[[The Late) Syreeta salutes Stevie Wonder

[luckyluckyme]

[Sotosound]

Perhaps a little bee in my bonnet but I suspect that Syreeta underrated herself....

Looking back, it could be argued that Syreeta was, in part at least, responsible for Stevie Wonder's career as much as he was, in part, responsible for hers. He benefited from the lyrics that she wrote for him. He also benefited from all of the royalties arising from his work with her. And without her own voice and musicianship those royalties might never have rolled in.

Also, in terms of Syreeta's career, Stevie always made his own involvement clear in the Syreeta tracks that he produced by singing on them and turning them into "Stevie Wonder featuring Syreeta" duets. He also did the same with Jermaine Jackson and, from my perspective, he diminished the other artist in doing so.

As an artist, where do you go if your biggest hits have required you to play second fiddle to Stevie Wonder?

And I'm not saying that these tracks aren't great, but the balance of recognition just doesn't feel right to me.

And although I love some of the stuff that Syreeta did with Stevie, there's a whole world of difference between that and, say, Syreeta's performance on "With You I'm Born Again." Her work on that track is pretty much perfect and it's just her and Billy Preston as partners in a duet. It isn't "Billy Preston Presents Syreeta".

I guess that there's a difference between producing an artist and taking over.

I get a similar sense when I listen to "Baby I'm For Real" and "The Bells" by the Originals. These are very much Marvin Gaye featuring some session singers, even if he doesn't actually sing lead.

I don't, however, get the same sense when I listen to The Temptations or Edwin Starr when they're produced by, say, Norman Whitfield. [[Well, perhaps until "Masterpiece". )

Of course it's possible to recognise a Norman Whitfield production, but if you listen to "War" by Edwin Starr, it has Edwin's stamp all over it. No-one else could have made that track what it was. If you listen to Eddie Kendricks singing "Just My Imagination", it couldn't really be anyone else.

Is this, however, just a bee in my own personal bonnet?

[TomatoTom123]

Interesting Soto. Are you saying that Stevie didn’t let Syreeta develop as an artist in her own right? As if her career was more of a Stevie side project?

[Sotosound]

I'm saying that Stevie seems to need to let people know that he's there in the middle of it, even when he's actually the producer and not the artist.

If you listen to "To Know You Is To Love You", it starts as though it's a Stevie Wonder solo track. That's how I reacted when I first heard it, and I liked it because of that. I also liked it when it changed key and Syreeta started singing, but by then it was too late for Syreeta. Stevie had already claimed ownership and pushed Syreeta into the background on her own recording.

Had Syreeta been an already-established superstar, however, then the effect might have been different. [[George Michael and Elton John anyone?)

I note that he didn't do this to The Spinners for "It's A Shame", and the result was that we heard just how good The Spinners were, especially in the mono mix where the backing vocals are brought to the fore and knock us out.

The trouble is that Stevie is so iconic in terms of voice and technique that anyone following him on a pop or soul track will normally sound second string.

If, however, you put him with Andrea Bocelli, as per "Canzoni Stonate" on Andrea's "Amore" album, then the shoe is suddenly on the other foot. He still sounds as distinctive, but he doesn't fit into style of the track quite so well, and it's clearly a later overdub. In this case, it clearly remains an Andrea Bocelli track.

What's your view, Tom?