Betty Wright, Grammy-winning soul singer, dies at 66 – variety
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Betty Wright, a soul and R&B singer best known for her film “Clean Up Women” in the ’70s, died at the age of 66.
Wright died of cancer at his Miami home on Sunday, Billboard said.
Bessie Regina Norris was born, when Wright adopted the name of his stage as a child. With his siblings, he started singing in a gospel group called Echoes of Joy, when he was just two years old. They released an album in 1956 at the age of three.
Wright switched from Gospel to R&B at the age of 11 and started singing at a local talent show in Miami. She Her first album, “Near My First Time” when she signed on to Deep City Records at the age of 12, was released when she was 14 and included the top 40 hits “What Girls Can’t Do, What Boys Can’t Do”.
Wright’s breakthrough 19 single1 brought his single “Clean Up Women” from his second album “I Love the Way You Love” released as song number 49, 1972, according to Billboard.
A year later, Wright Casey and The Sunshine band co-wrote the disco-infused track “Have the Love” with Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch. He won a Grammy for Best R&B Song for Composing the Record.
In the 2000s, Wright started a resurgence and Danity Kane appeared on the show “Making the Bank” with a trained youth group. She produced vocals for other artists, including Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan and Jos Stone. In 2005, he was nominated for Best Pop Album at Grammys for co-producing Storm’s “Mind Body and Soul”.
Roots Rights and Questlov produced “Betty Wright: The Movie”, in 2011, her first album in 10 years. The trunk “Surrender” has received Grammy approval for the best traditional themed R&B performance.
