Effective period / Period of releases: 1957

1950s-1960s soul artist from Chicago, Illinois.

Roy Wright started his recording career for the legendary Drexel label, which was owned by Paul King and Les Caldwell. Drexel issued four singles by Wright, and although the jump blues “No Haps” is the famous track. In the 60s Wright worked for Al Benson whose labels Crash, Vick and Mica all had 45s on him .Most of the sides are really tough Chi Town music courtesy of music men like Bob Lee and Karl Tareton, with Wright fighting manfully against driving rhythms and big brass sections. His vocals were much more emphatic and gritty than in the 50s, as he embraced the newer soul style of singing. Thumping tracks like “Heartbreak (Awful Day)” and “Something’s Wrong” are very fine indeed, the heavy hitting “You Changed My Whole Life Around” is maybe his best cut of the dancers, thanks to a great stop/go arrangement and a really wholehearted vocal performance.