Up Periscope: A Look at 2026

MOTOWN’S STARS, STILL HITTING THE ROAD

Is Stevie’s Through The Eyes Of Wonder album really going to arrive this year? Is anyone prepared to put money on that?

But what else that’s Motown-related is going to happen over the next 12 months? There will be celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of Songs In The Key of Life, for sure – and every music critic in Christendom can be expected to write about it again, at length.

The original double-album (plus EP) came out on October 8, 1976, and Universal Music’s catalogue division has made vinyl and CD editions available again in recent years, just as it did for the 50th anniversary of What’s Going On. A number of Wonder’s other long-players have returned on vinyl, too, including Fulfillingness’ First Finale and Hotter Than July. What would thrill the musician’s multitude of fans, of course, would be the inclusion of previously-unissued tracks on an anniversary edition of Songs In The Key of Life.

The chances of that happening are slim, but we can hope.

In other respects, Stevie in ‘26 so far is following a well-trodden path – notably, with his annual visit to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. While there this month, he was asked by the Scientific American’s Eric Sullivan about the use of AI in the creative process. “I will not let my music be programmed,” Wonder replied. “I’m not going to use it to do me and do the music I’ve done. We can go on and on talking about technology. Let’s see how you make things better for people in their lives – not to emulate life, but to make life better for the living.”

Other Motown superstars are trying to make life better for their followers and themselves by continuing to perform in concert at home and abroad, regardless of age. During February and March, Smokey Robinson (86 next month) is playing casinos and concert halls on both sides of the United States; in June, he’s booked to headline one night of the Rochester International Jazz Festival in New York. In July, he’s teaming up with Gladys Knight for two nights at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, in a show billed as “Just the Two of Us,” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Likewise, Diana Ross (82 in March) continues to travel. On January 9, she performed at the open-air concert series known as Saadiyat Nights in Abu Dhabi; it was the first time she’s played there. Next month, the singer appears at the Encore Theater in Las Vegas as part of her so-called “Diana In Motion” roadshow, followed by dates in Arizona, California, Texas and Florida. Later this year, Ross is expected to announce several gigs in the U.K. – where “Upside Down” has gone right side up (by 60 slots) to land in the latest Top 30, thanks to its use in the Stranger Things soundtrack.

Also crossing the Atlantic are the Temptations and the Four Tops, booked together this summer into several British venues, including London’s Royal Albert Hall in July. (The original Tops played the latter venue for the first time in January 1967.) Before then, in early May, the two groups will appear at the Hard Rock Casino in Gary, Indiana.

***Extended play for Tammi and others***

Sooner than that is a show at the Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles, featuring two former Supremes, Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence, and another ex-Motown act, Blinky Williams. On February 26, they’ll be performing material from “the American songbook, jazz and R&B.”

Of all the acts cited above, only Smokey Robinson has a current album, What The World Needs Now, which came out last year, while the Temptations are said to be working on one.

In a streaming world, Universal Music’s appetite for putting out deluxe CD editions of vintage Motown albums is less than it was. Lately, most catalogue releases have come from independent European labels under license, such as Ace, Elemental Music, West Grand and Soul4Real. The last of these issued the newest volumes in its series of From Detroit With Love EPs on January 8, bringing rare 1960s tracks by Marvin Gaye, Chris Clark, David Ruffin, the Spinners and Tammi Terrell, among others, onto vinyl for the first time. And West Grand has just shipped the compact disc version of its debut release, A Northern Soul Love Affair, which first came out on vinyl.

In the spring, Ace Records is expected to release a new compilation in its songwriter series, this one featuring Stevie Wonder’s compositions as interpreted by others. Something similar is in the works at the label for Smokey Robinson.

The life and times of another Motown songwriter, the late Sylvia Moy, are chronicled in It’s No Wonder, due to be published by Boston’s Da Capo Press on February 10. The author is Margena A. Christian, a former journalist at Jet and Ebony magazines, and the book’s title is, of course, a reference to Moy’s much-lauded work with Stevie, including co-writing such hits as “Uptight (Everything’s Alright),” “I Was Made To Love Her” and “My Cherie Amour.”

Da Capo informs that It’s No Wonder is “meticulously researched, fiercely feminist and told with the co-operation of Moy’s estate.” That author Christian has strong opinions is evidenced by this comment of hers, made recently: “With all the things [Moy] cultivated at Motown, for her to have been the first woman contracted in-house to simultaneously…write songs and produce alongside her male counterparts during her label’s peak in the ’60s and not be distinguished for it at the time, is deplorable.” (More on Moy’s career can be found here.)

Next, a note of concern. It’s apparent that false information about Motown-related acts has been circulating on social media recently, and Wonder is among those targeted. On Facebook, there have been fake posts about him undertaking a 2026 “Legendary World Tour” with Patti LaBelle, and about being the first star to receive “a full-body bronze statue” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Diana Ross and Gladys Knight have been targeted on Facebook, too, via false claims of farewell tours (with the Pips in Knight’s case). There’s also a fake announcement of a Knight documentary being made by Netflix. Beware.

Now, to conclude this look ahead at 2026, here’s a reminder that the storied Detroit site from which Motown changed the world of music and popular culture – not to mention race relations – is about to close temporarily to the public. On January 20, tours of the Motown Museum will be suspended to allow the completion of its expansion programme; this involves ongoing construction around and above the original Hitsville U.S.A. building, onto which something called the Motown Experience is to be bolted. It will accommodate interactive exhibits, a performance theatre, a state-of-the-art recording studio, expanded retail offerings and “community gathering spaces.”

The work is due to finish this October, and guided tours of the original building are expected to resume in the spring of 2027. The current week (January 12-19) is the last for visiting, with each day having a theme, plus specifically-curated playlists and video footage. So if you’re reading this latest West Grand Blog edition upon publication, it’s Four Tops Friday.

Fortunately, the music of Motown will ensure that its legacy endures while the physical space of 2648 West Grand – Mecca for so many of us – is revamped and revivified. If that music gets to include Through The Eyes Of Wonder, so much the better.