Betty Wright

Betty Wright (born December 21, 1953 in Miami , Florida as Bessie Regina Norris ; † May 10, 2020 there ) was an American soul singer . She was also active as a songwriter and producer .

biography

Wright began her singing career in the family gospel group "The Echoes of Joy". At the age of 13 she had her first assignments as a background singer . Her first Billboard Top 40 hit was Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do in 1968 . That year the first solo album My First Time Around was released . In 1972 the song followed, with which she is most strongly identified by fans: Clean Up Woman (No. 2 in the R&B charts, No. 6 in the US pop charts). In 1976 she received a Grammy for the song Where Is the Love . Between 1972 and 1979 a total of seven albums were released by Henry Stone on Alston. In 1988 she had the hit No Pain, (No Gain) . Later recordings remained without major commercial success (last US single placement from 1989, last album Fit for a King from 2001). Wright tried herself as a TV talk show host and continued to work as a background singer. In 2003 she produced most of the acclaimed debut of Joss Stone .

She died in 2020 at the age of 66 years to cancer .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		UK	US	R&B
1972	I Love the Way You Love Alston 388	-	US123 (6 weeks) US	R&B32 (5 weeks) R&B	First published: February 1972 Producers: Clarence Reid , Willie Clarke
1973	Hard to Stop Alston 7026	-	-	R&B54 (3 weeks) R&B	First published: July 1973 Producers: Clarence Reid, Steve Alaimo , Willie Clarke
1978	Betty Wright Live Alston 4408	-	US26 (36 weeks) US	R&B6 (40 weeks) R&B	First published: June 1978 Producers: Howard Albert, Ron Albert
1979	Betty Travelin 'in the Wright Circle Alston 4410	-	US138 (6 weeks) US	R&B48 (17 weeks) R&B	First published: May 1979 Producer: Betty Wright
1981	Betty Wright Epic 36879	-	-	R&B54 (5 weeks) R&B	First published: July 1981 Producers: André Fischer, Stevie Wonder
1983	Wright Back at You Epic 38558	-	-	R&B41 (8 weeks) R&B	First published: April 1983 Producers: Chris Kimsey , Marlon Jackson , Betty Wright
1988	Mother Wit Ms. B 3301	-	US127 (13 weeks) US	R&B28 (30 weeks) R&B	First published: April 1988 Producers: Betty Wright, Noel Williams
1989	4U2NJOY Ms. B3308	-	-	R&B51 (10 weeks) R&B	First published: March 1989 Producers: Angela Morris, Betty Wright
2011	Betty Wright: The Movie S-Curve / Ms. B0731519012	-	US197 (1 week) US	R&B27 (4 weeks) R&B	First release: November 15th, 2011 with The Roots producers: Questlove , Angelo Morris, Betty Wright

More albums

• 1968: My First Time Around (Atco)
• 1975: Danger High Voltage (Alston)
• 1976: Explosion (Alston)
• 1977: This Time It's Real (Alston)
• 1987: Sevens (Fantasy)
• 1990: Passion & ComPassion (Vision)
• 1992: All the Way Live (Permanent)
• 1993: B-Attitudes (Solar)
• 1995: Distant Lover (Ms. B)
• 1995: Hard Times Dance (Black Tiger)
• 2001: Fit for a King (Vision)

Compilations

• 1992: The Best of Betty Wright
• 1993: Greatest Hits
• 1994: The Best of Betty Wright: The TK Years
• 1999: Clean Up Woman and Other Hits
• 2000: The Very Best of Betty Wright
• 2002: The Essentials
• 2004: It's Hard to Stop
• 2007: The Platinum Collection

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		UK	US	R&B	Dance
1968	Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do My First Time Around	-	US33 (8 weeks) US	R&B15 (15 weeks) R&B	-	First published: July 1968 Authors: Clarence Reid , Willie Clarke
1970	Pure Love I Love the Way You Love	-	-	R&B40 (5 weeks) R&B	-	First published: July 1970 Authors: Clarence Reid, Willie Clarke
1971	I Love the Way You Love I Love the Way You Love	-	-	R&B44 (6 weeks) R&B	-	First published: May 1971 Author: Willie Hale
	Clean Up Woman I Love the Way You Love	-	US6th gold (14 weeks)US	R&B2 (16 weeks) R&B	-	First published: October 1971 Authors: Clarence Reid, Willie Clarke
1972	I'm Gettin 'Tired Baby I Love the Way You Love	-	-	R&B42 (3 weeks) R&B	-	First published: March 1972 B-side of If You Love Me Like You Say You Love Me Authors: Clarence Reid, Willie Clarke
	If You Love Me Like You Say You Love Me I Love the Way You Love	-	-	R&B21 (5 weeks) R&B	-	First published: March 1972 Authors: Clarence Reid, Willie Clarke
	Is It You Girl	-	-	R&B18 (8 weeks) R&B	-	First published: May 1972 Authors: Clarence Reid, Willie Clarke
	Baby sitter hard to stop	-	US46 (10 weeks) US	R&B6 (15 weeks) R&B	-	First published: August 1972 Authors: Betty Wright, Clarence Reid, Willie Clarke
1973	It's Hard to Stop (Doing Something When It's Good to You) Hard to Stop	-	US72 (6 weeks) US	R&B11 (9 weeks) R&B	-	First published: March 1973 Author: Betty Wright
	Let Me Be Your Lovemaker	-	US55 (6 weeks) US	R&B10 (16 weeks) R&B	-	First published: August 1973 Authors: Betty Wright, Clarence Reid, Willie Clarke
1974	It's Bad for Me to See You	-	-	R&B66 (6 weeks) R&B	-	First published: February 1974 Authors: Gloria Jones , Pam Sawyer Original: Yvonne Fair, 1972
	Secretary	-	US62 (8 weeks) US	R&B12 (16 weeks) R&B	-	First published: May 1974 Authors: Clarence Reid, Willie Clarke
	Shoorah! Shoorah! / Tonight Is the Night Danger High Voltage	UK27 (7 weeks) UK	-	R&B28 (28 weeks) R&B	-	First published: October 1974 Authors: Allen Toussaint / Betty Wright, Willie Clarke Original (A-side): Frankie Miller , 1974
1975	Where is the love? Danger high voltage	UK25 (7 weeks) UK	US96 (1 week) US	R&B15 (12 weeks) R&B	Dance2 (22 weeks) Dance	First published: January 1975 Grammy (Best R&B Song) Authors: Betty Wright, Willie Clarke, Harry Wayne Casey, Richard Finch
	Ooola La La	-	-	R&B28 (11 weeks) R&B	-	First published: July 1975 Authors: Clarence Reid, Willie Clarke
	Slip and Do It	-	-	R&B21 (12 weeks) R&B	-	First published: November 1975 Authors: Eugene Dixon, James Thompson
1976	If I Ever Do Wrong Explosion	-	-	R&B23 (13 weeks) R&B	-	First published: July 1976 Authors: Betty Wright, Willie Clarke
	Life explosion	-	-	R&B64 (8 weeks) R&B	-	First published: December 1976 Author: Milton Wright
1977	You Can't See for Lookin ' This Time It's Real	-	-	R&B73 (5 weeks) R&B	-	First published: July 1977 Author: Willie Clarke
1978	Dance with Me A Fantasy Love Affair	UK57 (5 weeks) UK	US8 (28 weeks) US	R&B5 (22 weeks) R&B	Dance4 (23 weeks) Dance	First publication: December 1977 Peter Brown feat. Betty Wright
	You Should Do It A Fantasy Love Affair	-	US54 (8 weeks) US	R&B25 (15 weeks) R&B	-	First publication: August 1978 Peter Brown feat. Betty Wright Authors: Peter Brown, Robert Rans
	Tonight Is the Night (Parts 1 & 2, live) Betty Wright Live	-	-	R&B11 (15 weeks) R&B	-	First published: August 1978
1979	Lovin 'Is Really My Game Betty Wright Live	-	-	R&B68 (3 weeks) R&B	-	First published: January 1979 Authors: Belita Woods, Trenita Womack Original: Brainstorm , 1977
	My Love Is Betty Travelin 'in the Wright Circle	-	-	R&B48 (10 weeks) R&B	-	First published: July 1979 Authors: Betty Wright, Jerome McCray
1981	What Are You Going to Do with It Betty Wright	-	-	R&B42 (10 weeks) R&B	Dance61 (8 weeks) Dance	First published: March 1981 Authors: Betty Wright, Stevie Wonder
	Goodbye You Hello Him	-	-	R&B65 (7 weeks) R&B	-	First published: September 1981 Author: Richard "Dimples" Fields
1983	She's Older Now Wright Back at You	-	-	R&B22 (16 weeks) R&B	-	First published: January 1983 Authors: Warren Mendes, Betty Wright
1984	One step up, two steps back	-	-	R&B75 (4 weeks) R&B	Dance35 (9 weeks) Dance	First published: June 1984 Authors: Betty Wright, H. Harris, D. Johnson, Amir Bayyan
1986	Pain Sevens	UK42 (6 weeks) UK	-	R&B44 (16 weeks) R&B	-	First published: December 1985 Author: Betty Wright
	The Sun Don't Shine Sevens	-	-	R&B82 (8 weeks) R&B	-	First published: June 1986 Author: Betty Wright
1988	No Pain, No Gain Mother Wit	-	-	R&B82 (8 weeks) R&B	-	First published: March 1988 Author: Betty Wright
	After the pain mother wit	-	-	R&B57 (11 weeks) R&B	-	First published: August 1988 Author: Betty Wright
1989	From Pain to Joy 4U2NJOY	-	-	R&B39 (10 weeks) R&B	-	First published: January 1989 Author: Betty Wright
	Quiet Storm 4U2NJOY	-	-	R&B88 (5 weeks) R&B	-	First published: May 1989 Author: Betty Wright
	Keep Love New 4U2NJOY	UK71 (4 weeks) UK	-	-	-	First published: August 1989 Author: Betty Wright
1990	How 'Bout Us Blind to Reason	-	-	R&B30 (12 weeks) R&B	-	First published: March 1990 with Grayson Hugh from the soundtrack of the film True Love Writer: Dana Walden Original: Champaign , 1981
1994	For Love Alone B-Attitudes	-	-	R&B98 (2 weeks) R&B	-	First published: January 1994 Authors: Angelo Morris, Betty Wright
2007	Baby The Art of Love & War	-	-	R&B22 (27 weeks) R&B	Dance3 (16 weeks) Dance	First release: July 2007 Angie Stone feat. Betty Wright Authors: Angie Stone, Charles Tatum, Curtis Mayfield , K. Norton
2016	Holy Key Major Key	-	-	R&B29 (3 weeks) R&B	-	First release: August 2016 DJ Khaled feat. Big Sean , Kendrick Lamar and Betty Wright

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More singles

• 1967: Good Lovin '
• 1967: Mr. Lucky
• 1968: He's Bad Bad Bad (release: October)
• 1968: The Best Girls Don't Always Win (release: December)
• 1969: After the Smoke Is Gone (with Steve Alaimo ; release: March)
• 1969: The Joy of Becoming a Woman (release: July)
• 1969: Soldier Boy (released December)
• 1970: I Found That Guy (released November)
• 1976: Everybody Was Rockin ' (release: February)
• 1977: Man of Mine
• 1978: No Tricks ( Alice Cooper feat.Betty Wright; release: October)
• 1979: Thank You for the Many Things You've Done
• 1988: A Christmas to Remember
• 1989: We Down
• 1990: Help Is on the Way
• 1992: It's Crucial
• 1994: Distant Lover
• 1997: Every Breath You Take
• 2013: In the Middle of the Game (Don't Change the Play)
• 2014: Clean Up Woman (Jim Sharp Edit) (release: September 14th)

swell

1. ↑ Soul & R&B Icon Betty Wright Dies at 66. In: heavy.com. May 10, 2020, accessed on May 10, 2020 . Soul and R&B Singer Betty Wright Has Passed Away At The Age Of 66. In: balleralert.com. May 10, 2020, accessed on May 10, 2020 . 
    
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} "Clean Up Woman" Singer Betty Wright Has Died , essence.com, May 10, 2020
3. ↑ Betty Wright , grammy.com, accessed May 10, 2020
4. ^ Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions. Retrieved May 13, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Betty Wright, Iconic Soul and R&B Singer, Dies at 66 May 10, 2020, accessed on May 11, 2020 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: UK US
7. ↑ ^{a b} gold / platinum database US

Web links

• Betty Wright at Allmusic (English)
• Betty Wright at Discogs (English)