The Pop Corporation

Gary Wright has sadly left the building. Even if you think you don’t know him, you probably do, and if not, you ought to get to know his music now. Wright had been unwell for a while, but let us focus on what he did and a life well lived.

He started off his creative endeavours acting as a child in commercials and whatnot, but it was his pop career that people really took notice of.

After the usual run of high school bands and the like, Wright joined members of Art (of ‘Supernatural Fairy Tales’ note) to form Spooky Tooth. He joined the group after his local R&B group supported Traffic, where Wright met Chris Blackwell of Island Records, leading to the Spooky Tooth gig. As joint vocalist, Wright gave the band a soulful edge, along with crushing Hammond organ at his fingertips.

During his time in the band, Wright proved himself to be an inquisitive musician, instigating a collaboration with early electronic musician Pierre Henry, and the synth bug would stay with him through his career.

By 1970, Wright went solo. His first outing gave us ‘Extraction’ – a tough, bluesy LP which included Klaus Voormann on bass, and through him, an introduction to the Beatle universe.

Wright ended up playing piano on George Harrison’s opus ‘All Things Must Pass’, and contributing heavily to the triple LP, it began a friendship that would last Harrison’s lifetime, with Wright describing George as his ‘spiritual mentor’. He would play on a number of Harrison’s solo recordings and this would lead to Wright’s involvement on Ringo’s ‘Back Off Boogaloo’ and ‘Don’t Come Easy’.

Wright’s own career would stutter, but he provided licks on Nilsson’s smash ‘Without You’, and a brief reformation of Spooky Tooth.

By 1975, things were changing. Inspired by Stevie Wonder’s one-man approach and his love of synths, Wright decided to grab his gear and make another go at it. Signing to Warner Bros, he released ‘The Dream Weaver’ – a forward thinking LP without the customary guitar forward pop that dominated the charts.

The lead single – which would get a small renaissance thanks to an appearance in Wayne’s World – would change Wright’s fortunes for good.

The track was inspired by ‘Autobiography Of A Yogi’ – a book given to him by George Harrison, and in turn, inspired by Lennon’s use of the phrase ‘dreamweaver’ in his song ‘God’. The song, all by itself, was a smash.

The LP would contain other gems – notably the brilliant ‘Love Is Alive’. A powerful, funky synth-rock workout that was intended as the lead single from the album, and another chart hit, spending more time in the charts than ‘Dream Weaver’. During this time, Wright toured relentlessly and, whilst he was at it, pretty much invented the keytar.

In later years, Wright’s music continued to live on. Chaka Khan covered ‘Love Is Alive’ and Judas Priest did a version of his Spooky Tooth track ‘Better By You, Better Than Me’ which is infamous for being the song taken to court for subliminal messaging after the suicide of two teenagers from Nevada. His songs would be sampled in hip hop, and Wright found his way into movie work.

Wright would play with Ringo’s All Starr Band and be a champion for good causes and left-wing politics.

We’ve lost a real gem in Gary Wright, so do the right thing, and let him live on through his brilliant music which reshaped what people thought of when it came to rock ‘n’ roll.