruses.

Going back to their early days in the 80s, "Knock Me Down" is the song that turned me onto the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It comes from their breakthrough 1989 record, "Mother's Milk." While it didn't produce a charting single, tunes like "Knock Me Down" and their insanely good cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" got them a lot of airplay and attracted fans like me to their quirky style.

"Promise To You Girl" by Paul McCartney

How do you top being a member of one of the greatest bands in history? You don't. But you can come real close. Paul McCartney has had a phenomenal run after his time in The Beatles, and with a new record out this month, he doesn't show signs of stopping even at the age of 76. (By the way, his new single "Come On To Me" proves he still has the magic.)

The Beatles were the #1 artist of the 60s, and McCartney came close to being the #1 artist of the 70s (he landed at #2 since Elton John claimed #1). McCartney currently ranks as the 18th most successful artist of all-time, and this does not include his time with The Beatles.

McCartney came out of The Beatles strong, with the #5 hit "Another Day" quickly followed by the #1 smash, "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey." He'd hit the #1 spot five more times in the 70s and three times in the 80s. Some of his biggest hits of the 80s included duets: "Ebony and Ivory" with Stevie Wonder was #1 for 7 weeks in 1982, and he scored two hits with Michael Jackson: "The Girl Is Mine" hit #2 and "Say, Say, Say" was #1 for 6 weeks.

McCartney fever began to fade in the 90s as silly love songs and catchy pop riffs fell out of fashion, but his 2005 record, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" was widely acclaimed to be a significant comeback album. "Promise To You Girl" is just one of the many fine tracks gracing this record. Nothing from this terrific record charted, nor has any of his subsequent work. However, an unlikely hit sung with Rihanna and Kayne West surfaced in 2015 that took McCartney back to #4 on the charts (his first top 10 hit in 30 years, since "Spies Like Us" reached #7 in 1985).

"I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" by Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is one of the greatest musicians of our age and has dominated the music scene since his first hit, "After Midnight", reached #18 in 1970. Most of his biggest hits came from that decade, but he still had a productive career adapting his rhythm and blues rock to the 80's sounds. In the 90s he came back in a big way with the heartbreaking hit "Tears In Heaven", which went to #2 in 1992. Clapton went on to have one of the most successful "unplugged" albums ever, hitting #1 for 3 weeks and selling over 10 million copies.

2001's "Reptile" didn't spawn any charting singles (Clapton's last top 100 hit was "My Father's Eyes", which hit #16 in 1998), but the album did very well, clawing its way to #5. I think it is one of his best records from that decade - it shifts between musical styles effortlessly yet still sounds like a cohesive collection. "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" is among the rocking tracks on this record, initially a #11 hit for Stevie Wonder in 1980, who sounded as if he were mocking a country singer.

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