By Jawn Murray, BlackVoices.com
R&B icon Stevie Wonder is gearing up for his first all-gospel CD.
The Grammy-winning music veteran, who has collaborated on gospel songs in the past with BeBe Winans ('Jesus Children of America'), The Williams Brothers ('Too Close') and Kirk Franklin ('Why'), is recording an album called 'The Gospel Inspired by Lula,' which is a tribute to his late mother Lula Mae Hardaway.
Wonder's mother passed in May 2006 and he originally hoped to have CD available to consumers on Jan. 11, 2008, which would have been her 77th birthday, but he's yet to complete the recording process.
During a recent teleconference call to promote his "A Wonder's Summer Night Tour," Wonder detailed the gospel endeavor.
"Some of it is going to be traditional gospel but some of it is going to be ... I'm trying to do some (different) stuff," he explained. "I might do something in Arabic. I might do something in Hebrew. My whole thing of the title is just saying 'Spreading the good word, the message."
While many of Wonder's R&B offerings have featured inspirational gems like 'If Your Love Cannot Be Moved' featuring Kim Burrell off of his 2005 release, 'A Time 2 Love,' his all-gospel CD will include new 
material in addition to unreleased inspirational records that the public has never heard.
"I've written a few things on the road and ... I've had songs throughout the years that I never recorded and so a combination of those songs and some traditional things will make up for the project," he shared, before adding: "And I'm excited about it."
In addition, Wonder is working on an additional project called 'Through the Eyes of Wonder,' which is a performance piece that will depict his experiences as a blind man.
"What I want to do with our live performances is to create visuals that [give] my take on how I see the world and how most various things affected me," he explained.
His "A Wonder's Summer Night Tour" will continue throughout the summer with plans to hit Europe and
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VIDEO: Watch this clip of Deborah Cox, Joe & CeCe Winans paying tribute to Stevie Wonder and him later performing as well.
1.
I AM FROM CHICAGO AND "STEVIE" PERFORMED LAST NIGHT AT "THE TASTE OF
CHICAGO" IT'S
A MAJOR EVENT HERE. WHILE I DID NOT HAVE
THE PLEASURE OF SEEING HIM PERFORM MY 30
SOMETHING SON AND DAUGHTER DID.HE BLEW THE
CROWD AWAY ACCORDING TO THIER REPORT AND JUST ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE'S.
MY SON HAS JUST RECENTLY STARTED TO VENTURE OUT AND
HE WAS SO THRILLED TO BE ABLE TO CATCH
THE LEGEND IN PERSON. HE PERFORMED ALONG
WITH HIS DAUGHTER AND INTRODUCED HIS GRANDSON TO THE MULTITUDE OF STEVIE WONDER
FANS IN ATTENDANCE. MY SON SEEMED SUPRIZED
THAT SO MUCH OF THE CROWD WAS SO RACIALLY
AND ETHNICALLY DIVERSE. I GUESS HE NEVER
REALIZED HOW BROAD THE RANGE OF PEOPLE STEVIE'S MUSIC TOUCHES. ITHINK THE MOST
AMAZING THING IS THAT OVER THE YEARS THE
TREMENDOUS TALENT THAT HE POSESSES HAS NOT
DEMINISHED. MY SON SAYS HE SOUNDS EVERY
BIT AS GOOD AS HE DID TWENTY YEARS AGO WHEN I SAW HIM PERFORM FOR THE
SAME VENUE. I KNOW THE LOSS OF HIS MOTHER MUST BE A CRUSHING BLOW AND
MY HEART AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO HIM. I CAN HARDLY WAIT,FOR "THE GOSPEL
INSPIRED BY LULA ",BUT "STEVIE" GET YOURSELF TIGHT ,AND WHEN THE TIME
IS RIGHT WE WON'T HAVE TO WAIT OR WONDER.
G.REDD ( \\\\\\\\\\\\ at 6:52PM on Jun 29th 2008