I love a good rendition of a song. It is something about another musician taking one of their contemporaries music and presenting it in a new way.  Stevie Wonder does it with Sting’s song Fragile from his 1987 Nothing Like The Sun album.  This is from Sting’s 2nd solo album as he leans further into genre blending of his music even more than the solo debut album, The Dream of Blue Turtles.

Fragile is a beautiful pop ballad that can be reinterpreted in many directions musically.  This version has a jazzy feel but Stevie Wonder adds a 1970s soul vibe reminiscent of his classic period albums.  I could imagine Stevie writing a song like Fragile for himself.

Stevie commented at the beginning of the song that he loves this song.  I knew he was going to kill it. He did! Sting threw his arms in the air when Stevie played the harmonica and said, wow, as he knew the musical genius made the song his own.

I have watched this video many times over the past few weeks.  Even though this was from a decade past, it feels like they just performed this rendition recently and will remembered as one of the greatest renditions in pop music. Thanks to Stevie Wonder for your interpretation and to Sting for writing a gorgeous song!