Another Wright Woman

Earlier in the week we posted a couple of numbers from Betty Wright. She's not the only soulful Wright by any means - there's O.V., Charles and today's featured artist, Sandra.

Until she sadly passed away this January at the age of 61, Sandra Wright had been performing nearly all her life. She was born and raised in Memphis - and was a cousin of Memphis Slim -before moving up to Nashville in the mid 1970s and then to Vermont in the early 1990s, where she was based at the time of her death. At various times she performed with the likes of Joe Tex and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, before fronting The Sandra Wright Band for the last twenty years or so of her life. The full story - apart from the last few chapters - can be found in a Colin Dilmot article from "In The Basement" published about eight years ago.

Ms Wright didn't record a great deal over the years, but she is responsible for an absolutely classic album, "Wounded Woman". Recorded in 1974 it was due to be released on Stax the following year but got caught up in their financial troubles. While a couple of singles were issued, the album itself never saw the light of day until 1988 when Demon Records put it out. It is a real gem, and I rate it up there with Tommie Young's "Do You Feel The Same Way?" - another great lost album of the 1970s by another great lost female soul singer. Here are a couple of my personal favourites.

"The Sha-La Bandit" - Sandra Wright

"I'll See You Through" - Sandra Wright

The only clip of her I can find is one of her doing "Take Me To The River" in 2007. It comes in half way through, but it gives you an idea of what she could do.