SYREETA - YOUR KISS IS SWEET

YOUR KISS IS SWEET

SYREETA WRIGHT

SONGWRITERS: STEVE WONDER & SYREETA WRIGHT

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ÁLBUM: STEVE WONDER PRESENTS: SYRETTA

LABEL: TAMLA MOTOWN

GENRE: SOUL

YEAR: 1974

Syreeta Wright (August 3, 1946– July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights were songs in collaboration with her ex-husband Stevie Wonder and musical artist Billy Preston.

Wright was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1946, and started singing at the age of four. Her father served in the Korean War and Wright and her two sisters, Yvonne and Kim, were raised by their mother Essie and their grandmother. The Wrights moved back and forth from Detroit to South Carolina before finally settling in Detroit just as Wright entered high school. Money problems kept Wright from pursuing a career in ballet so she focused her attention on a music career joining several singing groups before landing a job as a receptionist for Motown in 1965. Within a year, she became a secretary for Mickey Stevenson, just as Martha Reeves had done before her.

A year later, Edward Holland of the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting team noticed Wright's singing and decided to try her out for demos of Supremes' songs. Motown CEO Berry Gordy shortened her birth name to "Rita," and Wright released her first solo single, "I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel for You", in January 1968. The song was initially written for the Supremes (by then billed as "Diana Ross & the Supremes"). They later recorded the song in 1968 and Diana Ross re-recorded the song for her solo album, Surrender.

Wright also performed demo vocals for the Supremes hit "Love Child" and Ross's "Something's On My Mind", which Ross later recorded for her self-titled debut album. When Diana Ross left the Supremes in early 1970, Motown boss Berry Gordy considered replacing her with Wright, but offered the place in the group to Jean Terrell. According to several sources, Gordy then changed his mind and tried to replace Terrell with Wright, but this was vetoed by Supreme Mary Wilson.

Wright also sang background on records by the Supremes and by Martha and the Vandellas, notably singing the chorus to the group's modest hit single, "I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playing". Wright met labelmate Stevie Wonder in 1968, and the two began dating the following year. On the advice of Wonder, Wright became a songwriter. Their first collaboration, "It's a Shame", was recorded by The Spinners, in 1969. Motown withheld its release until July 1970. The song reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Wright also began singing background for Wonder, most notably on the hit "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)", which Wright co-wrote with Wonder. In September 1970, after a year-long courtship, Wright, 24, and Wonder, 20, married in Detroit. The couple then wrote and arranged songs for Wonder's Where I'm Coming From, which was released much to Berry Gordy's chagrin in the spring of 1971. The Wonder–Wright composition "If You Really Love Me" (which also featured Wright prominently singing background vocals) reached number 8 in the US that year. In 1971, following Wonder's exit from Motown, the couple relocated to New York City where Wonder worked on two independent albums.

"Your Kiss Is Sweet" is a song and single written by Stevie Wonder and Syreeta Wright and performed by Wright under the name, "Syreeta". Released in 1975 it reached 12 on the UK charts in 1975, staying there for 8 weeks. It was her second, and biggest hit in the UK charts. It appears on Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta, Syreeta's second, full-length Motown album.

The song was covered in Icelandic, as "Búkolla", in 1977 by Bjork on her debut album Bjork. 

 

This song goes out to all you fellas

Who think your kisses are sweet as candy

But honey got you beat by a million miles

*Your kiss is sweet, as sweet as candy

But honey beat your kisses by a million miles

Your kiss is sweet, as sweet as candy

But honey beat your kisses by a million miles

You came and entered my love and ran away

Leaving these eyes of mine crying every day

Now you are back and are saying you want to stay

When you left you stayed too long

Might as well keep moving on and on and on and on and on

You came and entered my love and ran away

Leaving these eyes of mine crying every day

Now you are back and are saying you want to stay

When you left you stayed too long

Might as well keep moving on and on and on and on and on

To you my life was nothing but a game

Now you're here and I want to take the blame

How could you take all this time and I could feel the same

Sorry for the tears you cried

There's another I won't lie, I won't lie, I won't lie

So keep on going

So keep on going