Sick Bay: Stevie Wonder Battling Health Issues

Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder is battling a serious but manageable health issue as he continues to perform and make music, sources close to the singer say.

Indeed, the iconic Motown star is “doing better now than he was a couple of months ago,” one friend told the Detroit Free Press, as Wonder prepares to head overseas for a pair of concerts.

Wonder has been traveling with a medical team, the source said.

Multiple people spoke with the Free Press about the situation, and most asked not to be named, citing sensitivity about Wonder’s circumstances.

“He’s got some health challenges, but he doesn’t want a big PR thing out of this,” said musician Joan Belgrave, a longtime friend of the singer. Her late husband, Detroit jazz trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, met Wonder when the latter was a 13-year-old Motown prodigy, she said.

“He knows what he has to do to get himself together, and he’s doing it,” Belgrave said. “He’s got a team around him — that’s what he needs. He’s got people around him who love him.”

“He’s in great spirits. You would never know anything is going on. That’s how he wants it, and that’s how he wants to keep it,” Belgrave said. “He’s making music and doing what he does, and that’s what he wants to focus on.”

Rumors and speculation about Wonder’s health have been percolating on social media for several days. The chatter was fueled in part by a June 25 video in which a Philadelphia radio personality claimed that Wonder is suffering kidney failure and has begun dialysis.