Soulful
Singer and songwriter associated with the ‘Miami sound’ whose
music maintained its relevance across the decades
The singer and songwriter Betty Wright, who has died of
cancer aged 66, occupied a significant position in African-American music across six decades, beginning with powerhouse gospel in the 1950s and settling on an R&B, soul and funk groove from the 60s onwards that eventually led to work with superstar rappers of the 2000s.
Wright’s career began as a young child in a gospel group in
Florida, and her signature song, Clean Up Woman (1971), was recorded when she was only 17, epitomising what became known as “the Miami sound” – Floridian soul music shaped by the many facets of her home city’s cultural melange.