Yvonne Lowrene Wright (October 31, 1951 – January 26, 2016) was an American songwriter and vocalist best known for co-writing with

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 ...

in the 1970s. Their songs appear on the albums ''

Music of My Mind ''Music of My Mind'' is the fourteenth studio album by American soul musician Stevie Wonder. It was released on March 3, 1972, by Tamla Records, and was Wonder's first to be recorded under a new contract with Motown that allowed him full artistic ...

'', '' Talking Book'', ''

Fulfillingness' First Finale ''Fulfillingness' First Finale'' is the seventeenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, released on July 22, 1974 by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. It is the fourth of five albums from what is considered Wonder's "cla ...

'', and ''

Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants" ''Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants"'' is an album by Stevie Wonder, originally released on the Tamla Motown label on October 30, 1979. It is the soundtrack to the documentary ''The Secret Life of Plants'', directed by W ...

''. She is not known to be related to singer-songwriter Syreeta Wright, who also worked with, and was married to, Wonder.

Biography

Yvonne Lowrene Wright-Willis was born in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, United States, to Harry Wright and Margaret Williams in 1951. Wright's mother Margaret was briefly a member of the dance troupe, Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. As a child Wright sang in her church choir, where she and her older sister Adele were given solos on songs such as

James Cleveland James Edward Cleveland (December 5, 1931 – February 9, 1991) was an American gospel singer, musician, and composer. Known as the King of Gospel, Cleveland was a driving force behind the creation of the modern gospel sound by incorporating trad ...

's "Two Wings". As a teen Wright and her friends formed vocal groups the Diamonds and the Velveteens. While still a teenager, she performed "

Moon River "Moon River" is a song composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie ''Breakfast at Tiffany's (film), Breakfast at Tiffany's'', winning an Academy Award for Best Original ...

" at Amateur Night at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a not ...

and was enlisted to sing background for

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the ''Bill ...

on that same stage. Always a prolific writer, she met Stevie Wonder in the early 1970s and collaborated on six songs over four albums from 1972 to 1979. Their 1972 song "You've Got It Bad Girl" was the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to the number 1 single "

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 ...

". "

They Won't Go When I Go "They Won't Go When I Go" is a song co-written and performed by Stevie Wonder from his 1974 album ''Fulfillingness' First Finale''. This song is the only one on the album that Wonder did not write by himself. His co-writer was Yvonne Wright, wh ...

" (1974) appeared on the number 1 album ''

'', which was named

Grammy Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regar ...

. In 1974 ''

Jet Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus a ...

'' magazine described Wright as Wonder's "girl friend". Their songs have been covered by many artists including Art Garfunkel,

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

, Michael McDonald, and Josh Groban. Wright also sang background vocals on Minnie Riperton's "The Edge Of A Dream", from Riperton's 1974 breakthrough album '' Perfect Angel'', produced by Wonder.Riperton, Minnie. ''Perfect Angel'' (Album Notes). Epic. 1974 Wright continued to sing live in the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1975, she performed in a touring production of ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

'' in Spain. She sang background vocals for

Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American record producer, singer, composer and actor. Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably his s ...

and Millie Jackson. She was a featured vocalist in touring line-ups for

the Chantels ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

and

the Marvelettes The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who wa ...

, as well as on numerous recordings. Later in life she returned to study in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, and earned a BSc and her MS in Special Education.

Selective discography as songwriter

All songs written by Stevie Wonder and Yvonne Wright.

Singles

Album tracks

References

External links

Yvonne Wright
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Yvonne Wright
at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Yvonne 1951 births 2016 deaths African-American songwriters Motown artists American women songwriters 20th-century African-American people People from Harlem 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women