"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is a 1973 single released by
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
. The song became Wonder's third number-one single on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and his first number-one on the
Easy Listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
chart. It won Wonder a
Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...
, and was nominated for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
[Hogan, Ed. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (song review) ''AllMusic.com''.] This song was the second single (following "
Superstition
A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...
") released from the 1972 album entitled ''
Talking Book
''Talking Book'' is the fifteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on October 27, 1972, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. This album and '' Music of My Mind'', released earlier the same y ...
'', which stayed at number one on the R&B albums chart for three weeks.
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' ranks the song at number 183 on their list of the
"500 Greatest Songs of All Time". ''
Billboard'' called it "a soft, haunting ballad with outstanding
electric piano runs and outstanding
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
work."
Background
The first two lines of the song are sung, not by Wonder, but by
Jim Gilstrap; Lani Groves sings the next two. Gilstrap and Groves, together with Gloria Barley, also provide backing vocals. The single version of the song differs from the album version with the addition of horns to the mix; this version is also included in the greatest hits compilation album ''
Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I'' (1982).
Reception
''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' said that Wonder "changes the pace [from '
Superstition
A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...
'] and delivers a stirring ballad performance that is also certain to go gold instantly."
Personnel
Source: ''Talking Book
''Talking Book'' is the fifteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on October 27, 1972, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. This album and '' Music of My Mind'', released earlier the same y ...
'', Tamla
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
: T 319L, October 27, 1972 (album cover)
*Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal,
Fender Rhodes, drums
*
Jim Gilstrap – first lead vocal, background vocal
*Lani Groves – second lead vocal, background vocal
*Gloria Barley – background vocal
*Scott Edwards – electric bass
*Daniel Ben Zebulon –
congas
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...
*unknown —
horns Horns or The Horns may refer to:
* Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells
* The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain
* ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
See also
*
List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1973 (U.S.)
These are the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one singles of 1973. The longest running number one single of 1973 is " Killing Me Softly With His Song" by Roberta Flack which stayed at the top spot for five non-consecutive weeks.
That year, 14 acts ...
*
List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1973 (U.S.)
Adult Contemporary is a chart published by ''Billboard'' ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the adult contemporary music (AC) market. In 1973, 26 songs topped the chart, then published under the title Easy Listening, based ...
References
External links
* Smith, Giles
"Lives of the great songs: Nobody does it better: You are the sunshine of my life: Every supper-club singer under the sun has had a go at Stevie Wonder's 1972 classic. And none has cracked it..." ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', July 31, 1993.
"You Are the Sunshine of My Life"at Songfacts.
*
1972 songs
1973 singles
Stevie Wonder songs
Songs written by Stevie Wonder
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
Motown singles
Tamla Records singles
Song recordings produced by Stevie Wonder
{{1970s-single-stub