Betty Wright, born December 21, 1953, is an artist, businesswoman and trailblazer.

In 1967 at the young age of 13-years-old she discovered singers Gwen and George McCrae.  Not only did she discover them, she helped them get signed to “Henry Stone’s” Alston record label.    At the age of fifteen she had her first hit single, “Girls Can’t Do What Guys Can Do.”  She is well known for her major pop and R & B hit, “Clean Up Woman.”   She won a Grammy in 1975  for Best R & B Song, “Where Is the Love.”

She started her own record label in the 1980′s and in 1988 with the release of “Mother Wit” made music history.  She became the first woman to have a gold record on her own label.

Her music has been widely sampled.  Beyonce sampled “Girl’s Can’t Do What Guys Can Do” for her hit “Upgrade U.”  Hip-Hop artist RJD2 used a sample from Wright’s song, “Secretary,” for his commercially successful track, ”Ghostwriter.”

In 2006 she was vocal coach on Sean Combs’ Making the Band.

Ms. Wright resides in Miami.

(Interview with Flaimahmy, August 3, 2009)

FM:  What about your upbringing gave you the confidence at age thriteen to discover artists Gwen and George McCrae, both older than you, and then see them signed to a record label?

BW:  Well, my mom.  Since I was born I just had a different perception.  What most people took lightly I took seriouly because I was born into a family that were already a group of singing professionals.  Being in that atmosphere I did take it as something that you could earn a living from.  When I saw them (Gwen and George McCrae) I knew that they were stars.  Something inately told me and I’ve been doing that since then.  Everytime I see something and I say ”it’s the it, it’s the IT,” I just have that touch… Gwen Dickey of Rose Royce … Diane Birch who is up and coming… who People Magazine actually reviewed her album two weeks in a row, the one with Michael Jackson on the cover.  This is a girl who came to write with me.  I saw the potential of her vocals and said, “Wow she’s not just a musician and a writer, this girl could be an artist.”   It’s always happening.  It’s not something that I can sit down and tell you there’s a formula, but I always could do it and I could do it even younger than that but without the wherewithal to know where to send the actual artists.  I’ve always had that gift.

FM:  Were there recording artists at that time that you looked up to and who guided you in the business?

BW:  Actually I didn’t have a mentor per se in the recording business.  My grandmother was a gospel preacher and I looked to her for everything, even the tonality of my voice.  I’m even named after her.  My real name is Betsy.  I don’t really think it was so much a looking up to artists; there was really no record business so to speak in Florida where I was growing up.   I kind of just listened to the radio.  I was in a home listening to what we call R & B today,  listening to gospel and a little light pop,  like the Beatles and stuff like that.   But, eventually Aretha and James Brown and those people helped me to formulate patterns of singing.  I later met them.  I would say they had a lot of influence  in my life good and bad.  I watch certain things about people and I have learned that if you are going to love a person you’ve got to love all of them.   I learned some things that I didn’t want to do by watching them and I learned some things that I was going to do by watching them.

FM:  Do you remember when the first thought of owning your own record label occurred to you?

BW:   Well, more than a thought process  it was a  means to an end because I had gone to almost all of my friends who were running record companies and just tried to get them to catch the vision of what I was trying to bring to the public.  At that time I think people didn’t see it coming but I did.  They just didn’t believe that talking on records was going to be a viable commodity and so everytime they would hear from me they would say, “Why do you have to talk on the record?”  I said, “Y’all don’t understand people need to know that you are communicating with them and that is going to be a great deal of the format .”   I would sing three  minutes and talk for seven.

Voila, in came rap!  So I guess, you know, I was right and they were wrong.  (Laughter) So I decided after walking pregnant in the snow, my coat couldn’t even fasten; I  just came back home to Miami and  hooked it up and printed my own records and put them on my own label.  Let me tell you, talking about some angry people and some people  who did not want it to be said that they turned those records down.   But, the proof is in the pudding.  A lot of times when it’s your vision, when it’s your vision, you depend on God to make the provision because people can’t feel you.  He didn’t show it to them He showed it to you.  So you have to be about your business finding the means because you’re not going to get a lot of people who are going to say “Oh, yeah, Betty that’s right, I know God told you that.”  You’re going to get people saying   “Girl, you’re crazy, that’s not happening.”  You’re going to get the naysayers.   But, I love haters.  Boy they push me to my purpose.  I love it.  Everytime somebody tells me I can’t do it, I make sure I call them when I do it.  I make sure I invite them to the event.   “Oh yeah, remember that thing you said I couldn’t do, girl let me show you what it did.”

FM:  How do you believe the music industry has changed?

BW:   Well, unfortunately the word ”three-sixty” is a double entendre for me.  When they say “three-sixty” they’re saying the whole enchilada.  Now the record companies want a little bit of it all due to piracy.   My reflection back when I was thirteen and fourteen years old  I remember record companies used to take everything anyway.  So they did go 360, right back where we started.  I don’t think it’s a good thing.   It is a sad thing and it is survival of the fittest because of plagiarism and piracy and bootlegging .  I had a guy tell me right outside of an apartment in New York, you know, he had a little table set up, they had the little records and I saw seventeen Betty Wright songs.  I said, “Well, how much is this sir?”  He said, “Five dollars.”  I said, “Well my goodness how can a person earn a living, no I said how can a sister earn a living these days?”  He said, “Get yourself a D job.”  I said, “I had one until you did this,” and I put it right by my face and I heard somebody in the background say, “Ooh, snap  that’s Betty Wright.”  You see they believe that they’re not doing any harm.   Unfortunately, I had the brother tell me, “Sister, I’m just trying  to make a living.”  I said, “So in order for you to make a living I have to not make one.”   It’s the mentality.  You wonder where good sense went  and I don’t know why they call it “common sense” because it  is so uncommon.     But, in my pressing, I don’t say struggle because I know God is with me, but in my pressing I have found that when you’re dealing with all of these different  kinds of  “boys,” mentality and people that just believe they don’t care how they make it as long as they make it, stepping on you, stepping on me, stepping on whomever, stepping across you, shooting you, robbing you, whatever way they can do it, there are some that  just, they don’t care.

You have to really be mindful, wise, always protective of your art-form.  Somebody is going to find a way to duplicate it, but try to do it with a swiftness and of sound mind  so that you can get it out.  Do it swiftly and try to add something different each time,  a hologram, something that will make it at least a deterrent to stopping you from earning a living.  That’s the one thing that I hate about the business but it’s the new dope on the streets.  They’re not out there selling coke and selling weed; they’re selling your records .  They’re making a lot of money because they can do it on any corner and the regular police have no real jurisdiction.  You have to call  a U.S. Marshal because it is a federal crime.  I think if they knew that it was $250,000 per copy they wouldn’t do it, that all of their equipment can be confiscated and five years  jail time minimum, I think they wouldn’t do it. But they do.

FM:  What do you think about all the young artists who love sampling your music?

BW:  Well eventually they got that at least under control with new legislation and new laws.  It was just too vague.  People just didn’t understand that it took you a couple of hundred thousand dollars to cut that album and they shouldn’t  just indiscretionately just grab up a piece of it and not pay you.  We paid those musicians, we did those sessions.   We wrote those songs, so it was not a good look in the beginning because they had nothing to govern themselves by. Now that we’ve got clearance houses and you have to pay I think everybody pretty much understands that it is an art form. I just still believe in moral turpitude, I don’t believe that you should take a gospel song and mix it  into something that’s perverse. I think there still should be a line. I’m not for censorship.  I just believe that you should have common respsect.  There are certain things you shouldn’t say in front of  your mama and there are certain things you shouldn’t mix together.  The baddest rapper out there, the baddest gangster got some respect for somebody   I try to always  live my life where  people don’t just do anything in front of me because I’ll give them that same privilege, honor, respect whatever you want to call it.

FM:  How do you feel about the way many young women are portrayed in music videos today?  Do you think there is any comparison to your contemporaries?

BW:  Well, I feel like this and I’ve always felt this way.  There couldn’t be whorish men if there were no whores.  I think that if that’s how you want to go out, help yourself. Because at this point God is tired of them and I’m tired too.  I feel like girls have got to stop going out like that and then asking for respect. The first time somebody disrespects them or says anything to them out of the way they act like somebody rained on their parade.  But you’ve got to first look at yourself  in the mirror before you go outside. You want to test a man in the physical like that and when he is out of order you want to cry out like he did something, but really you did something before you left home when you put what you put on.  I’m not talking about rape; it’s not a sexual crime it’s a violent crime.  I’m talking about some of the disrespect they get in music.  If you allow it eventually it’s going to swallow you up.   If we don’t stand for something then they are not going to say, “Oh, sister I think you need to put on more clothes, oh, sister I think you don’t need to drink that much.”  They are not going to tell you that.  That’s intriguing and exciting and fun to them.  They can do the same thing and come out and be the man tomorrow.  If you do it, you’ve got a horrible reputation.  It’s a double standard and its  been like that since I was a kid.  I think mothers have to start back raising their daughters for real and fathers need to start helping and at the end of the day what I tell any brother, anybody,  any male that I see disrespecting a woman I tell them you’ve got a momma, you’ve got an auntie.  I try to at least  discourage them from it, even if the woman has dressed inappropriately.  I was young.  I wore halter tops; I wore short shorts.  You know, if you’re going to wear a halter top and shorts then don’t have all of your chest out. You do it and you do it sexy.  Sexy is not nasty. You have to do it with class.  I just think  guys like a little bit of mystery.   And the classy one is the one they take home to mama.

FM:  Who do you admire?

BW:  I admire most my mom for her diligence in staying and raising us in the South which was not an easy thing.  Miami was a very very very prejudiced city when we were growing up before the whole euro thing and black Cubans came over and helped us be able to go in the movies.   This was a very very prejudiced town and my mom at that time was cleaning up folks houses and we came up really rough in the projects.  We had a lot of things we didn’t like, history that I am destined not to repeat because  I do remember and I remember and reflect on it not to be bitter but I reflect on it to be better.   I respect, honor, admire and I am so glad that God gave me to her and her to me.  My mom first.  My father who I never lived with was just an awesome person.  I recognize that  he  just was a better daddy than he was husband.  My mom never said a bad word about him so I was able to have my own opinion and I appreciate her for that.   We were best best friends.  In a lot of ways people say I’m a lot like him.  People say that I’m just like him.

In the record business I admire, love and respect Russell Simmons.  We worked together when I was very young and so was he.  In the record business he was doing promotions.  He took my record and took the time; I really love him.  I love the way he does things and I love his peacefulness.  Business-wise I love Oprah for accepting challenges and going through no matter what people say.  She seems to come out on top and not by killing folks off, but by doing good.  I love what Michael Jackson did in this earth with his helping people without a lot of applause.  I love that whole family; I respect his mom, Katherine and I have respect for Joe.  I don’t know why people have to act like he was the devil for beating his kids.  All of y’all had daddys who beat y’all, that’s why y’all are better.  A lot of people look at that as “oh, my goodness he beat Michael!”   When you have ten people that were brought up in those days, I’ll tell them they did it,  but  it’s just that he was under a microscope.

I think in general I respect Bishop Noel Jones, for the ministry and the way he approaches ministering.  I respect Cleflo (Dollar) for trying to get people up out of poverty and  making them think bigger and inspiring  people to know that this is what God promised us; it’s an inheritance so not to look at it like I’ll never get to that because I’m not worthy.

And, I respect my kids for allowing me to be who I am even at this age.  I’m a grandmother but they know I’m not the grandmother who can do all the events.    Sometimes I can help finance it and they Skype me and we talk.  My grandkids are not allowed to tell me they have a lot of fun without me.  So they have to say that they had a little bit of fun; they have to do it like a teeny tiny amount so that I won’t feel bad.  I’ve got a real close circle.

I love people like Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, Angie Stone those that are out there in the field working and making it happen without depending on a lot of people and have come through the struggle of adversity or people talking about them.  I think that the record business does snuff  hope.   I see Usher and Trey Song and Ne-yo and Dream and folks that are out there who are making great great music.  It gives me hope that the music is still flowing, that there are people  still writing songs.  Even though I do not know some of them personally, I do respect what they are doing.

FM:  We know that you lost your son in 2005.  [On December 24, 2005, Ms. Wright's 21-year-old son Patrick Parker, was shot and killed following a dispute at a Christmas Party].  How did you and how do you manage the grief?

BW:  You know I’ve been saved since 1975 so I have to say that it was truly through the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit as some people call it.   That’s some people’s name for it.  But, if it had not been for the Lord that was on my side I would not have managed it at all.  But, through the Blood of Jesus covering me I was able to do the  Home Going, I was able to dance, praise and dance throughout the whole service .  I was able to write the service.   I did everything.  In reality when I reflect on it part of me just wanted to jump off a building but I never got to see that part.   God picked me up in a bubble.  He just preserved me   People ask me do I hate the boy who did it because I know who did it.  I say “No, I love him and I want him to do better and I pray for him everyday, that God will save him.”  I have a picture of him and my son when they were little kids at a party.  It is devastating, of course, it’s devastating.  I won’t even lie that I don’t miss my son.  But, God is so good.  He is so good.  He allowed my son to sew a seed.  And when that baby was born, if it’s not my son all over again.  It’s amazing.  He is a new and improved Patrick.  He is just like him.  He looks like him, walks like him, talks like him.  He sits in that Indian squat with legs back  just like him. It’s amazing and God is so good.   God did not leave me without help.  He sent that little boy.  That little boy is crazy about me.

I didn’t even get a chance to grieve.  I don’t feel that we honor God by grieving.  I think that we have to realize and recognize that God is still in control.  When you know the word of God and study you know that death is an enemy; it’s not a friend.  God doesn’t kill people.    This is a whole other generation.  We’re not under law we’re under Grace and as a minister myself I know that He didn’t make a mistake.  A lot of things are going on today.  I often say, “Lord, if Patrick was alive… I know what you mean now.”   When people persecute me I know what my son was about.   A hundred and forty-three people came to the alter and gave their life to Christ at that Home Going.

I started a school called “The Most” which is Mountain Of Songs Today equals Mountain Of Stars Tomorrow.  I’m working  and helping people get gats out of their hands and put guitars in their hands.   I have a ministry on Thursday nights called Thankful Thursdays.  It’s church for the unchurched, for folks who don’t do the Sunday thing with the church hats , church purse, shoes and all of that and are just tired of the genuflection and doing everything according to what the law says.   If you are looking for love you can get love  in this ministry because that’s what it’s about . People are able to vent, they’re able to testify, they’re able to talk about what’s wrong with them and get it right.  They’re able to apologize.  It’s just a sounding board and I thank God for using me.   I ain’t got nothing but love for them and I’m going to tell them right.  If they don’t like it they can come back next week and I’ll tell them and then I’ll tell them some more right.  But, if  they can hang they can get a lot of help here.

FM:  We consider you to be a Fly-Mommy.  We would like to know in your own words what makes you a Fly-Mommy.

BW:  (Laughter)  Well, mine is probably going to be the opposite of what a lot of people say to you.  But, I think I am the coolest person in the room even though I’ve never drank, smoked or tried a drug.  Most people think that is just the biggest fib when I tell them that since I’ve been in the business all my life.  I have to tell you I am just the coolest person in the room because I just love me and I love what God has done with me.  He has put so many gifts in me and so much knowledge and wisdom that I can hold a conversation in almost any genre and even if I can’t speak your language I can almost look in your eyes and tell what you are talking about.  So, I love what God has done in me.  That’s what makes me a Fly Fly-Mommy!