You Are the Sunshine of My Life: Written After the Divorce

By Charlie · Published September 8, 2026

You Are the Sunshine of My Life sounds like it was written for a wedding.

Stevie Wonder actually recorded it the same summer his own marriage ended.

He and Syreeta Wright had married in September 1970, when she was twenty-four and he was twenty.

They divorced about eighteen months later, sometime in the summer of 1972.

Wonder walked into Electric Lady Studios that same summer and cut this song anyway.

Nobody outside the room knew the marriage was already over.

This is the chart-verified story, built from Billboard's own year-end data and cross-checked against outside chart history.

Stevie Wonder singing into a studio microphone in 1973, the year You Are the Sunshine of My Life reached number one

Stevie Wonder in a Motown recording session, 1973.

Image credit: Photo by Motown Records, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Marriage That Ended Before the Song Came Out

You Are the Sunshine of My Life came out of a relationship that had already run its course.

Stevie Wonder married Syreeta Wright on September 14, 1970.

She was twenty-four. He was twenty.

Wright had started at Motown as a receptionist before Wonder brought her into songwriting.

Together they worked on several songs that became hits for other artists too, including:

"Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," which Wright co-wrote and sang backing vocals on.
"It's a Shame," a 1970 hit for the Spinners.
"If You Really Love Me," credited as a Wonder-Wright composition, which reached number 8 in 1971.

The marriage itself lasted only about eighteen months.

They divorced in the summer of 1972.

They Stayed Close After the Split

Wonder and Wright did not stop working together once the marriage ended.

He produced her solo debut album, Syreeta, that same year.

Their creative partnership continued for two more decades after the divorce.

That same instinct to keep collaborating runs through a lot of Stevie Wonder's work from this era.

Cut in One Night at Electric Lady Studios

Wonder wrote and recorded You Are the Sunshine of My Life in the summer of 1972.

He was already deep into sessions for Talking Book at Electric Lady Studios in New York.

The song reportedly started as something looser, a melody that came together during a routine band rehearsal.

Bassist Scott Edwards remembered the room realizing what they had almost immediately.

"He was so excited, he said, 'Tonight we're going to the studio and record it,'" Edwards recalled.

They cut the track that same night.

The Voices You Hear First Aren't Wonder's

The recording opens with two Motown labelmates singing before Wonder does.

The finished credits break down like this:

Jim Gilstrap: sings the opening two lines.
Lani Groves: sings the next two lines, before Wonder takes over as lead.
Gloria Barley: additional backing vocals.
Scott Edwards: bass.
Daniel Ben Zebulon: congas.
Stevie Wonder: lead vocals, Fender Rhodes electric piano, and drums.

Wonder played most of the instrumentation himself, the same layered approach that shaped the rest of Talking Book.

It's the same one-man-band instinct that built Superstition.

That album track was cut just months earlier, in the same studio.

You can hear that whole take, credits and all, on You Are the Sunshine of My Life.

How You Are the Sunshine of My Life Climbed the Charts

Motown released the single on March 10, 1973, five months after Superstition.

It climbed the Hot 100 for about two months before topping out.

You Are the Sunshine of My Life reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

That happened for the week of May 19, 1973.

It made it Wonder's third number-one single overall.

The first two were "Fingertips, Pt. 2" in 1963 and Superstition earlier that same year.

It also led the Adult Contemporary chart, his first number one there, and topped the Cash Box Top 100.

On the R&B chart it stalled lower, at number 3.

Superstition, by contrast, had gone all the way to number one there.

Where You Are the Sunshine of My Life Peaked in 1973
Chart	Peak Position
Billboard Hot 100	#1 (week of May 19, 1973)
Billboard Adult Contemporary	#1
Cash Box Top 100	#1
Billboard R&B Singles	#3
UK Singles Chart	#7
Canada (RPM)	#5
Australia (Kent Music Report)	#10
New Zealand	#8

Where It Landed on This Site's Own Year-End List

This site's own 1973 year-end Hot 100 places You Are the Sunshine of My Life at number 19.

That matches Billboard's actual year-end tally for 1973, not just this site's internal data.

A single week at number one in May can still hold a solid year-end spot.

That's especially true if the rest of the field is thin enough around it.

Superstition, Wonder's other big single that year, actually finished lower on the same year-end list, at number 26.

That's despite reaching number one first.

That's the same year-end pool of singles behind the Random 70s Song Generator.

The Single Order Even This Site's Own Data Got Wrong

It's an easy mistake to make.

You Are the Sunshine of My Life is the song most casual fans know today.

So it's natural to assume it led off Talking Book.

It didn't.

Superstition came first, released October 24, 1972, months before this song ever reached radio.

You Are the Sunshine of My Life followed as the album's second single.

It came out March 10, 1973, nearly five months later.

Why the Mix-Up Persists

Even this site's own year-end database describes it as the first single from Talking Book.

That doesn't match the outside chart record.

Multiple outside chart histories, including Wikipedia's own single chronology and contemporary trade coverage, agree Superstition came first.

The mix-up is understandable.

This became the bigger, more universal hit, the one still played at weddings.

The other one was built around a clavinet riff and a favor for Jeff Beck.

Release order and popularity just aren't the same thing.

The Grammy Win and the Cover Versions That Followed

The chart run turned into an awards run the following spring.

At the 16th Annual Grammy Awards in 1974, this song won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

That was the same ceremony where Superstition won two awards.

It was also nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.

Other Singers Wanted a Version of Their Own

The song's reach went well past Wonder's original recording.

Within a couple of years, several major vocalists had recorded their own covers, including:

Frank Sinatra, on his 1974 album.
Andy Williams.
Johnny Mathis.
Brenda Lee.
Liza Minnelli.

This site's own Mood Song Matcher tags the original happy and romantic, chill and reflective.

That combination is probably exactly why so many different singers wanted a version of their own.

Few songs on Music of the 70s carry that same pull across genres and generations.

This one went from a Motown rehearsal to a Sinatra album within a year.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is You Are the Sunshine of My Life about?

"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is widely believed to be about Syreeta Wright.

She was Stevie Wonder's first wife and a Motown songwriter he co-wrote several hits with.

Wright is not officially credited as a co-writer on this particular song.

Wonder recorded it in the summer of 1972, the same summer their eighteen-month marriage ended.

That timing has fueled the connection for decades.

Did You Are the Sunshine of My Life reach number one?

"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of May 19, 1973.

It was Stevie Wonder's third number-one single overall.

The first two were "Fingertips, Pt. 2" in 1963 and "Superstition" earlier the same year.

It also topped the Adult Contemporary chart and the Cash Box Top 100.

Was You Are the Sunshine of My Life the first single from Talking Book?

"Superstition" was the first single from Talking Book, released October 24, 1972.

"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" followed as the album's second single.

It came out March 10, 1973, nearly five months later.

It is often assumed to be the lead single because it became the more universally loved song.

What Grammy did You Are the Sunshine of My Life win?

"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 16th Annual Grammy Awards in 1974.

That was the same ceremony where "Superstition" won two other awards.

It was also nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.

Who sings the opening lines of You Are the Sunshine of My Life?

Stevie Wonder does not sing first on his own recording.

Backing vocalist Jim Gilstrap sings the opening two lines.

Lani Groves sings the next two, before Wonder takes over as the lead voice.

Gloria Barley rounds out the backing vocals on the finished track.