Syreeta and Stevie

Today, I (like many) watched the Michael Jackson memorial service. I have to say that I found the memorial, for the most part, to be a tasteful and moving affair. In particular, I was blown away by Michael's daughter and the performances by Usher (who as a friend noted lost the person who most directly influenced his career) and Stevie Wonder. For his tribute to MJ, Stevie started by playing the strains to "Can't Help It," a song he wrote and Michael performed on "Off the Wall." Then, however, he switched gears and played "I Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" and "They Won't Go When I Go." Check it out, it's powerful:



At this point, I should note that I'm musically obsessed with Stevie Wonder. I have all of his 1970s albums and at one point, sought out songs he wrote for other people. I was planning on writing about my favorite Stevie protégé, his ex-wife, Syreeta, when I saw that performance. That cinched it.

"I Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer," off of Where I'm Coming From was recorded in 1970 when Stevie Wonder was still 20 years old. At that time, he had just married a fellow Motown singer and former secretary for the label, Rita Wright, who performed under the name Syreeta. The relationship extended beyond the romantic as the two collaborated on a number of songs including the aforementioned album, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" and "If You Really Love Me." I don't know if the melancholy "Never Dreamed..." presaged some marital difficulties or what, but within a year and a half the two divorced. In that time, Stevie produced and wrote most of Syreeta's self-titled debut album which feature the totally amazing "Black Maybe" and "To Know You is To Love You," the latter actually featuring Stevie Wonder on vocals.



According to a Rolling Stone interview Wonder gave a couple of years later, the divorce was amicable - I mean they were both REALLY young - and the two stayed close. It must have been amicable as Syreeta's sister Yvonne actually worked with Stevie the next year, writing the lyrics to "They Won't Go When I Go" from Fulfillingness' First Finale. Then in 1974, Stevie produced Syreeta's follow-up, appropriately titled Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta. This comes from my favorite Stevie period, right before Songs in the Key of Life, and Stevie himself said in that Rolling Stone interview that this music was light years ahead of his own prior work (which includes Talking Book). The minor hit was "Your Kiss is Sweet" which I think is a little corny, but the one that does it for me is "Heavy Day" a song about the couple's divorce:

Syreeta - Heavy Day (Zshare)

A few years after that, Stevie wrote "Harmour Love" with Syreeta, a little saccharine, but the chorus with Wonder singing, is kinda great:



Apart from the musical influence, it's worth mentioning that Syreeta was with Stevie during what was arguably his most important years of musical development, a period where he became his own producer and arranger, one unparalleled in popular music to this day in my opinion. She was also four years older than Stevie and I'm guessing that their collaboration - it's my understanding from this obit that Syreeta primarily was a lyricist (yes Syreeta died of cancer in 2004) - bolstered Wonder's confidence as he came into his own as a musician no longer beholden to the Motown songwriting and producing machine. I feel kind of bad (and sexist) writing an entire post praising Syreeta only insofar as she aided her husband and then ex-husband's career, so I'll close by noting that Syreeta actually scored her biggest hit in late 1979 on her own with "With You I'm Born Again." I hate it but Stevie Wonder had nothing to do with this one!