NEW YORK — Stevie Wonder is fidgeting with his camera phone, embarrassed because he can’t get it to work right.
But wait, it’s not what you think.
Wonder is trying to show a reporter how the device helps him “see” written documents. Moments later, the blind superstar reveals how the camera takes photos of text, converts it to audio and reads the words aloud.
But Wonder doesn’t need to rely on technology to amaze. Now on a nationwide tour, all he needs to do is open his mouth and start singing some of his classic hits — “Superstition,” “I Wish,” “As,” “My Cherie Amour” — and he gets a crowd into a frenzy.
In person, Wonder, 58, comes off more like your friendly uncle than a legendary musical figure. He cracks jokes, tells stories, and opines about politics and world peace.
Q: Before you started touring last fall, your last full- fledged tour was in 1996. Why did you decide to get back on the road?
A: Just having a chance to say “Thank you” to the fans. After I lost my mother in May of 2006 I had said that I wasn’t going to perform for a while. But I got the message (from my mother) to go and spread the message, celebrating some of the feats that we have, such as coming together and fighting against apartheid.
Q: You are a supporter of Barack Obama. One refrain from a lot of people is that they never thought they’d see a day where there was a tangible possibility of a black president. Did you feel that way too or did you think that it could happen someday in your lifetime?
A: Of course I did. I always felt: Why not? What’s the big deal? Someday there will be a Latino president and an Asian president and a Jewish president. We can’t talk about those things and then not be.
Q: If Obama is elected president are you angling to perform at the inauguration?
A: I’m just excited. Obviously if I’m invited to be there it’s an honor, but I didn’t do all of that to get a pat on the back. . . .
Q: Do you wish that younger singers were as concerned about social issues as you have been?
A: Someone has to stand out there and sometimes they have to stand alone. At the end of all that you are going to have people who take a position and move us forward. That doesn’t mean that every single artist has to write some conscious song.
Q: You mentioned you are a fan of Nas. What do you think of the whole controversy about him initially wanting to title his new album the n-word?
A: I’m not with the word only in that we had buried the word and it should have been buried. People say, well, we use it for fun and whatever. I’m not really feeling it and I know sometimes it comes in conversation. . . . For all the pain that has happened over the years, what that word brings up, it needs to go away.
Q: You have new projects coming out in the fall. Now veteran stars like the Eagles and Radiohead are finding new ways to put out music outside of traditional labels. What do you think of that?
A: The world is changing. Things are just different. The world is evolving every day so you have to stay with it or get left behind. If there was a deal that I felt good about, I would jump right on it!
