Betty Wright, best known for heartfelt soul songs like Clean Up Woman, Girls Can’t do What The Guys Do and Tonight is The Night, died in Miami on May 10.
She was 66 years-old.
The Miami-born singer, whose first hit song came in 1968 with Girls Can’t do What The Guys Do, had strong Jamaican ties. At 16 years-old, she performed in Kingston, the country’s capital, at the Carib Theatre in 1970.
Wright was married to Noel “King Sporty” Williams, a Jamaican singer/songwriter who composed Buffalo Soldier with Bob Marley. Williams died in 2015.
She was also opening act for Marley on his 1979 Survival Tour of the United States, performing alongside the reggae superstar at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
Wright’s sassy delivery on Clean Up Woman and Tonight, helped put Miami’s music scene on the map during the 1970’s. Her contemporaries included the husband-and-wife singers George and Gwen McCrae and K C And The Sunshine Band.
She was popular in Jamaica throughout her career. In addition to her singles from the 1970’s, Wright had a handful of hit songs there during the 1980’s including Thank You (For the Many Things You’ve Done), Goodbye You Hello Him, After The Pain and No Pain, No Gain.
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