Syreeta Wright: In 1968, the soul singer and songwriter Syreeta Wright, who has died of cancer at 58, met Stevie Wonder. In 1970 the couple married. The marriage was not a success, but the musical collaboration was.
Syreeta wrote lyrics to many of Wonder's tunes during the next few years. These included the uptempo Signed, Sealed And Delivered I'm Yours, the melodic ballad Never Thought You'd Leave In Summer, If You Really Love Me and other songs for Wonder's 1971 and 1972 albums. He produced her first solo albums, Syreeta (1972) and Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta (1974). Her first British top-20 hit was Your Kiss Is Sweet (1975).
Born Rita Wright, in Pittsburgh, she began singing at four. A year later, her father was killed in the Korean war. She was brought up by her mother and grandmother in South Carolina and Detroit. After abandoning dance because of the cost of training, she got work in 1965 as a receptionist at Detroit's leading record company, Motown.
She soon moved to the artist and repertoire department as secretary to Mickey Stevenson, one of Motown's key talent-spotters. He brought her into the studio to contribute handclaps and as a backing singer. In 1967, as Syreeta, she got the chance to record a song turned down by the Supremes, I Can't Give Up The Love I Feel For You.
Motown's owner Berry Gordy heard something of Diana Ross in her voice and considered her as a replacement when Ross left the Supremes at the end of 1969. But then came the meeting with Wonder.
She also performed on other artists' albums, recording with George Harrison, Michael Bolton, Quincy Jones and others. She continued to record for Motown with her second husband, the bass player Curtis Robertson Jnr, but without success until she collaborated with organist Billy Preston on songs for the film Fast Break (1979). One of these, With You I'm Born Again reached No 2 in Britain. She later played Mary Magdalene in a US tour of Jesus Christ Superstar.
Rita 'Syreeta' Wright: born February 28th, 1946; died July 6th, 2004.