Entertainment
9 May, 2025
Timeless sounds of soul
THE timeless soul sounds of Stevie Wonder will echo through Cairns this weekend as Motown recording artist Peter Cupples bring Australia’s first Stevie Wonder tribute with Celebrating the Music of Stevie Wonder to The Reef Hotel Casino.
One of its kind, Celebrating the ‘Music of Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life’ is bringing the hits of one of the most influential artists in music history paired with one of the greatest albums of all time to the BAR36 stage today and tomorrow, led by the unique vocals of former lead singer of Motown’s only all-white band STYLUS, Peter Cupples.
The show, not only features Cupples’ remarkable vocals, but the company of a live band including horns, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. The show is free to attend.
“About seven years ago I put together this show that I’m bringing to Cairns which brings together the best of Stevie Wonder,” Mr Cupples said.
“I’ve taken this show around Australia, and it has been in Cairns once before at the early stages and it’s finally coming back” he said.
“What you can expect from it is hit after hit, there are so many songs that in fact I put together a medley of his hits from the 60s with ‘Uptight’, ‘I was made to love her’, ‘For once in my life’, ‘Signed, sealed delivered’ and that takes about 13 minutes.
“Then we move to the first album he did where he had full control of production which is ‘Music Of My Mind’ and from it we do ‘I love every little thing about you’, then we move on to ‘Talking Book’ which is the album that really set him on fire with ‘Superstition’ and ‘You’re the Sunshine of my Life’.
“From then on we move through different albums and we play ‘Sir Duke’, ‘Isn’t she lovely’, ‘Lately’, ‘Master Blaster’ and it’s just full of incredible stuff, I think we have a good mix of his early, middle and late work.
“I love every song but I really enjoy performing ‘Overjoyed’ and ‘As’.”
Mr Cupples said that what made this show so exciting was that there was no other like it in Australia.
“Nobody has put together a Stevie Wonder tribute show and I understand why, it’s incredibly difficult to sing a full night of Stevie Wonder, especially if you’re doing them in the key he does,” he said.
“I saw that there was a gap in the market and it’s something I challenged myself to do and something I really love doing and we’ve got a fantastic band as well and we’re looking forward to coming back to Cairns.”
