POP/ROCK - May 29, 1989

Stevie Wonder launched his “Peace and Freedom Tour” in Eastern Europe Saturday with a concert at Warsaw’s 100,000-capacity Stadion X-Leccia. The tour marks the first concert appearances by a Motown artist in the Eastern Bloc countries and will include concerts in Czechoslovakian and Hungarian outdoor stadiums. To mark this cultural exchange, Wonder, Motown Records and its overseas licensee, BMG Records, have given permission to Polish state-owned recording company Polskie Nagrania to press 50,000 copies of Wonder’s most recent LP, “Characters.” All royalties due to Wonder, Motown and BMG will be donated to the Polish Foundation for the Handicapped. “Characters” becomes the first Motown album to be distributed by an Eastern Bloc record company. While in Warsaw, Wonder will meet Polish Premier Miezyslaw Rakowski at the Government House and has also planned meetings with leaders of the Solidarity labor movement.