Some of the biggest names in American music have hit the campaign trail days before the presidential election.
Bruce Springsteen grabbed his guitar and sang at a rally for the Democratic nominee in Atlanta. Beyoncé spoke and Willie Nelson warbled at a rally for the Democratic contender in Houston. On Sunday night at Target Center in Minneapolis, Stevie Wonder stumped for the candidate he’s been endorsing since the 1960s — love.
“Saying how much you love takes all the negative out of your life,” he urged before singing “I Just Called To Say I Love You.”
In Minneapolis, Wonder never endorsed anyone running for office. Well, actually, he made his White House preference known when he said, “I guess I’ll be drivin’ no Tesla” and “for our next president, I hope she says the nation should put art back in schools.”
And, at one point, he pointed out: “They’re taking rights from women and hiding the truth; we’re far better than that. Even a blind man can see that.”
Ushered onstage by his son Kailand and daughter Aisha (the one who inspired the song “Isn’t She Lovely”), the 25-time Grammy winner delivered more than two dozen songs, several stories and mini pep talks over 2½ hours as part of his get-out-the-vote trek dubbed the Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart tour.
Announced on Sept. 19, the 11-city tour started three weeks later in Pittsburgh and ends Saturday in Chicago, after visits to such battleground states as Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina. Wonder declared the barnstorming “a call for joy over anger, kindness over recrimination, peace over war.”
On Sunday, the longtime activist — who has sung about AIDS and apartheid, among other causes, and advocated for a Martin Luther King holiday — told the assembled: “The future is in your hands. Please vote for bringing unity to this nation.”