Betty Wright - I Love The Way You Love - LP (1972) Alston - CD (2012) Alston WEA Japan - Rare Soul (FLAC)

Betty Wright was Just a School Girl When her Debut Album " My First Time Around" was Released by Henry Stone's Florida based Alston Label. Her Second Album "I Love the Way You Love" Debuted Four Years Later, When She was a Young Woman of 19.The hit track "Clean Up Woman went on to become a Million Seller and the track " If You Love Me Like You Say You Love Me" was a huge hit in the UK soul clubs nearly 30 years later!..playing this after so long just highlighted the true genius of the woman and the entire team behind her,just look at the credits on the back cover..Its a timeless slab of brilliant soul,not a dude track to be found! Born Bessie Regina Norris in 1953 and sadly passed in 2020 she hailed from Miami and recorded 21 studio albums with a huge 100+ 45,s. I was fortunate enough to meet her on tour in the uk and saw her perform 3 times in total,and what a pro she was,fantastic singer! Betty started singing with her siblings as a toddler with the gospel group Echoes of Joy. She moved to secular music, and at the age of 13, in 1967, released her first two singles, "Good Lovin'" and "Mr. Lucky," written the team of Johnny Pearsall & Clarence Reid (later known as "Blowfly") and Willie Clarke. Betty then settled in with the Alston label, where one of her brothers, Milton, would also record. She scored her first big single in 1968 with the wisdom-dispensing "Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do," another composition, which peaked on the Billboard R&B chart at number 15. Milton is known to northern fans for " The Gallop" on Carla a big dancer back in the day & 2 stunning albums on Alston. Back to betty ., Wright,Reid,and Clarke achieved their greatest success together in 1971 with "Clean Up Woman," a number two R&B hit that also reached number six on the pop chart. The song was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female, and earned a gold disc selling over a million copys. Betty,s run with Alston lasted through the '70s. The seven albums the singer released during the decade were highlighted by 1973's "Hard To Stop", 1975's "Danger High voltage", and 1978's Betty Wright Live. The last of this sequence was Wright's most successful commercial LP, peaking at number six on the R&B chart. On-stage, Wright took her storytelling to another level and drew from a catalog that at that point included almost 20 charting singles, including "Where Is the Love" -- written by Wright,Clarke, KC and Richard Finch which had won a Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Song. The set's version of the intimate "Tonight Is the Night," written by Wright and Clarke, became her tenth single to dent the Top 20 of the R&B chart. By the end of the '70s, Wright's collaborative work took off with a featured writing/production credits on peter brown 7 Gwen McCrae who she had discovered along with George McCrae the previous decade. She also worked/wrtoe with Stevie Wonder in 1981 on "What Are You Going to Do with It" and the 1988 hit "No Pain, No Gain," her last Top 20 R&B entry. Her first two albums during this period were released through Epic, after which she set up her own label, Ms. B, her solo outlet on an almost exclusive basis into the early 2000s, and initiated a long-term creative partnership with songwriter, bassist, and musical director Angelo Morris. Just as notably, Wright's classics and deep cuts alike were sampled many times over. Betty also filled a number of supporting roles on dozens of albums spanning R&B, jazz, rock, Latin and French pop, and reggae. Steady activity for Betty continued in the 2000s with a solo LP and connections made with Erykah Badu & Joss Stone (a huge fan of bettys), among many others. Her profile increased again in the latter half of the decade as the Diddy-appointed vocal coach for Danity Kane, as documented on the reality series Making the Band, and featured appearances on Angie Stone's "Baby" and Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, both Grammy-nominated recordings. These were followed by Grammy nominations for "Go!" (a frank ballad about domestic abuse) and "Surrender," two songs Wright included on her last studio statement, 2011's Betty Wright: The Movie, on which she was assisted by the Roots. Before she died from cancer in 2020, she clocked studio time with fellow veterans and hopeful newcomers alike, from the O'Jays to Elise LeGrow, and appeared on number one albums by Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, and Lil Wayne. Betty was married three times and had five children and sadly died from cancer, on May 10, 2020, at her home in Miami, aged 66. Again i regard her as a true soul legend,have everything she,s done and still cant get enough of her wonderful voice!..just listen to the tasters and you will have to grab this if you already dont own it guys!

AMM

                                                                      The Tasters!