The Intro
Ebony and Ivory started out as a demo for Wings inspired by a marital tiff. It mutated into a well-intentioned but often-ridiculed number 1 duet between Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, two of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.
Before
Wings had hit their commercial peak in 1977 with the Christmas number 1 double A-side Mull of Kintyre/Girls School. It had eclipsed even The Beatles singles chart figures to become the biggest-selling single ever at that point. However, only two years later, McCartney was growing weary of maintaining the band. He decided his next album would be the first to be billed as a solo effort since 1970’s McCartney, which had caused controversy by being accompanied by a press release that had resulted in the break-up of the Fab Four.
It made sense for the 1980 LP to be named McCartney II, as it was a return to eccentric, loose songs featuring only McCartney. However, this time the instrumentation heavily featured synthesisers. When Coming Up peaked at two, and even impressed John Lennon, he must have felt vindicated in his decision. History (sort of) repeated itself when Denny Laine quit Wings in April 1981, and the band dissolved. Around the same time, McCartney was already working on his next solo album, Tug of War. Sessions had been cancelled earlier that winter after the shocking murder of Lennon.
One of the songs, Ebony and Ivory, had originally been conceived for Wings in 1978, after an argument with his wife Linda. ‘It was like, “Why can’t we get it together? Our piano can.”‘, as he succinctly but unrealistically put it during a 1997 interview with Record Collector.
However, McCartney more recently said in his 2021 book The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present that he wrote and demoed the track in 1980, during the unrest that was starting to take place in the UK, which included a riot at the Black and White Café in Bristol that April. He recalled hearing comedian Spike Milligan say: ‘Black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony, folks!’. Of course, he may be misremembering one or the other, or there’s truth in both stories.
Either way, he knew Ebony and Ivory‘s naive messaging would have more resonance if he turned it into a duet with a black male singer – who better than Stevie Wonder?
Stevland Hardaway Judkins was born in Saginaw, Michigan on 13 May, 1950. He was six weeks premature and developed retinopathy of prematurity, which left him blind. We’ll have none of that conspiracy theory claiming he isn’t, here. When he was four his mother divorced and the family moved to Detroit, and he began singing at Whitestone Baptist Church, becoming a soloist aged eight.
Judkins totally fell in love with music and surprised everyone by learning an array of instruments at such a young age. He formed a partnership with a friend, and Stevie and John became known for singing on street corners and performing at local parties.
In 1961, aged 11, Judkins sang his own song, Lonely Boy, to Ronnie White of The Miracles. White could see massive potential and took the boy and his mother, Lula Hardaway, to Motown. CEO Berry Gordy signed him to Tamla and his surname was legally changed to Morris, an old family name. However, he was christened ‘Little Stevie Wonder’ by Gordy and co.
Two albums followed – Tribute to Uncle Ray and The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, released in reverse order in 1962. The following year, Wonder released the live LP Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius, which featured a performance of the largely instrumental Fingertips. Split across two sides as a single, Fingertips – Part Two rocketed to the Billboard number 1 in the US. Wonder was only 13 when he became the youngest ever act to top the chart.
However, the novelty of ‘Little Stevie’ was in danger of fading as his teen years began, inevitably. His voice was changing and Motown executives were considering dropping him. In 1964 he appeared in two films – Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach, and also released a concept album of sorts, Stevie at the Beach, full of lacklustre surfing songs. Wonder was not The Beach Boys, and was floundering.
Fortunately, producer and songwriter Sylvia Moy reckoned it wasn’t over for Wonder yet. Together, with arranger Henry Cosby, they co-wrote the storming single Uptight (Everything’s Alright), which was a very well-deserved hit in 1965. This classic Motown stomper reached three in the US, and was his breakthrough UK hit, reaching 14. His stock having risen once more, he had a few more hits over here, including a cover of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind (36) and A Place in the Sun (20) in 1966. This was the same year that McCartney and Wonder met for the first time, after the latter had played a gig in London.
Wonder branched out into songwriting for others, co-writing Smokey Robinson and The Miracles’ beautiful The Tears of a Clown in 1967, which became a UK chart-topper three years later. For the rest of the 60s, he would release several classic singles, which featured on albums of otherwise average material. these included I Was Made to Love Her (five in 1967), For Once in My Life (three in 1968) and My Cherie Amour (four in 1969).
The 70s began very promising, with the LP Signed, Sealed & Delivered spawning another classic, his first self-produced song Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours, which surprisingly only reached 15. It also contained that rare feat – a Beatles cover that is perhaps better than the original – We Can Work It Out (27).
In September 1970, Wonder married songwriter Syreeta Wright. They worked together on his next album, Where I’m Coming From, which showcased a more mature sound and themes akin to his labelmate Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Inevitably the two were compared, and Gaye won out. Wonder’s album was considered a little weird for audiences at the time. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting bridge between Wonder’s earlier work and what was to come, including the lovely ballad Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer and the sweet If You Really Love Me (20).
Wonder’s contract with Tamla was coming to an end, and he was becoming increasingly interested in synthesisers. He used recordings of new material produced alongside Tonto’s Expanding Head Band to leverage a new contract with the label that gave him full artistic control. This was released as Music of My Mind. Hot on its heels was the more successful Talking Book, which came the same year and featured songs recorded at the same sessions. The phenomenally funky Superstition and tender You Are the Sunshine of My Life went to 11 and seven respectively in the UK, and of course the former in particular is among his best work and something I’ll never tire of.
The golden period of Wonder’s music was in full flow, and in 1973 came Innervisions, perhaps his best LP, which spawned excellent singles Higher Ground (29), Living for the City (15) and He’s Misstra Know It All (10).
That August, Wonder was seriously injured. While on tour, a car he was in hit the back of a farm truck, resulting in the star suffering a fractured skull and cerebral contusion. He fell into a coma for four days, but was soon performing once again.
In 1974 came yet another brilliant album. The tongue-twisting Fulfillingness’ First Finale spawned the angry, funky You Haven’t Done Nothin and bouncy Boogie On Reggae Woman, which went to 30 and 12 respectively. Later that year he jammed with McCartney and John Lennon, which eventually surfaced on the bootleg album A Toot and a Snore in ’74.
Anyone would be forgiven for thinking Wonder was simply taking a very well-earned year off in 1975, as no new material was released. But no, he was actually working on double album (and accompanying EP) Songs in the Key of Life. I’m going to be a little controversial here and say it’s possibly a little overrated – but when it’s good, it’s magnificent. Among the considerable highlights are hit singles I Wish (five) and Sir Duke, which sadly just missed out on reaching the top spot – it peaked at two in 1977 and really should have become his first UK number 1. Wonder’s 70s ended with Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through ‘The Secret Life of Plants’. Yes, it was a film score, but it’s hard work and his first misfire in a long time.
The 80s began with a return to form in Hotter Than July. His last great album, it included 1980 singles Master Blaster (Jammin’), which deservedly soared to two, and I Ain’t Gonna Stand for It, which reached 10. The following year, Lately went to three, and Happy Birthday did one better.
That February, Wonder travelled to Montserrat to meet McCartney at AIR Studios. The latter later recalled that his guest had been annoyingly evasive but at last they could begin working together. Sessions took place from 27 February to 2 March. As well as being two of the greatest songwriters of all time, McCartney and Wonder are also adept multi-instrumentalists. On this track, the former played acoustic and bass guitars, piano, synths, vocoder and percussion. The latter played electric piano, synths, drums and percussion. Wonder left McCartney at it to perform overdubs – but not before the two jammed on the funky and far superior What’s That You’re Doing?.
Review
Ah, Ebony and Ivory. Well, first off, I’m not stupid enough to call it either legend’s finest 7-inch, but I’m not here to run it into the ground, either.
The good: I’ve no doubt McCartney and Wonder’s hearts were in the right place. Perhaps the former felt Ebony and Ivory would replicate Lennon’s Imagine? Both are piano-led, both long for a better world, and both have been derided for naive, simplistic, even (in Lennon’s case) hypocritical messaging. McCartney was of course still in the very early days of grieving for his lost songwriting partner. It is of course catchy as hell, and I really like the middle eight instrumental section, straight before the ‘Ebony, ivory, living in perfect harmony’ chanting.
The bad: Yes, the simplicity is patronising and at worst you could accuse McCartney of being treating his audience as morons. It’s a lovely thought to compare white and black people and say, hey, why don’t we all just get on, eh? But it’s also pretty bloody insulting to look past centuries of suffering, of bloodshed, and hatred. It plays into both artists at their worst – that saccharine and cheesy side both can be guilty of. The 80s were of course a rough time for many musical legends, and definitely was the case for McCartney and Wonder. The very fact this song was in effect the first chart-topper for McCartney on his own (we’re not counting Wings’ Mull of Kintyre here) and Wonder is a sad indictment on record buyers in the UK.
The silly: I remember as a very young boy being fascinated by seeing the video on TV. How big must that giant piano that those two men are walking on actually be. Aged 46, it’s hilarious. It’s very clear that both musicians were filmed separately, so with 21st century eyes, they look awkward and that adds another layer to the song’s messaging. The silhouettes of the Rastafarians dancing are embarrassing – and why does McCartney get to portray himself as playing loads of instruments (reminiscent of the video to the way cooler Coming Up), but Wonder is relegated to keyboard only? Possibly McCartney’s ego and/or revenge for Wonder being unavailable at times?
McCartney also recorded a version minus Wonder. Not sure why – it certainly wouldn’t have been to keep racists happy.
After
Ebony and Ivory was always destined to be a hit initially. Two huge stars, together for a good cause. It went to number 1 in many countries and in the US, it meant Wonder had now topped the Billboard chart across three consecutive decades. And it marked the start of a very 80s phenomenon – the pop star duet, in which stars whose stars were in danger of falling would work together to keep in the public eye. The sum usually being great than the parts, at this point in the careers of these artists…
The Outro
McCartney and Wonder’s duet was spoofed and ridiculed right from the start, with Saturday Night Live getting in there first in a sketch featuring the rising comic Eddie Murphy as Wonder. In 2007, listeners to BBC 6 Music voted Ebony and Ivory the worst duet in history. 2025 saw the release of a bizarre biopic under the same name, which plays fast and hard with the making of the song.
But remember this when you laugh at Ebony and Ivory – apartheid was still a thing in 1982, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation banned it – so job done, in a sense.
The Info
Written by
Paul McCartney
Producer
George Martin
Weeks at number 1
3 (24 April-14 May)
Trivia
Births
24 April: Television presenter Laura Hamilton
26 April: S Club 7 singer Jon Lee
28 April: Reality TV star Nikki Grahame
1 May: Northern Irish actor Jamie Dornan
3 May: Actress Rebecca Hall
4 May: Comedian John Robins
10 May: Footballer Adebayo Akinfenwa
Deaths
24 April: Historian Hilda Stewart Reid
25 April: Actress Celia Johnson
28 April: Cricketer Nobby Clark
30 April: Unionist MP Vernon Willey, 2nd Baron Barnby
1 May: Violist William Primrose
4 May: Liberal/Labour MP Barnett Janner, Baron Janner
5 May: Scottish footballer Bob Shankly
12 May: Scottish Labour MP James Dempsey/racing driver Edward Ramsden Hall/composer Humphrey Searle
13 May: Scottish footballer Billy Steel
Meanwhile…
24 April: The Eurovision Song Contest is held in Harrogate, Yorkshire. The winning song is Germany’s Ein bißchen Frieden by Nicole.
25 April: The Royal Marines recapture South Georgia during the Falklands War.
29 April: Daniel and Christopher Smith are Britain’s first twins conceived through in vitro fertilisation, born to Josephine and Stewart Smith at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
30 April: The Conservatives return to the top of the opinion polls for the first time since late-1979. The Falklands bounce had begun.
1 May: Operation Black during the Falklands War saw a Royal Air Force Vulcan bomber bomb Port Stanley Airport.
2 May: The most controversial moment of the Falklands War saw nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sink the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. Two years later, a furious Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher was questioned on TV by a teacher who pointed out the ship was sailing away from the exclusion zone.
4 May: The Sun newspaper runs the simple – moronic, sensationalist, some might say – headline ‘GOTCHA’ to sum up the Belgrano‘s sinking.
Also that day, the Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is badly damaged by an Exocet missile. It sinks six days later.