1967–1970: With Spooky Tooth 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. While in Europe in 1967, Wright abandoned his plans to become a doctor 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). The group soon changed its name to
Spooky Tooth, 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". the band's guitarist.
Spooky Two, often considered the band's best work, followed in March 1969, with Miller again producing. Wright composed or co-composed seven of the album's eight songs, including "That Was Only Yesterday" and "
Better By You, Better Than Me".
Spooky Two sold well in America but, like ''It's All About'', it failed to place on the UK's top 40 albums chart. released in December 1969. after the latter had passed the band's recordings on to Henry for what
The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia terms "processed
musique concrète overdubs". Although Wright had traditionally provided an experimental influence within Spooky Tooth, With bass player
Greg Ridley having already left the band in 1969 to join
Humble Pie, Wright departed in January 1970 to pursue a solo career. with musicians including Kellie, guitarist
Hugh McCracken, bassist
Klaus Voormann and drummer
Alan White. Wright co-produced the album with
Andy Johns, and
Ceremony. co-written by Wright and McCracken.
George Harrison's All Things Must Pass Through Voormann, Wright was invited to play piano on former Beatle
George Harrison's 1970 triple album
All Things Must Pass. Among what author
Nicholas Schaffner later described as "a rock orchestra of almost symphonic proportions, whose credits read like a Who's Who of the music scene", Wright was one of the album's principal keyboard players, together with former
Delaney & Bonnie organist
Bobby Whitlock. During the sessions, Wright and Harrison established a long-lasting friendship, based on music and their shared interest in Indian religion. In a 2009 interview with vintagerock.com, Wright described Harrison as "my spiritual mentor"; Wright played on all of Harrison's subsequent solo albums during the 1970s, as well as on other releases that the ex-Beatle produced for
Apple Records. These included two hit singles by Harrison's former bandmate
Ringo Starr over 1971–72, "
It Don't Come Easy" and "
Back Off Boogaloo", and a 1971 comeback single by ex-
Ronette Ronnie Spector, "
Try Some, Buy Some".
Footprint To promote
Extraction, Wright formed the band Wonderwheel in April 1971, with a lineup comprising guitarist
Jerry Donahue – soon replaced by
Mick Jones – Archie Legget (bass) and
Bryson Graham (drums). Donahue was among the many musicians on Wright's second album,
Footprint (1971), along with George Harrison and
All Things Must Pass contributors such as Voormann, White,
Jim Gordon,
Bobby Keys and
John Barham. Produced by Wright, the album included "Stand for Our Rights", a call for social unity, song which was originally written for
Johnny Hallyday under the name “Flagrant Délit” and was partly inspired by the
Vietnam War, "Two Faced Man" and "Love to Survive". In November 1971, Wright and Wonderwheel performed "Two Faced Man" on
The Dick Cavett Show in New York, with Harrison accompanying on
slide guitar. Wright expressed gratitude for Harrison's support during this stage of his career, citing the ex-Beatle's uncredited production on
Footprint and his arranging the
Dick Cavett Show appearance. Among other recordings over this period, Wright played piano on
Harry Nilsson's 1972 hit "
Without You" which included Wright's composition "Wet Hayshark". He later participated in London sessions by Jerry Lee Lewis, Wright also produced an eponymous album by
folk rock band Howl the Good, released on the Rare Earth label.
Ring of Changes In 1972, Wright moved to
Devon with Wonderwheel to work on songs for a new album, titled
Ring of Changes. With Tom Duffey having replaced Leggett on bass, the band recorded the songs at
Olympic and
Apple studios in London. After issuing "I Know" as an advance single, A&M chose to cancel the album. Wright also wrote the soundtrack for a film by former Olympic skier
Willy Bogner,
Benjamin (1972), from which the German label
Ariola Records released "Goodbye Sunday" as a single that year. The full soundtrack album, recorded with Jones, Leggett and Graham, was issued by Ariola in 1974. In September 1972, Wright decided to disband Wonderwheel and re-form Spooky Tooth. Shortly before doing so, he participated in sessions for Harrison's
Living in the Material World (1973), an album that Wright describes as "a beautiful masterpiece" and his favorite Harrison album. Talking to
Chris Salewicz of
Let It Rock in early 1973, Wright explained his decision to abandon his solo career: "I think my main talent is getting the music together and arranging it. I'm not a showman and so I couldn't be a
Cat Stevens out front with just backing musicians, which I was expected to be with Wonderwheel." With the group's standing having been elevated since 1970 – a situation that music journalist Steven Rosen likened at the time to
the Yardbirds,
the Move and other 1960s bands after their break-up The band released a follow-up,
Witness, in November 1973, where they journeyed to
Varanasi (Benares), the
Hindu spiritual capital of India, and home to Harrison's friend
Ravi Shankar. The visit would influence the spiritual quality of Wright's lyrics when he returned to his solo career. the debut album by English duo
Splinter. In addition to playing keyboards, Wright served as what author Simon Leng terms "a sounding board and musical amanuensis" on the project, which was the first album released on Harrison's
Dark Horse record label. Wright regrouped with Spooky Tooth for a final album,
The Mirror (1974), with
Mike Patto as their new vocalist. Following further personnel changes,
The Mirror was issued by Goodear Records in the UK in October 1974, a month after Wright had disbanded the group. Wright says that it was while routining his songs with all his stage equipment set up –
Hammond organ,
Hohner Clavinet,
Fender Rhodes electric piano,
Minimoog and
ARP String Ensemble – together with a
drum machine, that he decided to record the album "all on keyboards", without guitars. apart from a guitar part on the track "Power of Love" by
Ronnie Montrose. Jason Ankeny of
AllMusic describes
The Dream Weaver as "one of the first [rock albums] created solely via synthesizer technology". went on to peak at number 2 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the
Cash Box singles chart. The album climbed to number 7 on the
Billboard 200 and was certified double
Platinum. Subsidized by synthesizer manufacturers
Moog and
Oberheim, Wright then supported Frampton on a European tour, by which time a fourth keyboard player had been added to the band. Amid this success, A&M issued
That Was Only Yesterday (1976) – which charted at number 172 in America.
Paramahansa Yogananda. The latter's poem "The Light of Smiles", taken from his book
Metaphysical Meditations, appeared on the inner sleeve to Wright's new album. Wright had acknowledged the guru as his inspiration for the title of
The Dream Weaver, Issued by Warner Bros. in January 1977, neither the album nor its lead single, "Phantom Writer", matched the popularity of Wright's earlier releases for the label. which appeared on Harrison's
eponymous 1979 album. Wright's last chart success in America was in 1981, climbed to number 79. peaked at number 16 that year.
1982–2000: Film soundtracks and world music Wright's subsequent releases focused on film soundtracks and forays into
world music. he supplied the soundtrack to another skiing-themed movie by Willy Bogner,
Fire and Ice (1986), which hit number 1 on the German albums chart. Among notable cover versions of Wright's songs during this period,
Chaka Khan recorded "Love Is Alive" (retitled "My Love Is Alive") for her 1984 album
I Feel for You, which became an RIAA-certified million-seller. A cover of his Spooky Tooth composition "Better By You, Better Than Me", by English
heavy metal band
Judas Priest, was at the center of a 1990 court case regarding
subliminal messages in song lyrics, after two
Nevadan teenagers had enacted a
suicide pact five years before. From 1989 through to the late 1990s,
samples of Wright's "Dream Weaver", "Love Is Alive" and "Can't Find the Judge" variously featured in songs by popular rap and
hip-hop artists
Tone Lōc,
Dream Warriors,
3rd Bass and
Mýa. Wright himself re-recorded "Dream Weaver" for the 1992 comedy ''
Wayne's World, The song has since appeared in the films The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Toy Story 3 (2010). He later provided "We Can Fly" for another Bogner film, Ski to the Max'', released in
IMAX cinemas in October 2000.
Who I Am, First Signs of Life and Human Love In 1988, Wright released
Who I Am on A&M-distributed
Cypress Records. a group of
South Indian percussionists, and played keyboards on songs such as "
When We Was Fab". One of the tracks from
Who I Am, "Blind Alley", was used in the 1988 horror film
Spellbinder. Wright's next solo album was
First Signs of Life (1995), recorded in Rio de Janeiro and at his own and issued on the Triloka/Worldly record label. The album combined
Brazilian rhythms
First Signs of Life featured guest appearances from drummer
Terry Bozzio, Brazilian guitarist and Harrison.
Human Love (1999) included new versions of "Wildfire" and "The Wrong Time", as well as "If You Believe in Heaven", a song written with
Graham Gouldman that had first appeared on
Best of Gary Wright.
Later career Having dedicated much of his time during the 1990s to his family, Wright subsequently resumed a more active musical career, starting with Spooky Tooth's 2004 reunion. Wright's past work has continued to inspire rap and dance tracks in the 21st century; samples of "Heartbeat" appear in songs by
Jay-Z and
Diam's, while
Topmodelz covered the song in 2007. In the summer of 2008, Wright joined
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band for a North American tour, with Edgar Winter also in the lineup. The All-Starr Band's album and DVD
Live at the Greek Theatre 2008 (2010) includes Wright's performance of "Dream Weaver". Wright later described the tour as "a lot of fun" and "a big boost" for his career. before performing further shows with the band in Germany. which Wright co-wrote with songwriter
Bobby Hart. which he and Harrison had recorded in 1989, while the
iTunes version added "To Discover Yourself", a song that the two musicians had written together in 1971. and supplied personal reminiscences and family photographs for
Olivia Harrison's book of the same title. In 2010 and 2011, Wright toured again with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. Following a summer 2011 tour of Europe with Starr, Wright participated in the Hippiefest US tour with artists such as
Felix Cavaliere,
Mark Farner,
Dave Mason and
Rick Derringer, before returning to Europe for shows with his own band late that year. ==Personal life==