Billy Preston And Syreeta - Watching The Hands Of Time

Hard to believe that neither Billy nor Syreeta are with us any more. They were both so vibrant and full of life. Syreeta, as Rita Wright, started her career as a secretary at Motown, much like Martha Reeves. Her first chance at singing came when Martha Reeves refused to sing the chorus of a song she recorded called "I Can't Dance To That Music You're Playing", claiming she hated the chorus of the song, so Berry Gordy, rather than scrap it, let Syreeta sing the chorus, and the record still went out as Martha Reeves and The Vandellas. Syreeta so impressed them all that Ashford and Simpson produced a record on her for Gordy, under her real name of Rita Wright, called "I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You", which was one of the Motown classics that I grew up with, thanks to Kenny Everett's show on Radio Caroline, and which shaped my whole life. The B side, "Something's On My Mind", is still one of the most beautiful and haunting Motown songs ever recorded. Anyway, she met Stevie Wonder and fell in love and together they co-wrote "Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours", which was a million seller. She released several albums for Motown, first marrying Stevie, then divorcing him. Then she teamed up with Billy Preston for her biggest ever hit, "With You I'm Born Again". She was a treasure to be proud of, for us here at Motorcity, recording a whole album and also writing for other artists such as Barbara McNair, along with her second husband, Torrence Mathis. She got divorced again, then tragically died of cancer, so beautiful, so vibrant, so eternally young. She was a real health fanatic, and a total vegan, so it's hard to imagine such a health conscious person not living to an old age. A truly beautiful lady. I longed to team her back up with Billy Preston to recreate the magic they had with their chart topping "With You I'm Born Again", and what a coup to get them to record together for the one and only time after they left Motown, something I'm very proud of.