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There\u2019s no mistaking the funky and soulful voice of Betty Wright, the earthy, powerful singer who gave the world the treasured 1971 gold record hit, \u201cClean Up Woman.\u201d<\/p>\nThere\u2019s no mistaking the funky and soulful voice of Betty Wright, the earthy, powerful singer who gave the world the treasured 1971 gold record hit, \u201cClean Up Woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
The influential 1975 Grammy winner (\u201cWhere Is the Love\u201d) with the rhythmic eyes, infectious smile, and sassy delivery became a key player in the Miami funk sound of the 70s, and to this day is still considered one of most significant women of R&B.<\/p>\n
Born Bessie Regina Norris in Miami in 1953, Wright carved out a musical path for herself at an early age. The youngest of seven children, Wright\u2019s mother taught her to sing gospel at three-years-old, making her a child-singing prodigy whose talent secured her a record deal at the age of 12.<\/p>\n
The training proved to be Wright\u2019s\u00a0entr\u00e9e into secular music where she excelled quickly, impressing the legendary James Brown who wanted to hire the young sensation but was told by Wright\u2019s mother that her children \u201conly sing gospel music.\u201d\u00a0 Undeterred, Wright pressed on and in\u00a01968, had a hit with \u201cGirls Can\u2019t Do What the Guys Can Do,\u201d reaching No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100.\u00a0 She then delivered the\u00a01974 hit, \u201cTonight Is The Night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Progressive in her thinking,\u00a0in the early 1980s Wright launched her own label, Ms. B Records, wrote and produced a comeback hit, \u201cNo Pain, No Gain\u201d and became the first woman to have a gold album on her own label.\u00a0 Wright was also one of the first pop vocalists to sing in the stratospheric \u201cwhistle register,\u201d a technique also used by Minnie Riperton, Mariah Carey, and Ariana Grande.<\/p>\n
For five decades, Wright, who mentored singers and rappers, calling them \u201cher babies,\u201d was also a songwriter, arranger, and producer, whose list of credits includes Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Stephen Stills, David Byrne, Alice Cooper, Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan, Miami Sound Machine and Erykah Badu, among others.<\/p>\n
Wright was married three times, including to\u00a0reggae musician King Sporty.\u00a0 Betty Wright died on May 10, 2020.\u00a0\u00a0 Legends are defined by their work and how it impacts the culture.\u00a0 We remember Betty Wright so others don\u2019t forget.\u00a0#livinglegendsfoundation30 #blackmusicmonth #culturecreator #rootedinblackmusic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s no mistaking the funky and soulful voice of Betty Wright, the earthy, powerful singer who gave the world the treasured 1971 gold record hit, \u201cClean Up Woman.\u201d The influential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24807,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"\n