21st Post: (12) V & W – Last Names

NANCY WILSON 1937 – 2018

Nancy has been my favorite singer that I play her Pandora station to put me asleep at night. I discovered her in recent years and have appreciated her high quality voice. I would encourage you to listen to her whenever you would like to relax or need help falling asleep. Nancy was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. She became an active jazz singer in 1956. Her most notable singles were “You Don’t Know How Glad I Am” (https://youtu.be/Wj05EY2aP7I) and “Guess Who I Saw Today?” (https://youtu.be/eFbDj5RBouE) She recorded over 70 albums and had won three Grammy Awards for her work.

Wonder, Stevie. 1961-present

Stevie was born in Saginaw, MI. He is a soul and pop singer. At 13 he had his first hit: “Fingertips” (https://youtu.be/k3ubgVjp3CY). In the 1970s he cut “Superstition” which charted No1. (https://youtu.be/0CFuCYNx-1g) He tied Frank Sinatra with producing three albums of the year in one year. He sold more than 100m records and was awarded 25 Grammys. He also won an Academy Award for the Best Original song ”The Woman in Red” (https://youtu.be/Qa0nQL239tY). He was inducted into the R&B, Rock & Roll and Songwriters HOFs.

William Harrison Withers Jr. was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He recorded several major hits, including “Ain’t No Sunshine”, “Grandma’s Hands” (https://youtu.be/qv5pagal-ls), “Use Me” (https://youtu.be/g3hBYTkI-sE), “Lean on Me” (https://youtu.be/f7P8wusL1Z0), “Lovely Day” (https://youtu.be/RouXAZLN7PY) and “Just the Two of Us” (https://youtu.be/Uw5OLnN7UvM). Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for six more.

Bessie Regina Norris (December 21, 1953 – May 10, 2020), better known by her stage name Betty Wright, was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter and background vocalist. Beginning her professional career in the late 1960s as a teenager ( i.e., “Secretary” https://youtu.be/-Dfmns_M2uU). Wright rose to fame in the 1970s with hits such as “Clean Up Woman” and “Tonight Is the Night”. Wright was also prominent in her use of whistle register. The whistle register (also called the flute register or flageolet register) is the highest register of the human voice, lying above the modal register and falsetto register. This register has a specific physiological production that is different from the other registers, and is so called because the timbre of the notes that are produced from this register is similar to that of a whistle.

Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band is an American soul and funkband. Formed in the early 1960s, they had the most visibility from 1967 to 1973 when the band had 9 singles reach Billboard’s pop and/or rhythm and blues charts, such as “Do Your Thing”, “Till You Get Enough”, and “Love Land” (https://youtu.be/BKVxfnX0rwM) (RQ 9). They are best known for their biggest hit on Warner Bros. Records, 1970’s “Express Yourself”, a song that has been sampled by rap group N.W.A and others.