Before there was Lil’ Kim, Nicki Minaj or Cardi B, there was Betty Wright, an R&B singer whose soulful voice was beyond her years. Before her 18th birthday, she was singing about things her listeners could relate to, but may not have been willing to talk about out loud, like losing your virginity or watching out for women who want to steal your man – and she did it all in a vocal range of more than five octaves that rivaled the likes of Minnie Riperton and Mariah Carey.
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A fierce advocate for herself and her work, Wright started her own record label and became the first woman to earn a gold record on her own label. And when other artists sampled her work without permission, she went after them and got the royalities that were rightfully hers.
Although her life was tragically cut short at age 66, her musical legacy will endure forever. This is the story of R&B and soul legend Betty Wright.
Florida Born
Betty Wright, was born Bessie Regina Norris on December 21, 1953, in Miami, Florida. She was the youngest of seven children born to Rosa Lee Akins Wright, a registered nurse, and McArthur Norris, a lawn service worker.
Gospel music filled their home, as Rosa taught young Betty and her siblings gospel songs while she played along on the guitar. The siblings released their gospel songs, including one their mother wrote, “I’ll Keep Toiling On,” under the group name Echoes of Joy.
A Voice Beyond Her Years
Despite Rosa’s wish for her kids to sing gospel music, Betty decided to make the transition to R&B, and it paid off. At just 12 years old, her soulful voice caught the attention of executives at Miami record label Deep City.
By the time she was a teenager, Wright was touring with artists like James Brown and earning more money than most adults she knew.
“Grown people were making $25 a night and I was make a couple of hundred dollars. I ended up moving my mom out of the projects when I was 15 and a half,” she said in an episode of “Unsung.”
Serious Subject Matter
Although she was just a teenager, Betty Wright’s songs were far from bubble gum. In fact, they had some pretty mature themes, like her song, “Girls Can’t Do What the Guys Do,” which talks about the double standard that exists between the sexes in dating.
“Girls, you can’t do what the guys do, no
And still be a lady,” she sang.
The Star of Alston Records
As Wright’s star power became more obvious, the folks at Deep City knew they didn’t have the resources they needed to help her achieve success, and connected her with Henry Stone, who was getting his label, Alston Records off the ground. Even as they signed other artists, including Sam & Dave and The Beginning of the End, Betty Wright was the label’s biggest star.
“Clean Up Woman”
In 1972, Betty Wright scored her breakout hit with “Clean Up Woman,” a funky single on her album, “I Love The Way You Love.” Just 18 years old at the time, Wright’s song about a woman who swooped in on her man when she wasn’t paying attention to him, earned her a gold record and a GRAMMY nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1971.
“Tonight Is The Night”
One of Betty Wright’s best qualities as an artist was her ability to tell a damn good story with her songs. One of the best examples of this is her 1978 hit, “Tonight is the Night,” a song about a woman’s first time making love. The song went all the way number 11 on the charts.
But while she was adult by the time she recorded “Tonight,” Wright told an audience during a liver performance that her mother wasn’t exactly happy about her daughter singing about sex.
“I like the music, you know baby, the melody? It’s really nice, but I know you not gonna sing that song!” Wright said her mother told her in a now famous line from that performance.
Ms B Records
By the end of the 1970s, Alston Records was on the outs. But Wright wouldn’t let that stop her from making the music she wanted. In 1985, Wright launched her own label, Ms B Records. There, she continued her success, becoming the first woman to have a gold record on her own label in 1988, with “Mother Wit,” which featured the hit single, “No Pain, (No Gain).”
It’s The High Notes
While most people know Betty Wright for her deep soulful vocals, she also had an impressive range that allowed her to hit high notes that might shatter your glasses.
Bringing the Background Vocals
Besides her amazing catalog, Betty Wright also lended her voice to other artists’ music, including background vocals for artists, including Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan and J Lo. Be sure to listen for Betty’s vocals the next time you listen to Stevie Wonder’s hit “All I Do.”
Heavily Sampled
Wright’s music has had plenty of staying power as hip-hop and R&B artists, including Mary J. Blige (who sampled “Clean Up Woman” on her “Real Love” remix featuring Notorious B.I.G.) and Beyoncé (who sampled “Girls Can’t Do What the Guys Do” on “Upgrade U”) breathe new life into it.
An Inspiration
Betty Wright was a friend and mentor to aspiring artists and established artists alike. She served as Danity Kane’s vocal coach on “Making the Band.” And she was beloved by DJ Khaled and rapper Lil’ Wayne, who told Variety in an interview that Wright was like a mom to him.
“I met her when I moved to Miami, she was nothing but a mother ever since. Not only to me but my friends and my daughter as well,” he said.
“I Know You’re Not Gonna Sing That Song!”
Although Betty Wright didn’t mind providing inspiration for a new generation of artists, she wasn’t down with letting them take her music without giving her credit. In fact, she wasted no time calling out 1990s boy band Color Me Badd, pointing out that “I Wanna Sex You Up” was nothing but a rip off of “Tonight is the Night.”
Wright sued the song’s producer, Dr. Freeze, for illegally sampling one of her live performances. She won her case and 35 percent of the song’s royalties.
Untimely Passing
On May 10, 2020, Betty Wright passed away from complications related to cancer. Tributes poured in from across the music industry, including S-Curve Records President Steve Greenberg, who called her “one of the most significant women in the history of R&B music, period.”
“God Bless her in heaven. I will miss her so, as I know you all will as well…” wrote Chaka Khan on Instagram.
Wright was 66 years old.
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