Songwriter wasMotown’s first female producer
DETROIT— MotownsongwriterSylvia Moy, the storied recording studio’s first female producer who penned or collaborated on several hits, including Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour” and Marvin Gaye’s “It Takes Two,” has died in suburban Detroit. Shewas 78.
Moy diedSaturday at a hospital inDearborn from complications from pneumonia, her brother, Melvin Moy, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
SylviaMoy started her career as a singer, but she knew she had the ability to write songs and produce at the hit-making Detroit recording studio— something her brother saidwas atypical at the time.
“We’re talking about the1960s,” he said. “Racism and sexism— thatwas whatwas going on in the ’60s, and certain disciplines relative to the music business were taboo forwomen.”
Motown founder Berry Gordy gave Moy her first shot, but with a catch: She had to come up with something for a young StevieWonder.
“He was in puberty and his voice had changed,” Melvin Moy said. “Other producers couldn’t find something that fit.”
But Sylvia Moy found something. She and Wonder worked on different chord progressions until they found a vibe they both thought could be developed.
“Then sheworked on the lyrics and the melodies, and bam! It was a hit,” her brother said.
That hit was “Uptight (Everything’s Alright),” which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1966, after its release in late 1965.
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006, Moy was Motown’s first female producer and “pioneered some really, really unique things for women,” saidMotown arranger and musician Paul Riser.
Riser said shewas a great song and lyric writer, a classical vocalist, sang opera and taught other vocalists. She later moved from songwriting into producing and arranging, and eventually opened her own recording studio in Detroit.
In addition to her brother, SylviaMoy is survived by another brother and five sisters.