It was a black weekend for Rhythm and Blues with the deaths of three musical icons who have written their names in gold.
Singers Betty Wright and Little Richard along with music executive Andre Harrell all died this weekend having had major impacts on R&B and the music industry as a whole.
Betty Wright influenced a generation of female artists. The Grammy-award winner and six-time nominee is known for her hits “Clean Up Woman” and “Tonight is the Night.”
Many of her hits have been sampled by rappers and singers like Beyoncé, Color Me Bad, and Chance the Rapper. The soulful Betty Wright died from cancer on Sunday at the age of 66 in her Miami home.
On his part, Little Richard was an early figure in rock. His screaming, preening, scene-stealing wild man of early rock ‘n’ roll first came on the scene in the 1950s with hits like “Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally” and “Slippin’ and Slidin’.”
The Macon, Georgia, native had a long career after that saw him becoming one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, getting a street named after him in his home town and receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1993 Grammys.
Andre Harrell had an everlasting footprint in hip-hop. He is credited with mentoring Sean Diddy Combs as well as discovering and launching the careers of various artists and entertainers.
He got his start in the 1980s as one of two members in the rap group Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. Harrell was then hired by Def Jam Records where he worked as vice president and then became a general manager of the label. It was when he founded Uptown Records that things really took off. He hired Diddy as an intern and launched the careers of Mary J. Blige, Heavy D, and The Boyz, Jodeci, and Teddy Riley.
Paying tribute to him, the Combs Enterprises website called him the man with the Midas touch
“He is known to have the Midas touch when it came to discovering and developing talent, Andre was responsible for changing the sound of R&B music and crossing artist and executives over into what was then known as ‘pop culture,” the website said.
