The American Grammy-winning soul singer and songwriter, Betty Wright, whose influential 1970s hits included “Clean Up Woman” and “Where is the Love,” has died at age 66.
The singer died at her home in Miami on Sunday, many media outlets reported. Steve Greenberg of S-Curve Records told the New York Times, Wright had been diagnosed with cancer in the fall.
Wright had her music career breakthrough with 1971’s “Clean Up Woman,” which combined elements of funk, soul and R&B.
Recorded when Wright was just 17, the song would be a top 10 hit on both the Billboard R&B and pop charts, and its familiar grooves would be used and reused in the sampling era of future decades.
The youngest of seven children, Wright was born Bessie Regina Norris in 1953 in Miami, the city whose funk and soul sounds her music would always be identified with.
The track we really consider to be her hit, if not her greatest song, is, “Tonight Is the Night” from her album, ‘High Voltage’
High Voltage!, was released in late 1974. It was on this album that Wright had her most successful composition, with the smooth soul ballad, “Tonight Is the Night”, which Wright attributed to her first sexual experiences, according to Wikipedia.
May her soul rest in peace.