Stevie Wonder Pays Tribute to Motown Songwriter Sylvia Moy
Stevie Wonder penned a tribute to Motown songwriter Sylvia Moy, the co-writer on Wonder’s early hits like “Uptight (Everything’s Alright),” “My Cherie Amour” and “I Was Made to Love Her.” Moy died Saturday at the age of 78.
“How do you stop loving the ones you loved for a lifetime – you don’t! Sylvia Moy has made it possible to enrich my world of songs with some of the greatest lyrics,” Wonder wrote in a statement to Rolling Stone. “But, not only that, she, through her participation and our co-writing those songs, helped me become a far better writer of lyrics.”
Following the chart-topping success of the then-13-year-old Little Stevie Wonder‘s 1963 single “Fingertips,” the singer struggled with both a change in his voice and a dry spell of hits. Motown honcho Berry Gordy considered terminating Wonder’s contract, but Moy persuaded him to keep Wonder as a Motown artist.
The partnership between Moy, Wonder and songwriter Henry Cosby yielded hits like “Uptight (Everything’s Alright),” “My Cherie Amour,” “I Was Made to Love Her,” “I’m Wondering” and and Signed, Sealed & Delivered‘s “Never Had a Dream Come True,” the final track the trio co-wrote together in 1969.
In 2006, Wonder surprised Moy by appearing at her induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“Even in these later years, I longed for us to collaborate again, yet who am I to fight with the Most High in His decision to making her one of his angels of song for eternity,” Wonder wrote in his tribute. “Maybe someday in eternity, at its given time and space, we will write together again. I love you, Sylvia.”
Wonder closed out his remembrance with the melody of “My Cherie Amour,” “La La La La La La… La La La La La La.”