Stevie Wonder Opens Vault for Songs in the Key of Life Outtakes EP
Stevie Wonder has released Songs in the Key of Life - The EP, a four-track collection of outtakes from the sessions for his 1976 album. The EP appeared on September 28, 2026, exactly 50 years after the original record, and was mixed by the album's original engineers, John Fischbach and Gary O Adante. One of the songs, 'I Can See the Sun in Late December,' was previously recorded by Roberta Flack.
The four-track EP gathers material Wonder chose to keep unreleased from the 1976 Songs in the Key of Life sessions. It arrived at 4:54 a.m. on Sept. 28, 2026, echoing the original album's 50th anniversary and a time tied to when those sessions ended. John Fischbach and Gary O Adante, the album's original engineers, mixed it.
Three tracks—"My Life Story of Love," "I'm Into Livin'," and "It's Easier"—had been known mainly as titles. The fourth, "I Can See the Sun in Late December," was recorded by Roberta Flack in 1975 and performed by Wonder on Musikladen in 1974. The original album spanned two LPs plus a bonus EP.
For longtime fans and music historians, this surprise EP may deepen appreciation of Wonder's creative process and the era's studio culture. It could also encourage broader interest in archival releases by other veteran artists, while raising expectations about what else remains unheard. Because the material is framed as a standalone work rather than a reissue bonus, listeners may treat it as a new chapter, not merely a footnote.