O. V. Wright

Overton Vertis "O. V." Wright (October 9, 1939 – November 16, 1980)[1]  was an American singer who is generally regarded as a blues artist by African American fans in the Deep South; he is also regarded as one of Southern soul's most authoritative and individual artists.[2]  His best known songs include "That's How Strong My Love Is" (1964), "You're Gonna Make Me Cry" (1965), "Nucleus of Soul" (1968), "A Nickel and a Nail" (1971), "I Can't Take It" (1971) and "Ace of Spades" (1971).



Contents
[hide]  *1 Biography  ==Biography[ edit] == Born in Leno, Tennessee, Wright, as a youngster, began singing in the church. In 1956, while still in high school, he joined The Sunset Travelers as one of the lead singers for the gospel group.[3]  He later fronted a gospel music group, the Harmony Echoes. It was during this time that he was discovered (along with James Carr) byRoosevelt Jamison a songwriter and manager. Their first pop recording in 1964 was "That's How Strong My Love Is," a ballad later covered by Otis Redding and theRolling Stones. It was issued on Goldwax, the label Wright signed to after leaving his gospel career. It was later determined that Don Robey still had him under a recording contract, due to his gospel group having recorded for Peacock. After his contract was shifted to Don Robey’s Back Beat label, further R&B hits followed. Working withrecord producer Willie Mitchell, success continued on songs including "Ace of Spades" and "A Nickel and a Nail".
 * 2 Legacy
 * 3 Discography
 * 3.1 Albums
 * 3.2 Chart singles
 * 4 References
 * 5 External links

Wright's hits were much more popular in the deep South. His biggest hits were "You're Gonna Make Me Cry" (R&B #6, 1965), "Eight Men, Four Women" (R&B #4, 1967) "Ace of Spades" (R&B #11, 1970), "A Nickel and a Nail" (R&B #19, 1971). The remainder of his 17 hits charted no higher than #20 on the R&B charts.

However, Wright was imprisoned for narcotics offenses during the mid-1970s, and, despite signing for Hi Records and releasing a series of recordings, his commercial success failed to recover after his release. A continuing drug problem weakened his health and he died from a heart attack, in Mobile, Alabama at age 41.[1] ==Legacy[ edit] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Wright is among the most remembered voices of soul music, perhaps mostly for being sampled frequently in hip hop music. In 1996, his song, "Motherless Child" was sampled on the Ghostface Killah album Ironmanon a song also called "Motherless Child." It and another Wright recording, "Let's Straighten It Out" have been published on Shaolin Soul, a compilation of tracks that have been sampled by the Wu Tang Clan and its members. "Let's Straighten It Out" was sampled in a Wu-Tang Clan song called "America" from the charity compilation album America Is Dying Slowly. "Ace of Spades" was sampled by Slim Thug and the Boss Hogg Outlawz on a song named "Recognize A Playa".

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Wright has been a big influence on many Soul and Blues singers including Robert Cray,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[4]  Otis Clay,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5]  Taj Mahal<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]  as well as young Soul singer Reggie Sears<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]  among many others.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Johnny Rawls joined Wright's backing band in the mid-1970s, and played together with Wright until the latter's death in 1980. The band then continued billed as the O.V. Wright Band for another 13 years, and toured and performed with other musicians over this time span. These included B.B. King, Little Milton, Bobby Bland, Little Johnny Taylor, and Blues Boy Willie.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AMG_8-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8] ==Discography<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Albums<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Chart singles<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ===
 * 1965: If It's Only For Tonight (Back Beat Records)
 * 1967: 8 Men And 4 Women (Back Beat Records)
 * 1968: Nucleus Of Soul (Back Beat Records)
 * 1971: A Nickel And A Nail And Ace Of Spades (Back Beat Records)
 * 1973: Memphis Unlimited (Back Beat Records)
 * 1977: Into Something I Can't Shake Loose (Hi Records)
 * 1977: The Wright Stuff (Hi Records)
 * 1978: The Bottom Line (Hi Records)
 * 1979: O.V. Wright Live (Hi Records)
 * 1979: We're Still Together (Hi Records)