Legendary soul diva Betty Wright made history as the first black female artist to score a gold album with a record released through her own label, Miss B Records. Here, she talks pursing excellence…
That saying: “When in business, be as men…”
…is something that I always adhere to. You need to be tough, straightforward and realistic in whatever you do. I mentor and coach a lot of artists [including Joss Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Danity Kane] and I always tell them music is like a cloth – it has to be evenly woven and concise. You have to take your time to create a beautiful piece of music. Singing and R’n’B are like the wheel. You can’t reinvent either, but you can add a little shine – some new rims or some rotating spokes! Whatever you work as or whatever your business is, the odds are someone has done something similar before. What you have to do is put your own spin on it. This will help you stand out and succeed.
Family Is So Important
One of the things that will help to make you great and whole as a person is family. You need to always be there for each other, to support each other through good times and bad. My family is so big! I have three daughters, two sons, ten grandchildren and 20-something step-grandchildren from my husband. When I tour, I bring my family with me because we came up in this music thing together. I have many people in my life who I count as family even though they aren’t my blood; I call a lot of people my son or daughter. When I started on the journey with my latest album Betty Wright: The Movie, I lost my son. He was shot on Christmas day in 2005. I started up the Mister Mister Foundation in memory of him. It’s an organisation which encourages young people to express themselves through music instead of violence. The hope is to replace the gun with the guitar. There is always something that you can use to improve your life, be it music or another talent or skill.
My mother, my driver
Up until this very day it has always my been mother, who passed away in September 2010, that made me driven as a person. My mother was my vocal coach and band leader when I was a child. She would accept no less than excellence. She was one of those people who would always say: “That was nice,” if you did something well. She didn’t hand out compliments easily and she was a fanatic about music. If you didn’t hit your note right, baby you got your little butt tore up. People don’t understand that kind of teaching nowadays but she had a switch [a thin branch] – she didn’t use it much but the thought that it was there made us want to get the song right. I still keep those lessons from my mother close to my heart.
Trust God
When I’ve been through hard times, and especially when I lost my son, it was God who got me through and enabled me to carry on striving for the best in life. He carried me through the Thanksgiving service for my son and allowed me to sing at the service. Burying your child is an unnatural thing and it isn’t easy to do, but a relationship with God, whereby you can talk to him and he speaks to your heart and mind, means you can be well in your soul when it comes to anything.
