Next from Stevie Wonder: A gospel tune in Arabic?

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― Soul music legend Stevie Wonder says he’s toying with the idea of including a gospel song in Arabic on an upcoming album dedicated to his mother.

“Gospel Inspired by Lula” is among several projects that Wonder, 63, has going right now, he told Rolling Stone in an interview posted Tuesday on the pop culture magazine’s website.

“We’re going to do some traditional gospel stuff, but I’m thinking about doing a gospel song in Arabic,” he revealed.

“I’m going to twist it all up in different ways, because I think everyone needs to hear the word of the gospel ... whether they read the Koran, the Torah or the Bible, whatever they read.”

Wonder’s mother, Lula Mae Hardaway, the daughter of a poor Alabama sharecropper, was credited as a co-writer on several of Wonder’s songs including “I Was Made to Love Her” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours.”

She died in Los Angeles in May 2006 at the age of 76.

“I promised her I would do it,” said Wonder, who hosted singer John Legend’s induction into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame on Saturday. “She always wanted me to do it before she passed away.”

Wonder’s other projects include a collaboration with Canadian producer David Foster that will see him recording both old and new material with a symphony orchestra.

“All of these are coming out relatively soon,” the entertainer said, “but I never put a time on things, because the most important thing is that it’s good.”