STEVIE WONDER - YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE

Publicada: 10 de març de 1973

Llistes d’èxits: Estats Units: #1 (1 setmana) · Regne Unit: #7

Quan “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” va arribar a les ones radiofòniques l’any 1973, Stevie Wonder ja es trobava en plena època daurada tant a nivell artístic com personal. Aquesta cançó, segon senzill del seu àlbum revolucionari Talking Book de 1972, va ser el seu tercer número 1 al Billboard Hot 100 i el primer a la llista de música suau (Easy Listening). Però darrere de la melodia tendra i de les seves emblemàtiques primeres frases, hi havia una carta d’amor íntima i personal dedicada a qui, durant un temps, havia estat veritablement el sol de la seva vida: Syreeta Wright.

Wright havia començat a Motown com a secretària, abans de convertir-se en una compositora i cantant reconeguda. Va coescriure “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” i va col·laborar amb Wonder a totes les cançons del seu àlbum de 1971 “Where I’m Coming From”. Es van casar el 1970, i encara que les fonts discrepen sobre quan es van separar —ella deia que van estar casats fins al 1975, d’altres apunten al 1972—, és clar que la relació va deixar una empremta profunda en tots dos. Wright recordaria més tard que la seva dinàmica de treball era complicada: Sempre vivia a la seva ombra, confessà. Tot i això, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” no parla de pèrdua amb tristor, sinó amb gratitud, com un record càlid d’un amor que va brillar amb força.

També la seva estructura és discretament revolucionària: les quatre primeres frases no les canta Stevie Wonder, sinó Jim Gilstrap i Lani Groves, creant la sensació que la cançó neix d’un cor col·lectiu abans de passar amb suavitat al seu autor. Les veus de Gloria Barley com a corista i els arranjaments de vent lleugers afegits per a la versió del single acaben de donar a la peça una sensació de celebració compartida: una cançó íntima, però recolzada per una comunitat sonora.

La cançó va valer a Wonder el Grammy a la millor interpretació vocal masculina pop el 1973 i, més endavant, va ser inclosa al Grammy Hall of Fame l’any 2002. El mateix Marvin Gaye, profeta de la música soul amb dimensió espiritual i ambiental, va assenyalar que aquesta cançó exemplificava com els artistes, sovint sense saber-ho, deixen que la naturalesa impregni les seves obres. “Ni tan sols ho saben com a escriptors”, deia, “però es veuen obligats a posar la Mare Natura dins la seva música.”

Tot i que l’amor entre Wonder i Wright no va durar, la cançó perdura —no perquè prometi un amor perfecte, sinó perquè captura la puresa d’estimar algú en l’instant. Dins una carrera plena de joies musicals, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” segueix sent una de les declaracions més personals, universals i celebrades de Stevie Wonder.

STEVIE WONDER - YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE

Released: March 10, 1973

Charts:  US: #1 (1 week)  UK #7

By the time “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” hit the airwaves in 1973, Stevie Wonder was already stepping into a golden era of artistic and personal transformation. Released as the second single from his landmark 1972 album “Talking Book”, the song became his third Billboard Hot 100 number one and his first atop the Easy Listening chart. But behind its tender melody and iconic opening lines was a deeply personal love letter to the woman who, for a time, had truly been the sunshine of his life: Syreeta Wright.

Wright had begun her Motown journey as a secretary before blossoming into a gifted songwriter and singer in her own right. She co-wrote “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” and collaborated with Wonder on every track of his 1971 album “Where I’m Coming From”. The pair married in 1970, and while the timeline of their separation remains debated — she said they stayed married until 1975, though others suggest 1972 — there’s no doubt the relationship left an indelible mark on both of them. Wright later reflected that their union was strained by their working dynamic. “I was always living in his shadow,” she admitted. Yet, in “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”, Wonder distilled a sense of affection that transcended the end of their marriage. The song doesn’t ache with heartbreak, but glows with gratitude — the warmth of love remembered rather than mourned.

Its structure, too, is quietly revolutionary. The first four lines are sung not by Wonder but by Jim Gilstrap and Lani Groves, giving the impression of voices emerging from a loving chorus, passing the song gently to its author. Their presence, along with backing vocals from Gloria Barley and a subtle, joyful horn arrangement added for the single release, creates a sense of shared celebration, a song lifted by community even as it speaks intimately of devotion.

“You Are the Sunshine of My Life” went on to win Wonder the 1973 Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. Marvin Gaye, himself a prophet of soul music’s spiritual and environmental dimensions, once cited the song as an example of how artists are unconsciously shaped by the world around them. “They don’t even know it as writers,” he said, “but they’re forced to put Mother Nature into the picture.”

Though their love did not last, Wonder’s song remains timeless — not because it promises a perfect romance, but because it captures the purity of loving someone in the moment. In a career filled with masterpieces, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” remains one of Wonder’s most personal, universal, and celebrated expressions.