Betty Wright-Clean Up Woman

   黑人靈魂歌曲及R&B節奏與藍調歌曲的看板人物Betty Wright去世

  傳奇黑人靈魂歌曲及R&B 歌手Betty Wright，以"Tonight Is the Night"、“No Pain, (No Gain)" 及"Clean Up Woman"幾首歌曲知名，享年66歲。

  Wright因癌症於她邁阿密家鄉去世，五月初好友Chaka Khan在推特貼文 "現在需要大家的禱告"。

  本名Bessie Regina Norris 的Betty Wright 於1953年出生，三歲時從Echoes of Joy 合唱團開始唱歌，那是她家族1956年成立於邁阿密的福音歌曲合唱團。

  1968年Betty Wright推出第一張專輯My First Time Around，當時她15歲，其中的歌"Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do"進入 Billboard Hot 100排行榜前40名，1972年的"Clean Up Woman"成績更好，最高得到第6名，和 Mary J. Blige、Afrika Bambaataa 及Sublime是當年的年輕樣板歌手。1970年代中期Betty Wright推出"Tonight Is the Night" 及 "Where Is the Love,"二首在R&B歌曲排行榜top 20的歌，後者獲得1975年Grammy最佳R&B歌曲獎。

  1980年代她開了自己的唱片公司Ms. B Records，出版Mother Wit專輯，其中的單曲"No Pain (No Gain)" 1988年再度發行曾獲得R&B歌曲排行榜第14名。

  2003年她和Joss Stone合作製作 The Soul Sessions專輯，其中包括1960與1970年代的經典歌曲，在英國獲得Mercury Prize.獎。

  2006她上一個Making the Band電視節目，由 Sean “P Diddy” Combs介紹給年輕歌迷。

  2011年她加入The Roots的Betty Wright: The Movie專輯錄音，其中還邀請有Lil Wayne、Snoop Dogg 及Stone。

  "Betty Wright是S-Curve's creative family創意家族的基本咖" Curve Records唱片的老闆Steve Greenberg 告訴記者，"她和我合作很多案子，從Joss Stone 到Tom Jones 、O’Jays與她自己的專輯，範圍很廣，Betty Wright 及 the Roots.的組合看出她是有三方面才華的藝人，身為藝人、作曲及製作人，她經常有工作之外的表現，她很少讓錄音影響生活，她讓每個工作人員有信心去創造一個不一樣的東西"。

  Betty Wright在Billboard Hot 100排行榜成績最好的歌就是1972年得到第6名的"Clean Up Woman"，而此曲在R&B歌曲排行榜則獲得連續8週第2名。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKBwpxAuc3o

Clean up Woman

Betty Wright

Songwriters: Clarence Henry Reid / Willie James Clarke

A clean up woman is a woman who

Gets all the love we girls leave behind

The reason I know so much about her

Is because she picked up a man of mine

Jumpin' slick was my ruin

'Cause I found out all I was doin'

Was makin' it easy for the clean up woman

To get my man's love, aww, yeah

Just makin' it easy for the clean up woman

To get my baby's love, huh huh

I took this man's love and put it on a shelf

And, like a fool, I thought I had him all to myself

When he needed love, I was out havin' fun

But I found out that all I had done

Was made it easy for the clean up woman

To get my man's love, huh huh

Yeah, that's what I did

I made it easy for the clean up woman

To steal my baby's love, aw, yeah

The clean up woman will wipe his blues away

She'll give him plenty lovin', twenty four hours a day

The clean up woman, she'll sweep him off his feet

She's the one who'll take him in when you dump him in the street

So take a tip, you better get hip

To the clean up woman, 'cause she's tough

I mean, she really cleans up