You are the sunshine of my lifeThat’s why I’ll always be around
Stevie Wonder… had such a long career before he was even 18. He wrote this for his wife Syreeta Wright whom Wonder married in 1970.
Wright was from Detroit, an aspiring ballet dancer who didn’t have the money to pursue her passion and who ended up working as a receptionist at Motown in 1965. Eventually, Wright started singing on demos for Motown singers, and the label released a single of hers in 1968 under the name Rita Wright. When Diana Ross left the Supremes, Berry Gordy thought about installing Wright as her replacement but it didn’t happen.
in 1968 Syreeta Wright met Stevie Wonder. In 1969, they started dating, and they also started working together. In 1970, they got married, when Wright was 24 and Wonder was 20. By that time, they were already writing partners. Together, Wright and Wonder helped write the Spinners’ “It’s A Shame” and Wonder’s own “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”
In 1972 they broke up. Wonder also produced the album Syreeta…Wright’s first album. He also recorded this song that year. It was no doubt who it was about. It was on the great album Talking Book. Just as he was singing this beautiful song they were breaking up. She would go on to record more music and one song with Billy Preston. She passed away in 2004 at the age of 58.
Some sources list the couple’s divorce as happening in 1972, but Wright, who died in 2004, claimed they were married until 1975. The marriage was difficult and exacerbated by their working relationship, which Wright found stifling. “I was always living in his shadow.”
He recorded this at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. It was recorded off the cuff and his band fell right in. The album Talking Book peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Charts, #12 in Canada,#16 in the UK in 1972.
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #8 in New Zealand, and #7 in the UK. The first single off the album was Superstition…how is this for a follow-up!
This song won Wonder the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
You are the sunshine of my lifeThat’s why I’ll always be aroundYou are the apple of my eyeForever you’ll stay in my heart
I feel like this is the beginningThough I’ve loved you for a million yearsAnd if I thought our love was endingI’d find myself drowning in my own tears, whoa, oh, oh
You are the sunshine of my life, yeahThat’s why I’ll always stay around, mmm, mmm, yeah, yeahYou are the apple of my eyeForever you’ll stay in my heart
You must have known that I was lonelyBecause you came to my rescueAnd I know that this must be heavenHow could so much love be inside of you?Whoa, whoa
You are the sunshine of my life, yeahThat’s why I’ll always stay around, mmm (baby)You are the apple of my eyeForever you’ll stay in my heart, yeah
You are the sunshine of my life, babyThat’s why I’ll always stay around
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
It was 60 years ago that we were introduced to Little Stevie Wonder. Who knew we were not seeing a One-hit Wonder but the beginning of a legendary career? (Not me, but I was just a kid watching Ed Sullivan.) Chromatic harp? Just the beginning. What can’t he play? (See “Higher Ground” by Prof Craig Werner, who shares a birthday with Stevie. The book is about Stevie, Aretha, and Curtis Mayfield.)
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Great song from a fantastic talent. With all there is negative to say about Berry Gordy, we have to love that he found so much talent , especially Stevie.
18… when I was 18, I think I wanted to be married, but the gal I was interested in was nowhere even remotely close to being half that serious with me. Looking back, that was probably a great thing. That’s awful young to get married in this world (maybe two centuries back, more reasonable )
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I was engaged when I was 18…for 4 years and I got cold feet…I was NOT Mr Commitment. After seeing what happened to my parents…arguing…I didn’t want that.
I agree it was probably the best thing for both of us.
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Why this song was not #1 on more charts is a mystery. One his best I think. Some interesting background on his relationship, despite the turmoil Stevie was likely a very mature 18 at that point, given his career trajectory.
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Yes he was…he did more before that age than others do in a lifetime.
The album also…it should have been number 1 in a lot of places…two giant hit singles off of it.
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Interesting background, thank you! It can often be difficult for a child prodigy to grow up with the pressure and expectation around them, but as far as I can see, he seems to have coped with it all relatively well. He has many great tracks, my fave probably being Misstra Know-it-all.
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I was a huge fan of Stevie Wonder for most of his career. I liked both this song and “Superstition”, and bought the album Talking Book.
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Wright’s first two albums, produced by Wonder, are really good. I Wanna Be By Your Side, with GC Cameron from the Spinners, should have been a hit IMO.
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I went back and listened to Wright’s songs…even the Billy Preston music is really good. I like her voice and yes some were commercial enough to be hits.
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This is definitely his more mature period, but I like his earlier’A Place In The Sun,’ with a slight Gospel feel.
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I liked Wonder’s songs…mostly all… except…I Just Called To Say…Huge hit but maybe it’s because I heard it too much…I don’t know….no I just didn’t like it.
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Can’t win with em all- still, he had a lot of very good hits at his fingertips. (Sorry.)
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I know…it is silly of me criticising one song out of his massive catalog…I need to look for Higher Ground.
Obbverse…you made me laugh so hard yesterday. That pun about Booth hit me out of nowhere…sometimes you know when to lay down your arms…I couldn’t top that one.
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Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing — my fave stevie song!
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Aw, ta Max. Words are all about fun for me- silly, but it’s better to laff than cry.
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Yes I agree. Well that one belonged in the hall of fame.
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Stevie Wonder has so many timeless, exquisite compositions he can be proud of. Sorry to hear he was breaking up with his beloved at the time this song was making itself a hit.
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I know…it’s hard to listen to it the same way. I think you watched Taxi didn’t you? There is a scene with Jim where his father died and he is holding up his dad’s pants while this song was playing…it was an unusal setup but it was touching.
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I watched Taxi but so long ago. I loved the Jim character but don’t remember that scene. Sounds very poignant.
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It really was…especially for being a comedy.
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I always liked “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” but didn’t know the background, so that was interesting. I also had no idea Syreeta Wright co-wrote “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” another tune I love. I guess it must be hard being married to a larger-than-life artist!
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I want to listen to her stuff now….
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You had me at Stevie!!
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an irresistible melody when it came out, and I liked it even more than Superstition which was great – 50 years on, though, Superstition has legs and still sounds cutting edge and this is MOR Stevie, back in My Cherie Amour mode (which I loved). Still a great tune though!
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I agree…it is MOR but very good MOR…Stevie was unstoppable in the 60s and 70s. It’s amazing what the man accomplished before he was 20! And that was just the beginning.
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