Gary Wright was born and raised in Cresskill, New Jersey. A child actor, he made his TV debut at the age of seven, on the show Captain Video and His Video Rangers, filmed in New York. Among other acting work, he appeared in TV and radio commercials, before being offered a part in the 1954 Broadway production of the musical Fanny. Wright played the role of Cesario, the son of Fanny, who was played by future Brady Bunch matriarch Florence Henderson.

The only members from the original lineup, Wright and Mike Harrison relaunched Spooky Tooth with Jones and Graham from Wonderwheel, and Chris Stewart, formerly the bassist with English singer Terry Reid. Salewicz visited the band while they were recording at Island's Notting Hill studio and remarked of Wright's role in the group, "it is clear who is the leader of this brand of Spooky Tooth, and, I suspect, of the original, too"; Salewicz described Wright as "urbane, loquacious with the remnants of a New Jersey accent, and a touch of Dudley Moore about the face".  On their new album, You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw (1973), Wright composed six of the eight tracks, including "Cotton Growing Man", "Wildfire" and "Self Seeking Man", and co-wrote the remaining two. With the group's standing having been elevated since 1970 - a situation that music journalist Steven Rosen likened at the time to the Yardbirds, the Move and other 1960s bands after their break-up - Spooky Tooth toured extensively to promote the album. Rolling Stone reviewer Jon Tiven praised Wright's songwriting on You Broke My Heart, adding: "there is tremendous consistency to these originals ... and 'Wildfire' is ample proof that Gary could have written for the Temptations if he really wanted to."  The band released a follow-up, Witness, in November 1973, by which point Graham had departed, with Mike Kellie returning on drums. By February 1974, Stewart and Harrison had also left. In January that year, Wright accompanied George Harrison to India, where they journeyed to Varanasi (Benares), the Hindu spiritual capital of India, and home to Harrison's friend Ravi Shankar. The visit would influence the spiritual quality of Wright's lyrics when he returned to his solo career.  In England, he and Harrison worked together on The Place I Love (1974), the debut album by English duo Splinter. In addition to playing keyboards, Wright served as what author Simon Leng terms "a sounding board and musical amanuensis" on the project, which was the first album released on Harrison's Dark Horse record label. Wright regrouped with Spooky Tooth for a final album, The Mirror (1974), with Mike Patto as their new vocalist. Following further personnel changes, The Mirror was issued by Goodear Records in the UK in October 1974, a month after Wright had disbanded the group.

Did they have any singles from this album?