By 1973, Harrison (of the Mike variety) and Wright, neither of whom had enjoyed much commercial return on their solo work, decided to give the Spooky Tooth venture another burl. They recruited guitarist Mick Jones (future Foreigner), bassist Chris Stewart, and drummer Bryson Graham, and recorded an album of new material, titled ‘You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw’ (OZ#55/US#84). The album ‘Witness’ (US#99) quickly followed, but soon after Mike Harrison split to once more pursue a solo career. Gary Wright was left at the helm of Spooky Tooth, and recruited vocalist/keyboardist Mike Patto to fill the gap left my Harrison. But with a hit single still eluding them, and modest sales for the 1974 album ‘The Mirror’ (US#130), Spooky Tooth finally called it a day soon after.
Gary Wright then embarked on his second, and by far most successful, foray into solo artist territory. In June 1974 he signed to Warner Bros. resulting in the 1975 album ‘The Dream Weaver’, one of the first albums to be recorded almost exclusively via synthesizer technology (and produced by Wright himself), and establishing Wright as a true pioneer in the synth-rock field. The mellow synth-laden set was a beautifully crafted work, and the title track ‘Dream Weaver’ soon propelled the name Gary Wright to near the top of the charts. The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 during January ‘76, and soared to #2 (OZ#24), becoming a signature song of the era. Wright was inspired to pen the song, via his interest in Hinduism. Though the original version is brilliant, I actually prefer Wright’s 1992 re-recorded take on ‘Dream Weaver’, which features added mystical synthesizer sounds in the intro/outro. By most standards, an album would be considered a success if it yielded just one top five hit, but the platinum selling ‘The Dream Weaver’ (US#7/OZ#31) set produced yet another U.S.#2 hit, with the follow up single ‘Love Is Alive’ (OZ#71) (it also spawned the US#79 hit ‘Made To Love You’). During the next year, Gary Wright was a regular support act for the likes of Peter Frampton and Yes.
Gary Wright’s brand of mellow soft-rock was soon a staple on FM radio across the U.S., but his follow up album ‘The Light Of Smiles’ (US#23/OZ#75), which featured support players Jim Keltner and David Foster, didn’t light up the charts to the same degree as its predecessor. Lyrically, much of Wright’s work was incorporating his interest and dedication to Eastern mysticism, and proto-New Age views (as evidenced on tracks like ‘I Am The Sky (Paramahansa Yogananda)’), but musically at least, he stuck to the same middle-of-the-road, soft rock territory. ‘The Light Of Smiles’ yielded just one minor hit in ‘Phantom Writer’ (US#43). In 1978 Gary Wright made a guest appearance alongside The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton in the Beatles’ tribute film ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, but that aside, it was a relatively headline free year for him. The 1978 album ‘Touch And Gone’ (#117) was a commercial flop, and Wright ventured into the singles chart just once more in the 70s with the title track ‘Touch And Gone’ (US#73). 1979’s ‘Headin’ Home’ (US#147) saw Wright’s slide into pop-rock obscurity gain momentum, arguably another victim of disco’s dominance at that time. But in 1981, Gary Wright re-emerged with the finely crafted album ‘The Right Place’ (US#79), and with disco in its death throws, his music once more got a look in on commercial radio. The single ‘Really Wanna Know You’, co-written by Ali Thomson (see future post), must have proved at least a partial inspiration for Foreigner’s 1985 #1 ‘I Wanna Know What Love Is’. It became Wright’s last major incursion into the charts (US#16/OZ#49), followed by the minor hit ‘Heartbeat’ (US#107), which was later sampled on a 2007 dance hit for Topmodelz. The album track ‘Comin’ Apart’ was also sampled in 2004 by Armand van Helden on the club hit ‘My My My’, proving Wright’s work of that period had longevity, at least in terms of providing pre-fabricated melodies for dance acts.
With his Warner Bros. contract expired, Gary Wright turned his attention to composing film scores. He collaborated with producer Shep Gordon to write the score for the 1982 Allen Rudolph directed thriller ‘Endangered Species’, but his most commercially, and critically, well received film score, was 1985’s ‘Fire And Ice’, which spent months inside the German top five. In 1987 Gary Wright teamed up once more with old friend George Harrison, on Harrison’s mega-selling comeback album ‘Cloud Nine’, contributing piano to several tracks. Harrison returned the favour, as one of an all-star cast of guest players on Wright’s own comeback album, 1988’s ‘Who I Am’, which also boasted performances by Indian classical music greats Lakshmi Shankar and L. Subramanium. Not surprisingly, given his profile via ‘Fire And Ice’, the album was very well received in Germany.
Following his re-recording of ‘Dream Weaver’ for the ‘Wayne’s World’ soundtrack, Gary Wright spent the next few years focussing on writing material for his next project, and it was during this period that he commenced a songwriting partnership with Bobby Hart (of Boyce & Hart fame). Wright’s 1995 album ‘First Signs Of Life’ was firmly planted in the realm of ‘world music’, incorporating rhythms and percussion from Brazil and Nigeria. Once again George Harrison dropped by to play on a track or two, as did ex-Zappa/Missing Persons drummer Terry Bozzio. E.L.O. guru (and Traveling Wilbury) Jeff Lynne guested on Wright’s most recent album offering, 1999’s ‘Human Love’, released on his newly established record label Larkio Music. Over the ensuing years Gary Wright has continued to work with artists (including his sons) signed to his label, and contributed to more soundtracks. Following the death of Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley in 2004, Gary Wright joined with Mike Harrison and Mike Kellie, to perform two special Spooky Tooth reunion/tribute shows in Germany. Most recently Wright has been a featured player in Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band, touring throughout 2008.
Picture yourself as the host of a quirky, low budget, public access cable television show, in the Illinois district of Aurora. You’re chilling at a popular local night club, the Gasworks. You strut across the dance floor, heading for the bar, and doffing your baseball cap to patrons who may recognise you from your exploits as a late night television host. You turn and look at the band on stage, an up and coming hard rock outfit called Crucial Taunt, featuring the wailing vocals of the exotically beautiful Cassandra. Cue soft focus, slow motion as you gaze in awe - cue Gary Wright’s atmospheric synth-laden soft rock ballad ‘Dream Weaver’, to accompany you in your moment of mesmerization. You are Mike Myers’ cult comedy character Wayne Campbell - and this is yet another memorable moment from ‘Wayne’s World’ - it’s party time, it’s excellent, woowoowoowoo!
I tend to be referring to memorable moments in cinema a lot recently, but the medium is inexorably linked to popular music, and the two strands of popular culture compliment one another well. The Cassandra-Wayne ‘Dream Weaver’ moment wasn’t the only stand out sequence from ‘Wayne’s World’ to utilise a classic hit - think ‘Foxy Lady’ from Jimi Hendrix, ‘Radar Love’ from Golden Earring, and of course the (in)famous in car sequence featuring Wayne, Garth and crew lip synching to Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ - party on dudes! I have a soft spot for the ‘Dream Weaver’ sequence, as first time I saw ‘Wayne’s World’ at the cinema, I rediscovered a song, long lost in the murky mists of my memory. The re-recorded version of Gary Wright’s classic ‘Dream Weaver’ was one of the reasons I purchased the soundtrack CD from the film, though I already had most of the tracks featured (actually I did quite like the Tia Carrere take on Sweet’s ‘Ballroom Blitz’). Myers had already used ‘Dream Weaver’ in an earlier ‘Wayne’s World’ fantasy sequence, featured on a ‘Saturday Night Live’ segment in 1990. Wayne pictured himself beating ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and winning the hand of Gretzky’s wife Janet Jones, whilst ‘Dream Weaver’ played in the background.
By the time Gary Wright’s original 1976 version of ‘Dream Weaver’ hit #2 on the U.S. charts, Wright had already been a professional entertainer for more than twenty five years. New Jersey born Wright started out as a child actor (a bit like Phil Collins), and made his professional debut in 1950, aged seven, in the New York TV show ‘Captain Video and His Video Rangers’. Whilst still at school, he took regular work as an actor in local radio and television commercials, and later scored a support role in the Broadway production of ‘Fanny’. But all the while Wright’s love of music was growing, and soon he undertook formal studies in piano and organ. By the late fifties Wright was in high school, completely smitten with rock and roll, and consequently turned his creative energies toward playing in local rock bands. But, unlike many of his generation, Wright didn’t just drop out of high school to follow his rock and roll dream. Instead he followed the very non-rock and roll convention of studying psychology at a New York college, before completing his degree at Frei University in West Berlin during the mid 60s.
Wright elected to stay on in Europe, but rather than opening a practice as a psychologist, he once again pursued his love of popular music. By 1967, he was fronting an outfit called the New York Times, who scored the support slot for Steve Winwood’s ‘supergroup’ Traffic. Traffic were signed up to Island Records, and that brought the talents of Gary Wright to the attention of Island supremo Chris Blackwell. Blackwell introduced Wright to the members of London based band Art. Art were the prog-rock come psychedelic-rock offspring of another soul-R&B infused rock outfit called the V.I.P.’s. Vocalist and keyboardist Mike Harrison (a one time office clerk), was the driving force behind Art, who had just completed the album ‘Supernatural Fairy Tales’ for Island. Blackwell felt Gary Wright would be a good fit for the band, and as it turned out he was just that. Art renamed themselves Spooky Tooth, and in 1968 recorded their debut album ‘It’s All About’ (released in the U.S. as ‘Tobacco Road’ in 1970-#152), with the original line-up of Harrison, Wright, Luther Grosvenor (guitar - see recent Stealers Wheel post), Greg Ridley (bass), and Mike Kellie (drums). The band played a relentless touring schedule at home, and soon built up a loyal fan base for their hard edged prog-rock material, though their albums consistently racked up greater sales in the U.S. market, aided no doubt by support slots with Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones on tour. Following 1969’s ‘Spooky Two’ album (US#44), Spooky Tooth experienced the first of, what would be a turbulent sequence, of personnel changes, when bassist Ridley decided a slice of Humble Pie sounded appealing, and was replaced by Andy Leigh.
After the released of the ‘Ceremony’ album (US#92) in late ‘69, on which Gary Wright introduced the work of French electronic-music pioneer Pierre Henry to the mix, he left the band to pursue solo interests in 1970. In the year following, the Spooky Tooth band roster underwent a series of extractions and attempted bridgework, but following the release of the appropriately titled album ‘The Last Puff’ (US#84), Harrison called a halt to the dental procedures, er…the band - at least temporarily. The band’s members all went on to pursue other projects in the interim - guitarist Henry McCullough joined Paul McCartney’s Wings, Grosvenor to Stealers Wheel (then on to Mott The Hoople), and Harrison recorded a solo album, titled ‘Smokestack Lightning’. Meanwhile, after a stint as producer for Liverpool folk band Arrival, Gary Wright signed to A&M Records, and released his debut solo album, the appropriately titled, ‘Extraction’ in late 1970, which was much in the style of Spooky Tooth. That same year he contributed keyboards for a number of tracks on Beatle George’s triple album masterpiece ‘All Things Must Pass’. The collaboration was the starting point for a long term friendship, and creative alliance, between George Harrison and Gary Wright, one that would be play a major part in shaping many of the themes, lyrical and stylistic, behind Wright’s future solo work. It was during this period (well 1972 to be exact) that Harrison invited Wright to accompany him on one of his many sojourns to India, and Wright became an avid student of Hinduism ,and Indian literature and culture. Wright recorded a second album of solo material in 1971, titled ‘Foot Print’, which boasted the slide guitar of one George O’Hara, better known as Harrison, and in November ’71 Harrison played with Wright’s backing band for a live performance of the track ’Two-Faced Man’ on the Dick Cavett Show. Wright quickly followed that up with 1972’s ‘Ring Of Changes’, credited to Gary Wright with Wonderwheel. Gary Wright and George Harrison continued to work together throughout the 70s on their respective solo album projects.
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By 1973, Harrison (of the Mike variety) and Wright, neither of whom had enjoyed much commercial return on their solo work, decided to give the Spooky Tooth venture another burl. They recruited guitarist Mick Jones (future Foreigner), bassist Chris Stewart, and drummer Bryson Graham, and recorded an album of new material, titled ‘You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw’ (OZ#55/US#84). The album ‘Witness’ (US#99) quickly followed, but soon after Mike Harrison split to once more pursue a solo career. Gary Wright was left at the helm of Spooky Tooth, and recruited vocalist/keyboardist Mike Patto to fill the gap left my Harrison. But with a hit single still eluding them, and modest sales for the 1974 album ‘The Mirror’ (US#130), Spooky Tooth finally called it a day soon after.
(and produced by Wright himself), and establishing Wright as a true pioneer in the synth-rock field. The mellow synth-laden set was a beautifully crafted work, and the title track ‘Dream Weaver’ soon propelled the name Gary Wright to near the top of the charts. The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 during January ‘76, and soared to #2 (OZ#24), becoming a signature song of the era. Wright was inspired to pen the song, via his interest in Hinduism. Though the original version is brilliant, I actually prefer Wright’s 1992 re-recorded take on ‘Dream Weaver’, which features added mystical synthesizer sounds in the intro/outro. By most standards, an album would be considered a success if it yielded just one top five hit, but the platinum selling ‘The Dream Weaver’ (US#7/OZ#31) set produced yet another U.S.#2 hit, with the follow up single ‘Love Is Alive’ (OZ#71) (it also spawned the US#79 hit ‘Made To Love You’). During the next year, Gary Wright was a regular support act for the likes of Peter Frampton and Yes.
Gary Wright’s brand of mellow soft-rock was soon a staple on FM radio across the U.S., but his follow up album ‘The Light Of Smiles’ (US#23/OZ#75), which featured support players Jim Keltner and David Foster, didn’t light up the charts to the same degree as its predecessor. Lyrically, much of Wright’s work was incorporating his interest and dedication to Eastern mysticism, and proto-New Age views (as evidenced on tracks like ‘I Am The Sky (Paramahansa Yogananda)’), but musically at least, he stuck to the same middle-of-the-road, soft rock territory. ‘The Light Of Smiles’ yielded just one minor hit in ‘Phantom Writer’ (US#43). In 1978 Gary Wright made a guest appearance alongside The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton in the Beatles’ tribute film ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, but that aside, it was a relatively headline free year for him. The 1978 album ‘Touch And Gone’ (#117) was a commercial flop, and Wright ventured into the singles chart just once more in the 70s with the title track ‘Touch And 
Gone’ (US#73). 1979’s ‘Headin’ Home’ (US#147) saw Wright’s slide into pop-rock obscurity gain momentum, arguably another victim of disco’s dominance at that time. But in 1981, Gary Wright re-emerged with the finely crafted album ‘The Right Place’ (US#79), and with disco in its death throws, his music once more got a look in on commercial radio. The single ‘Really Wanna Know You’, co-written by Ali Thomson (see future post), must have proved at least a partial inspiration for Foreigner’s 1985 #1 ‘I Wanna Know What Love Is’. It became Wright’s last major incursion into the charts (US#16/OZ#49), followed by the minor hit ‘Heartbeat’ (US#107), which was later sampled on a 2007 dance hit for Topmodelz. The album track ‘Comin’ Apart’ was also sampled in 2004 by Armand van Helden on the club hit ‘My My My’, proving Wright’s work of that period had longevity, at least in terms of providing pre-fabricated melodies for dance acts.
With his Warner Bros. contract expired, Gary Wright turned his attention to composing film scores. He collaborated with producer Shep Gordon to write the score for the 1982 Allen Rudolph directed thriller ‘Endangered Species’, but his most commercially, and critically, well received film score, was 1985’s ‘Fire And Ice’, which spent months inside the German top five. In 1987 Gary Wright teamed up once more with old friend George Harrison, on Harrison’s mega-selling comeback album ‘Cloud Nine’, contributing piano to several tracks. Harrison returned the favour, as one of an all-star cast of guest players on Wright’s own comeback album, 1988’s ‘Who I Am’, which also boasted performances by Indian classical music greats Lakshmi Shankar and L. Subramanium. Not surprisingly, given his profile via ‘Fire And Ice’, the album was very well received in Germany.
period that he commenced a songwriting partnership with Bobby Hart (of Boyce & Hart fame). Wright’s 1995 album ‘First Signs Of Life’ was firmly planted in the realm of ‘world music’, incorporating rhythms and percussion from Brazil and Nigeria. Once again George Harrison dropped by to play on a track or two, as did ex-Zappa/Missing Persons drummer Terry Bozzio. E.L.O. guru (and Traveling Wilbury) Jeff Lynne guested on Wright’s most recent album offering, 1999’s ‘Human Love’, released on his newly established record label Larkio Music. Over the ensuing years Gary Wright has continued to work with artists (including his sons) signed to his label, and contributed to more soundtracks. Following the death of Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley in 2004, Gary Wright joined with Mike Harrison and Mike Kellie, to perform two special Spooky Tooth reunion/tribute shows in Germany. Most recently Wright has been a featured player in Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band, touring throughout 2008.
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