Rita Wright was born in Pittsburgh in 1946. Her father was killed in the Korean War, and money troubles kept the family moving between Detroit and South Carolina, ending a hoped-for ballet career. In 1965 she joined Motown as a receptionist and became secretary to A&R head Mickey Stevenson. Eddie Holland heard her sing and put her to work cutting demos for the Supremes, and Brian Holland produced her 1968 debut single, renaming her Syreeta because he thought Rita Wright was hard to pronounce. She also sang uncredited backing vocals on Love Child.
In early 1970 Berry Gordy wanted her to replace Diana Ross in the Supremes, but Jean Terrell had already been announced and Mary Wilson vetoed the switch. Syreeta began dating Stevie Wonder in 1969, co-wrote It’s a Shame for the Spinners and Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours, and married him in September 1970. They divorced after 18 months in 1972, the same year he produced her debut album. In 1979 Motown paired her with Billy Preston for the film Fast Break, and With You I’m Born Again reached number 2 in the UK and number 4 in the US. She died in 2004 at 58.
- Her debut album included a cover of the Beatles’ She’s Leaving Home sung through a talk box.
- For her 1974 second album, Motown steered her toward an airy upper-register style in the vein of Minnie Riperton’s Lovin’ You.
- Your Kiss Is Sweet, a reggae-flavored track, became a UK top 40 hit in 1975.
- In the mid-1970s she stepped away to become a Transcendental Meditation teacher, a period the episode places in Ethiopia.
- In 1993 she joined the national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar as Mary Magdalene and stayed for two years.
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