Lula Mae Hardaway

Lula Mae Hardaway (January 11, 1930 in Eufaula, Alabama – May 31, 2006 in Los Angeles, California) was an American songwriter and the mother of soul musician Stevie Wonder. She spent her early adult life in Saginaw, Michigan, but from 1975 till her death in 2006, lived in Los Angeles, California. She died at age 76.

Life

Hardaway co-wrote many of her son's songs during his teenage years, including the hit singles "I Was Made to Love Her", "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours", "You Met Your Match" and "I Don't Know Why I Love You", co-writing four songs on the 1968 album For Once in My Life. For co-writing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered", she was co-nominated for the 1970 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song.

In 1974, Hardaway was with her then 23-year-old son at the Hollywood Palladium when he received his first Grammy, one of several he received that night.

Wonder purchased a house for his mother in the San Fernando Valley, where she enjoyed a life of churchgoing, fishing, horse racing and cooking, including what family members called a "legendary peach cobbler."

Legacy

Hardaway was the subject of a 2002 authorized biography entitled Blind Faith: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway, Stevie Wonder's Mother (ISBN 0-7435-2695-3) by Dennis Love and Stacy Brown.

When she died in 2006, she had 20 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A service for her was held at West Angeles Church of God in Christ. There were remarks by Motown founder Berry Gordy and songs by gospel singer Yolanda Adams and others. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.