Gary Wright has died.  On Monday September 4th Wright passed after some years struggle with illness.  From 1976 do you remember The Dream Weaver?

Here is what Billboard wrote about Wright:

The Dream Weaver, released in the summer of 1975, peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 album charts in April 1976, with the yacht rock classic title track peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. At the time, Wright, who played the Hammond Organ, clavinet, Moog synthesizers, Fender Rhodes and several other keyboards on the album — in addition to arranging and producing the collection — boasted that it was one of the first all-keyboard albums…

Wright also played keyboards on late Beatle George Harrison’s 1970 solo triple-disc album All Things Must Pass — cementing a friendship that lasted until Harrison’s death in 2001.

–www.billboard.com

On wikipedia I read these lines about his friendship with George Harrison.

…a friendship that inspired the Indian religious themes and spirituality inherent in Wright’s subsequent songwriting. His work from the late 1980s onwards embraced world music and the new age genre, although none of his post-1976 releases matched the same level of popularity as The Dream Weaver.

Also from wikipedia I learned this about him:

Seeing music as “too unstable” a career choice, as he later put it, Wright studied to become a doctor at the College of William & Mary in Virginia and New York University before attending Downstate Medical College for a year, all the while continuing to perform with local bands. Having specialized in psychology in New York, he then went to West Germany in 1966 to complete his studies at the Free University of Berlin.

To comment about The Dreamweaver would be graceless.  The lyric, melody and harmonies speak with one voice.

Dream Weaver

by Gary Wright

I’ve just closed my eyes again
Climbed aboard the dream weaver train
Driver, take away my worries of today
And leave tomorrow behind

Ooh, dream weaver
I believe you can get me through the night
Ooh, dream weaver
I believe we can reach the morning light

Fly me high through the starry skies
Maybe to an astral plane
Cross the highways of fantasy
Help me to forget today’s pain

Ooh, dream weaver
I believe you can get me through the night
Ooh, dream weaver
I believe we can reach the morning light

Though the dawn may be coming soon
There still may be some time
Fly me away to the bright side of the moon
And meet me on the other side

Ooh, dream weaver
I believe you can get me through the night
Ooh, dream weaver
I believe we can reach the morning light
Dream weaver
Dream weaver

Gary Malcolm Wright (April 26, 1943 – September 4, 2023)