Flowers & Favor: Betty Wright

One year after her passing, we pay tribute to Miami-royalty and Legend of Soul, Betty Wright.

Parts of this tribute originally appeared in a June 2017 Medium post dedicated to Ms Wright (with permission from the author).

Credit: Discogs.

Betty Wright, born Bessie Regina Norris, is a black American soul and R&B singer, songwriter and producer whose impact in musical has been global and across generations of soul.

If you recognize that iconic guitar riffs that introduces Mary J Blige’s “Real Love,” the opening of Beyonce’s “Upgrade U” or Color Me Badd’s “I Wanna Sex You Up,” then you already understand the impact of Betty Wright and her body of work.

But also you might already be in love with her work as a Grammy-winning artist. Or as a Grammy-nominated producer behind the sound of Joss Stone’s sophomore album which includes the hit, “Fell in Love with a Boy.”

At the age of 3 Betty Wright began singing in her family gospel group, the Echoes of Joy, before switching over to R&B as a teen. Wright’s most notable success as a solo artist occurred throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Two of her biggest hits were released when she was 15 (“Girls Can’t Do What Guys Do”) and 18 (“Clean Up Woman”). In 1988 she made history as the first woman to have a gold record on her own label, Ms. B Records, with songs “No Pain No Gain” and “After The Pain.”

Since then, Wright has worked with Kelly Clarkson, Joss Stone, Diddy, Keyshia Cole, Angie Stone, Erykah Badu, Jennifer Lopez and Lil Wayne. Her voice can be heard on the background vocals for Stevie Wonder’s “Hotter Than July” album as well as Jennifer Lopez’s “On The 6.” Wright was brought in as a mentor for Danity Kane on Diddy’s Making the Band. Wright’s most recent project, “Betty Wright: The Movie,” was a collaboration with The Roots.

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The legacy of Wright in hip-hop, R&B, soul and popular music has spanned decades and generations of listeners — though most in this generation don’t realize the strong soul influence and success of artists like Adele, Duffy, Amy Winehouse and Sam Smith can be traced back to hyphenate talents such as Ms Betty Wright.

Her work as an artist has been sampled in over 100 tracks including:

• “Clean Up Woman” is sampled on: “Favorite Song” by Chance the Rapper feat Childish Gambino (2013), “I’m So Into You” by SWV (1992) and “Real Love” by Mary J Blige (1992).

• “Girls Can’t Do What the Guys Do” is sampled on: “Upgrade U” by Beyonce feat Jay Z (2006).

• “Tonight Is the Night” is sampled on: “If I Die 2Nite” by 2Pac (1995), “I Wanna Sex You Up” by Color Me Badd (1991), “Knockin’ Boots” by Candyman (1990), “Good Love” by Sheek Louch (2008), “Down With the Clique” by Aaliyah (1994) and “Lovin’ You (Easy)” by En Vogue (2002).

The Miami Herald’s obituary includes a powerful testament to her impact:

“Being a native of Miami, and fan of the sensational music artists to emerge from our neighborhoods and communities, the ‘Clean Up Woman’ Betty Wright stands as one of the GREATEST R&B artists to represent our region. Her powerfully soulful voice that also possessed the use of a whistle register that beautifully propelled chart topping hit songs such as ‘No Pain, No Gain’ and ‘After the Pain.’ I am blessed to have lived in a time that those songs were playing on the radio, in the clubs and trying, as a little boy, to sing along to her unforgettable, hit song, ‘Clean Up Woman’ which played in rotation on black Miami airwaves,” — Teddy Harrell Jr, Assistant Director of Miami’s African Heritage Culture Center.

Sources: All Music, last.fm, and Wikipedia.