who did stevie wonder write happy birthday for
Happy Birthday (Stevie Wonder song) "Happy Birthday" is a 1981 single written, produced, and performed by Stevie Wonder for the Motown label. Wonder, a social activist, was one of the main figures in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. become a national holiday, and created this single to make the cause known.[1] Besides being released as a single, the song also appears on Wonder's album Hotter Than July.
Happy Birthday to You Prior to the lawsuit, Warner/Chappell had been earning $2 million a year licensing the song for commercial use,[45] with a notable example the $5,000 paid by the filmmakers of the 1994 documentary, Hoop Dreams,[48] in order to safely distribute the film.[49] On February 8, 2016, Warner/Chappell agreed to pay a settlement of $14 million to those who had licensed the song, and would allow a final judgment declaring the song to be in the public domain, with a final hearing scheduled in March 2016.[50][51] On June 28, 2016, the final settlement was officially granted and the court declared that the song was in the public domain.[19] The following week, Nelson's short-form documentary, Happy Birthday: my campaign to liberate the people's song, was published online by The Guardian.[52]