As a photographer for Motown Records, Bobby Holland had worked with Stevie Wonder many times before, but he canceled all his plans when he got a call from Fo Wilson, the art director for Essence magazine, to do a feature photo session with the singer-songwriter.
Holland recounts what happened after the Essence shoot, and how it led to photographing the album cover artwork for Wonder’s award-winning In Square Circle album and contributing to The Woman in Red motion picture soundtrack. Says Holland:
“Stevie’s brother, Calvin Hardaway, came over to me at the end of the session and told me that he really liked the way everything went and that Stevie really enjoyed the session. They wanted to book me for a photo session of an upcoming album Stevie was working on.”
That album was the 1985 release, In Square Circle, which includes such hits as “Part-Time Lover” and “Overjoyed.” Holland quickly assembled his team and conceptualized what would be the album’s cover.
Hardaway then decided that he needed Holland’s crew for the entire week. Wonder had been working simultaneously on two projects, both In Square Circle and producing the soundtrack for The Woman in Red, with the mega-hit “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” For this, Holland built three different sets and staged the set dressing, props, wardrobe etc. Holland adds:
“Everything was set and all the pre-lighting and camera angles were locked in and ready to go. All we needed was Stevie to walk in and get a little makeup and it’s on.
On the third day into the week a truck showed up at my studio from Stevie Wonder’s production company loaded with keyboards, audio gear, etc. The driver told me that Stevie wanted everything set up so he could continue writing for the projects he was working on. That project was the soundtrack for the “Women In Red” film. **
Later that day Gene Wilder arrived at my studio with other producers and studio executives. Stevie arrived and played live arrangements he was working on for the soundtrack — it was great, but we still had not photographed anything. A couple of days later Stevie Wonder arrived back at the studio and we shot all day.”
Both In Square Circle and The Woman in Red soundtrack were hits and went on to garner awards. The back cover image of In Square Circle was used for a successful PSA campaign for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
