You Are the Sunshine of My Life (1973)

"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. 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)