She was a singer-songwriter born Bessie Regina Norris in Miami, Florida as the youngest child of McArthur Norris and Rosa Akins Braddy-Wright.
Performing as a singer from the time she was just two years old she became part of the gospel group Echoes of Joy with her other siblings. She sang in the group until 1965 and performed on the album they recorded in 1956. Shortly after the group disbanded she changed her name to Betty Wright and concentrated on singing in the R&B style.
She performed in talent shows before being noticed when she was 12 years old and signed to Deep City Records in 1966. Her singles “Paralysed” and “Thank You Baby” were released and the following year, in 1967, she assisted George and Gwen McCrae in being signed up to TK Records.
In 1968 she released her first album My First Time Around which produced the hit single “Girls Can’t Do What the Guys Do”. Two years later in 1970 she released “Pure Love”.
In 1971 her next single was the successful “Clean Up Woman”, which would become her signature song and reach No. 2 on the R&B chart and No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It gained gold status in December of that year and appeared on her 1972 album I Love the Way You Love. The follow-up was her self-penned single “Baby Sitter” which reached No. 6 on the R&B chart and also reached the Top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1974 she released Danger High Voltage which produced the ballad “Tonight is the Night” which reached No. 28 on the R&B chart with a live version reaching No. 11 on the chart 4 years later. Another single from the album is “Where is the Love” which was co-written with Richard Finch and Harry Wayne Casey was released and went to No. 2 on the Dance chart, No. 15 on the R&B chart and travelled over the ocean to reach No. 25 in the UK. It also won her a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. Another single released was “Shoorah Shoorah” which became another hit song.
She married Jerome McCray in 1976 who she would have a daughter with. In 1977 she was working as a background singer on hit songs by Peter Brown on his A Fantasy Love Affair. The following year she sang a duet with Alice Cooper and in 1979 was the opener on Bob Marley’s Survival Tour. She did make other recordings at the end of the decades but they didn’t meet with the same success as previously.
In 1981 she signed with Epic Records and released the album Betty Wright which produced the single “What Are You Gonna Do With It” written by Stevie Wonder. Also in 1981 she sang on an album by Richard “Dimples” Fields. That same year she and Jerome McCray were divorced and she married Patrick Parker the next year but they divorced later in 1983 after having two children. She released Wright Back at You in 1983 before forming her own Miss B Records in 1985. She then married the musician Noel Wlliams, known as King Sporty, in 1985 and had a further two children. They would stay together until his death in 2015.
On her own label she released Sevens in 1986 and in 1987 Mother Wit which produced the hits “No Pain, No Gain” and “After the Pain” and was certified gold in 1988, making her the first black woman to have that achievement.
When the 1990s came around she duetted on a remake of Champaign’s hit “How ‘Bout Us” with Grayson Hugh and was an arranger of the harmonies on the No. 1 “Coming Out of the Dark” by Gloria Estefan. Just a few years later in 1994 she released her B-Attitudes along with several others during the rest of the 1990s.
In the new millennium her Fit for a King and the compilation The Very Best of Betty Wright were released in 2001. She appeared on the television in 2006 when she was a vocal coach for the group Danity Kane on the show Making the Band.
She worked as a producer on many further albums by other artists and over the next few years earned Grammy Award nominations in 2005 and 2011. Also in 2011 her final album Betty Wright: The Movie was released and she performed on the UK on Jools Holland’s Annual Hootenanny broadcast yearly on BBC2. Her final appearance on television was in the TV show Unsung in 2020.
Some of the many albums she appeared on by other artists as a singer, composer and/or producer include Mahogany Vibe by Roy Ayers, Mama’s Gun by Erykah Badu, Feelings by David Byrne, Nights with Mr. C by Clarence Clemons, Images by Jimmy Cliff, No Tricks by Alice Cooper, Robert Flack & Donny Hathaway by Robert Flack and Donny Hathaway, Double Vision by Foreigner, Love Songs: Greatest Duets by Marvin Gaye, Street Rats by Humble Pie, Prime of My Life by Phyllis Hyman, Reggae Dancer by Inner Circle, Young Man, The Ultimate Collection by Michael Jackson, Older Woman by Millie Jackson, Do It Good by KC & the Sunshine Band, Dawn of Chromatica by Lady Gaga, On the 6 by Jennifer Lopez, Better Together: The Duet Album by Johnny Mathis, Melody of Life by Gwen McCrae, The Last Word by The O’Jays, Heart, Rare Collection by Jaco Pastorius, Soul & A Voice by John Secada, Stills by Stephen Stills, The Soul Sessions by Joss Stone, The Best of 25 Years of Swamp Dogg by Swamp Dogg, Why Can’t We Live Together; The Best of the TK Years 1972-1981 by Timmy Thomas, Me Against the World by 2Pac, Hotter than July by Stevie Wonder and Monkey Grip by Bill Wyman along with numerous others and countless compilations and collections.
In 2017 she was the recipient of the National R&B Music Society Unsung Heroine Award.
She died at home in Miami, Florida from cancer in May 2020 when she was 66 years old.
Sources:
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/betty-wright-mn0000059819#biography
- https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/11/betty-wright-obituary
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Wright
- https://www.grammy.com/news/betty-wright-grammy-winning-rb-and-soul-icon-dies-66
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/arts/music/betty-wright-dead.html
- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1678013/
- https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/betty-wright
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/betty-wright-mn0000059819#credits
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/97072-Betty-Wright