"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. 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.Hogan, Ed. [ "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (song review)], AllMusic.com. 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 albums chart for three weeks.
Rolling Stone ranks the song at number 183 on their list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Billboard called it "a soft, haunting ballad with outstanding electric piano runs and outstanding production work."
In 2002, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Background The first two lines of the song are sung, not by Wonder, but by Jim Gilstrap; Lani Groves sings the next two. 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 (1982).
Reception Cash Box said that Wonder "changes the pace [from 'Superstition'] and delivers a stirring ballad performance that is also certain to go gold instantly." Record World said that the "tune that's been covered many times is done best by the originator."
Personnel Source: Talking Book, Tamla: T 319L, October 27, 1972 (album cover)
Stevie Wonder – lead vocals, background vocals, Fender Rhodes piano, drums Jim Gilstrap – first lead vocals, background vocals Lani Groves – second lead vocals, background vocals Gloria Barley – background vocals Scott Edwards – electric bass Daniel Ben Zebulon – congas unknown — horns
Chart performance
Weekly charts Chart (1973)PeakpositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)10Canada RPM Adult Contemporary9New Zealand (Listener)8UK Singles Chart7U.S. Billboard Hot 1001U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary1U.S. Billboard R&B3U.S. Cash Box Top 1001
Year-end charts Chart (1973)RankAustralia 74Canada 64U.S. Billboard Hot 10019U.S. Billboard Easy Listening 9U.S. Cash Box59
Certifications
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
External links 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.