Syreeta Wright

Syreeta Wright (February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the mononym Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights were songs in collaboration with her ex-husband Stevie Wonder and musical artist Billy Preston. Biography Early life and career Wright was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1946, and started singing at the age of four. Her father, Lordian Wright, served in the Korean War and Syreeta and her sister Kim were raised by their mother Essie and their grandmother. The Wrights moved back and forth from Detroit to South Carolina, before finally settling in Detroit just as Wright entered high school. Money problems kept Wright from pursuing a career in ballet, so she focused her attention on a music career joining several singing groups, before landing a job as a receptionist for Motown in 1965. Within a year, she became a secretary for Mickey Stevenson, just as Martha Reeves had done before her. A year later, Edward Holland of the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting team noticed Wright's singing and decided to try her out for demos of Supremes' songs. However, in those days, the team of composers Ashford and Simpson had joined Motown and their songs were initially supervised by established producers. Edward's brother, composer and producer Brian Holland, co-wrote "I Can't Give Back the Song I Feel for You" with the couple, and produced it with Lamont Dozier for Syreeta. Brian felt Syreeta was a hard name to pronounce, and that Rita Wright would make a good stage name, so Wright's first solo single was released in January 1968 under that name, with "Something On My Mind" on the flip side. It is often said that the song was initially written for the Supremes (by then billed as "Diana Ross & the Supremes"), but Motown session logs indicate that the backing track was not recorded for anyone else previously. Later, Diana Ross re-recorded the song for her solo album, Surrender, released in 1971.