You Are the Sunshine of My Life
| "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Stevie Wonder | ||||
| from the album Talking Book | ||||
| B-side | "Tuesday Heartbreak" | |||
| Released | March 1973 | |||
| Recorded | 1972 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:58 | |||
| Label | Tamla | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Stevie Wonder | |||
| Producer(s) | Stevie Wonder | |||
| Stevie Wonder singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is a 1973 single released by Stevie Wonder. The song became Wonder's third number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and his first number-one on the Easy Listening chart.[1] It won Wonder a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and was nominated for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year.[2] This song was the second single (following "Superstition") released from the 1972 album entitled Talking Book, which stayed at number one on the R&B charts for three weeks.[2]
Rolling Stone ranked the song number 287 on their list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[3]
The first two lines of the song are sung, not by Wonder, but by Jim Gilstrap; Lani Groves sings the next two.[4] 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.
Personnel
Source: Talking Book, Tamla: 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
- unknown — horns
Chart performance
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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See also
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1973 (U.S.)
- List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1973 (U.S.)
References
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Record Research. p. 262.
- ^ a b Hogan, Ed. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (song review), AllMusic.com.
- ^ "287. Stevie Wonder, 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life'", 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, Rolling Stone, April 7, 2011.
- ^ Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits: Updated and Expanded 5th Edition. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 333.
- ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (doc). Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ Canada, Library and Archives (July 17, 2013). "Image : RPM Weekly". bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
- ^ "NZ Listener chart summary". Flavour of New Zealand. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
- ^ "Cash Box Top 100 5/19/73". Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
- ^ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.100214&type=2&interval=24&PHPSESSID=dtlhqtcdftn9t40n27r4hds2h0
- ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1973/Top 100 Songs of 1973". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 11, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links
- Template:MetroLyrics song
- 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, July 31, 1993.
- "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" at Songfacts.
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