The cover of the 1975 Gary Wright album, “The Dream Weaver.”
Gary Wright is a Bergen County native, with roots in Cresskill and Tenafly, but first found fame in the ’60s, in England, as a member of the band Spooky Tooth. In 1970, he played on George Harrison’s classic All Thing Must Pass album and also embarked on a solo career; six years later, he peaked with a pair of No. 2 hits, “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive,” both from his 1975 album The Dream Weaver — possibly the first pop album to feature only keyboards, drums and vocals (plus guitar on only one track).
Below is a clip of him performing “Love Is Alive” on television’s “The Midnight Special” in 1976, with, again, no guitar or bass.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday last year. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we are marking the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, for almost a year — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. We started in September 2014, and will keep going until late in the summer.
If you would like to suggest any songs to be included, please let me know in the comments section underneath the video. And if you want to see the entire list, either alphabetically or in the order the songs were selected, click here.
