Gary Wright
Gary Malcolm Wright (April 26, 1943 – September 4, 2023) was an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive". Wright's breakthrough album, The Dream Weaver (1975), came after he had spent seven years in London as, alternately, a member of the British blues rock band Spooky Tooth and a solo artist on A&M Records. While in England, he played keyboards on former Beatle George Harrison's triple album All Things Must Pass (1970), so beginning a friendship that inspired the Indian religious themes and spirituality inherent in Wright's subsequent songwriting. His work from the late 1980s onwards embraced world music and the new age genre, although none of his post-1976 releases matched the same level of popularity as The Dream Weaver.
For other people named Gary Wright, see Gary Wright (disambiguation).
Gary Wright
Gary Malcolm Wright
April 26, 1943
Cresskill, New Jersey, U.S.
September 4, 2023 (aged 80)
Palos Verdes Estates, California, U.S.
- Musician
- singer
- composer
- actor
Vocals, keyboards
1950–2017
- 20th Century Fox
- Island
- A&M
- Ariola
- Goodear
- Warner Bros.
- Cypress
- Triloka/Worldly
- High Wave Music
- Larkio
A former child actor, Wright performed on Broadway in the hit musical Fanny before studying medicine and then psychology in New York and Berlin. After meeting Chris Blackwell of Island Records in Europe, Wright moved to London, where he helped establish Spooky Tooth as a popular live act. He also served as the band's principal songwriter on their recordings – among them, the well-regarded albums Spooky Two (1969) and You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw (1973). His solo album Footprint (1971), recorded with contributions from Harrison, coincided with the formation of Wright's short-lived band Wonderwheel, which included guitarist Mick Jones, later known for his work with Foreigner. Also, during the early 1970s, Wright played on notable recordings by B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, and Ronnie Spector, while his musical association with Harrison endured until shortly before the latter's death in 2001.
Wright turned to film soundtrack work in the early 1980s, including re-recording his most popular song, "Dream Weaver", for the 1992 comedy Wayne's World. Following Spooky Tooth's reunion tour in 2004, Wright performed live frequently, either as a member of Starr's All-Starr Band, with his own live band, or on subsequent Spooky Tooth reunions. Wright's most recent solo albums, including Waiting to Catch the Light (2008) and Connected (2010), have all been issued on his Larklio record label. In 2014, Jeremy P. Tarcher published Wright's autobiography, Dream Weaver: Music, Meditation, and My Friendship with George Harrison.
Early life[edit]
Gary Wright was born and raised in Cresskill, New Jersey.[1] A child actor, he made his TV debut at the age of seven, on the show Captain Video and His Video Rangers, filmed in New York City.[2] He appeared in TV and radio commercials before being offered a part in the 1954 Broadway production of the musical Fanny.[2] Wright played the role of Cesario, the son of Fanny, who was played by future Brady Bunch matriarch Florence Henderson.[3] He spent two years with the production, during which he performed with Henderson on The Ed Sullivan Show.[4]
Having studied piano and organ,[2] Wright led various local rock bands while attending[1] Tenafly High School in Tenafly, New Jersey.[5][6] In 1959, he made his first commercial recording, with Billy Markle at NBC Radio's New York studios.[7] Credited to Gary & Billy, the single "Working After School" was released on 20th Century Fox Records in 1960.[7]
Seeing music as "too unstable" a career choice, as he later put it,[4] Wright studied to become a doctor at the College of William & Mary in Virginia and New York University before attending Downstate Medical College for a year,[6] all the while continuing to perform with local bands.[4][8] Having specialized in psychology in New York,[2] he then went to West Germany in 1966[9] to complete his studies at the Free University of Berlin.[1] Within a year, he decided to not continue his schooling.
Career[edit]
1967–1970: With Spooky Tooth[edit]
Wright described his initial musical influences as "early R&B" – namely, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Bobby Bland – along with rock 'n' roll artists Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, and the Beatles.[4] While in Europe in 1967, Wright abandoned his plans to become a doctor[4] and instead toured locally with a band he had formed, the New York Times.[1] When the latter supported the English group Traffic – at Oslo in Norway, according to Wright[8] – he met Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.[1] Wright recalled that he and Blackwell had a mutual friend in Jimmy Miller,[8] the New York-born producer of Island acts such as the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic.[10]
Blackwell invited Wright to London, where he joined English singer and pianist Mike Harrison and drummer Mike Kellie in their band Art (formerly the VIPs).[11] The group soon changed its name to Spooky Tooth,[1] with Wright as joint lead vocalist[8] and Hammond organ player.[12] While noting the band's lack of significant commercial success over its career, The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll describes Spooky Tooth as "a bastion of Britain's hard-rock scene".[11]
Spooky Tooth's first album was It's All About, released on Island in June 1968.[2] Produced by Miller,[2] it contained the Wright-composed "Sunshine Help Me" and six songs he co-wrote with either Miller, Harrison or Luther Grosvenor,[13] the band's guitarist.[14] Spooky Two, often considered the band's best work, followed in March 1969, with Miller again producing.[15] Wright composed or co-composed seven of the album's eight songs, including "That Was Only Yesterday" and "Better By You, Better Than Me".[16] Spooky Two sold well in America but, like It's All About, it failed to place on the UK's top 40 albums chart.[17]
The third Spooky Tooth album was Ceremony, a Wright-instigated collaboration with French electronic music pioneer Pierre Henry,[14][18] released in December 1969.[11] Songwriting for all the tracks was credited to Henry and Wright,[19] after the latter had passed the band's recordings on to Henry for what The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia terms "processed musique concrète overdubs".[20]
Although Wright had traditionally provided an experimental influence within Spooky Tooth,[14] he regretted the change of musical direction, saying in a 1973 interview: "We should have really taken off after Spooky Two but we got into the absurd situation of letting Pierre Henry make the Ceremony album. Then he took it back to France and remixed it."[17] With bass player Greg Ridley having already left the band in 1969 to join Humble Pie,[21] Wright departed in January 1970 to pursue a solo career.[17]
Personal life[edit]
Wright resided in Palos Verdes Estates, California, with wife Rose, whom he married in 1985.[9] He was previously married to Christina,[128] who, as Tina Wright, received co-writing credits on Wright's songs "I'm Alive" (from The Mirror),[129] "Feel for Me" (The Dream Weaver)[76] and "I'm the One Who'll Be by Your Side" (Headin' Home).[91] He had two adult sons, Dorian and Justin.[9] Justin is a member of the band Intangible.[130] Wright had a sister, Lorna Dune, who recorded the song Midnight Joey. The song was an answer song to Joey Powers's Midnight Mary in 1962.[131]
Wright spoke out on the importance of creative opportunities for children in the public educational system,[4] and expressed his opposition to the prevalence of free music downloading and its disadvantage to artists.[34] In 2008, he voiced his support for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, during which "Dream Weaver" was a song adopted for the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.[132] That year, Wright discussed the message behind "Dream Weaver" with Huffington Post writer and political activist Howie Klein, saying: "With Wayne's World and all that, the perception of the song's meaning got a little bit changed for a lot of people. It's a very spiritual song. 'Dream Weaver' is really a song whose lyrical content is about the consciousness of the Universe: God moving us through the night – delusion and suffering – into the Higher Realms."[132]
In August 2014, Wright announced the imminent publication of his autobiography, Dream Weaver: Music, Meditation, and My Friendship with George Harrison.[133] Coinciding with the book's release, Wright's Warner Bros. albums were reissued for digital download.[134]
Death[edit]
Wright died at home in Palos Verdes Estates on September 4, 2023, at age 80.[135] He had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's disease around six or seven years earlier.[136] After his death, Ringo Starr posted his condolences on Twitter.[137]
