Betty Wright
Betty Wright
Bessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright, is a Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight is the Night". A pioneering singer-songwriter and entrepreneur, she remains one of the few black female musicians to produce a gold record on her own vanity label...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionR&B Singer
Date of Birth21 December 1953
CityMiami, FL
CountryUnited States of America
I only intended to be married one time. But marriages are made; they don't just happen. It takes two.
I'm lyric conscious. I like to tell stories, give advice. Instead of writing a 'Dear Abby' column, I do it on records.
There's always a time when you think you've done your last song or you've written your last rap or, you know, people are not checking for you.
All of my babies know that I preach all day... I ain't trying to hide no light under no bushel. Everybody needs a little light in their life, and when they need prayer, they know where to come because they know I love them all, and I ain't judging nobody.
Everybody needs a little light in their life, and when they need prayer, they know where to come, because they know I love them all, and I ain't judging nobody.
I learned that as much as you think when you're walking down that aisle that this forever, sometimes it's just not forever. You can have the best of intentions.
I try to study the background of the country I am in and what were my hits there, so I can at least give them some of what they want. It's like a wedding - give them something old, something new, something borrowed and definitely something blue!
I used to hate sampling, but it was basically because everyone was getting paid but us. But when they began to do the legislation and get it right, I realized that the kids just did something that, if maybe we were smart enough, we would have done it as well.
I would say I am viewed as the oldest teenager in my family because they say I never grow old. I mean, I am stern in my own way - I am not one to let children run over me - but I am very, very good with children, and I can usually get what I want out of them.
I'm tired of people disturbing the peace, getting on the radio and sounding a hot mess. If I can tell what the note really is, why let them go to the note they think it is? I've got that mama vibe. I don't look at it with an ego.
'Pain' is more indicative of what I like to do. I'm lyric-conscious. I like to tell stories, give advice. Instead of writing a 'Dear Abby' column, I do it on records.
Sometimes when you have a song, you listen to it and say, 'It's OK. It's music to drive to.' But then there are songs where you can actually hear it as a movie.
There have always been female artists and singers putting bands together all the time. But we were not always getting credit for that because we didn't know any better.
When I started out, even though you had your rhythm section, they were big horn sections, strings, live people laying on every part of the floor in the studio waiting for their chance to get on that one little track.