STEVIE WONDER - Happy Birthday

On the anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 15, 1981 Stevie Wonder introduced his song that demanded a national holiday for the civil rights leader. Happy Birthday was written and produced by Wonder to popularize the campaign for the holiday that he was heavily involved in. Every year on Jan. 15 Wonder headlined a free concert on the National Mall that followed a march through Washington DC. He was a major force in pushing for the holiday that President Ronald Reagan signed into existence in late 1983. The first MLK Day was recognized on Jan 20, 1986 and was celebrated on the National Mall with Wonder's final MLK Day appearance there. Originally some states, including Virginia, resisted the holiday by combining it with other holidays. It wasn't until the year 2000 before it was celebrated in all 50 states. This video from 1982 was from a concert in Tokyo Japan at the Nippon Budokan, the famous site of dozens of legendary live concert recordings.