Current:Home > Contact-usGary Wright, 'Dream Weaver' and 'Love is Alive' singer, dies at 80 after health battle: Reports-LoTradeCoin
Gary Wright, 'Dream Weaver' and 'Love is Alive' singer, dies at 80 after health battle: Reports
View Date:2024-12-23 19:35:39
Singer-songwriter Gary Wright, best known for his groundbreaking album "The Dream Weaver," has died. He was 80.
Wright died Monday at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, his sons Justin and Dorian confirmed to ABC News and Variety, respectively.
Wright’s son Justin told ABC News that his father had been battling Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia for the past six years.
USA TODAY has reached out to Wright's representative for comment.
Born in April 1943 in New Jersey, Wright found some success as the keyboardist for the British hard rock band Spooky Tooth. Following the group's disbandment, Wright devoted his efforts to his solo music career, releasing the albums "Extraction" and "Footprint" in 1970 and 1971, respectively.
Wright’s 1975 album "The Dream Weaver" became his breakthrough hit, boasting a pair of No. 2 singles in 1976: "Dream Weaver" and "Love is Alive." The soft rock album was also recognized as one of the first rock albums to feature only synthesizers.
"It was a big deal creatively because I had been working with basically a guitar-oriented band, which was Spooky Tooth," Wright told The Daytona Beach News-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, in 2011. "I had never consciously sat down and said, 'I'm going to do an all-keyboard album.' It just fell into place as I was writing the songs for the album."
The album went on to sell 2 million copies, and its title track "Dream Weaver" has been featured in films such as as "Wayne's World, "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and "Toy Story 3."
Wright also lent his musical talents to his peers. The singer played keyboards on Beatles guitarist George Harrison's 1970 album "All Things Must Pass."
Steve Harwell:Former Smash Mouth singer dies at 56: 'A 100% full-throttle life'
'He lived his life like a song':Jimmy Buffett, 'Margaritaville' singer and mogul, dies
Contributing: Rick De Yampert, The Daytona Beach News-Journal
veryGood! (5136)
Related
- Lady Gaga Joins Wednesday Season 2 With Jenna Ortega, So Prepare to Have a Monster Ball
- Nick Cannon Shares Update on Ex Mariah Carey After Deaths of Her Mother and Sister
- Florida sheriff posts mug shot of 11-year-old charged in fake school shooting threat
- Loungefly’s Hauntingly Cute Halloween Collection 2024: Disney, Sanrio, Coraline & More — All on Sale Now
- Golden Bachelorette: Joan Vassos Gets Engaged During Season Finale
- Longshoremen at key US ports threatening to strike over automation and pay
- Could Panthers draft another QB after benching Bryce Young? Ranking top options in 2025
- New Jersey voters are set to pick a successor to late congressman in special election
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight odds will shift the longer the heavyweight bout goes
- 3 dead in wrong-way crash on busy suburban Detroit highway
Ranking
- Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin to kick off fundraising effort for Ohio women’s suffrage monument
- New program will help inmates earn high school diplomas with tablets
- When does 'The Penguin' come out? Release date, cast, where to watch the new 'Batman' series
- Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham Reunites With Kelly Bishop—And It's Not Even Friday Night
- Man found dead in tanning bed at Indianapolis Planet Fitness; family wants stricter policies
- Where is 'College GameDay' for Week 4? Location, what to know for ESPN show
- Amazon announces dates for its October Prime Day sales
- Americans can now renew passports online and bypass cumbersome paper applications
Recommendation
-
Kentucky officer reprimanded for firing non-lethal rounds in 2020 protests under investigation again
-
Jamie-Lynn Sigler Shares Son Beau, 11, Has No Memory of Suffering Rare Illness
-
Texans RB Joe Mixon calls on NFL to 'put your money where your mouth is' on hip-drop tackle
-
Jason Kelce returns to Philly, Travis Kelce takes on Chiefs bias on 'New Heights' podcast
-
Federal judge blocks Louisiana law that requires classrooms to display Ten Commandments
-
Inside the Brooklyn federal jail where Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is locked up: violence, squalor and death
-
First and 10: Texas has an Arch Manning problem. Is he the quarterback or Quinn Ewers?
-
New Jersey voters are set to pick a successor to late congressman in special election