Edna Wright Got to Spend Her Life Singing. Put That in the ‘Want Ads.’
You could read the obituary for Edna Wright and think that’s a one-hit wonder. You could also read it and think that’s a music career.
Wright, who died Saturday in a California hospital at the age of 76, made most of her musical marks, including her biggest, anonymously. She was the lead singer of Honey Cone, who in 1971 had a number-one pop and R&B hit with “Want Ads.”
“Want Ads” was a terrific radio record, an irresistible throwback to the Motown sound of a few years earlier. No surprise there, since it was recorded for a label run by Eddie and Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, one of the foundational songwriting and producing teams at Motown.
“Wanted, young man single and free / Experience in love preferred / But will accept a young trainee . . . .”
“Want Ads” could fairly be called one of the last great “girl group” records, as the ’70s morphed into a different, and frankly often not as good, sound.
In any case, Wright had first teamed up with Carolyn Willis and Shelly Clark in 1969, to sing backup for Andy Williams on a Burt Bacharach television special. Eddie Holland saw it and offered Wright a deal, to which she said she’d sign if he took the whole group.
He named them Honey Cone after his favorite ice cream, which didn’t thrill the group, but hey, this was Eddie Holland.
“Want Ads” was a rewrite of another song called “Stick-Up” that didn’t seem quite right. “Stick-Up” was, however, deemed good enough to be recorded as a quickie follow-up to “Want Ads,” and it was a decent-sized hit.
It wasn’t the first time the same song was recorded twice under different names — it worked for the Four Tops, right? — but unfortunately, Honey Cone never got another song that catchy, and in 1973 they broke up.
So were they one-hit wonders? One-and-a-half-hit wonders?
Well, maybe, if you just consider Honey Cone. But Edna Wright did a whole lot more than that.
She was the younger sister of a woman she called Dolly, real name Darlene Wright, stage name Darlene Love. Like her sister, Edna began singing in the choir of the church whose pastor was their father.
Again like her sister, Edna also liked secular music, that is, pop, rock ’n’ roll and rhythm and blues. Fortunately, their father, unlike some churchmen, was okay with that.
In the early 1960s, Darlene was the lead singer of the Blossoms, one of the great backup groups in popular music history and particular favorites of Phil Spector, who exploited their talents shamelessly.
Edna had also worked as a backup singer, for artists who included the Righteous Brothers and Ray Charles. Charles had invited her to join his Raelettes.
In 1962, Edna joined Dolly in the Blossoms and sang with that group on its many Spector songs. “He’s a Rebel,” released as by the Crystals, is really the Blossoms.
Edna was one of the voices on many of those tracks, and non-Spector Blossoms sessions as well. She left in 1964 to try a solo career, recording several singles as Sandy Wynns.
They didn’t sell much, but she remained in the business until Honey Cone formed. After Honey Cone she recorded a solo album and some singles. They didn’t sell much, either, though several became cult faves.
That’s the point at which some singers slip out of the profession and take other jobs to feed the kids and pay the rent. Darlene Love for a time worked as a maid before she revived her career.
Edna Wright kept singing. She sang behind Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, Al Kooper, Stanley Turrentine, Cher, Andrae Crouch, U2, Aaron Neville, Weather Report, Michael Jackson, Kim Carnes, the Beach Boys and Leonard Cohen. Among others.
The Beach Boys connection had an amusing footnote. Many years earlier Edna had sung lead on “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” with vocal backing by, among others, Brian Wilson, Jackie DeShannon, Darlene and Sonny and Cher.
Released as a one-off single under the name Hale and the Hushabyes, it once again didn’t sell much. But can you imagine how much fun the session must have been? Guest spectators included the young Rolling Stones.
Edna’s Cher connection, by the way, was enduring. In 1989, Edna and Darlene toured as Cher’s backup singers.
Like most other background singers whose talent is recognized mostly inside the business, Edna Wright never became a famous name. But few people haven’t heard the music she helped elevate.
While she did other things in her life — she was married to Greg Perry, who co-wrote and produced “Want Ads,” and they had two children, Joel and Melodye — she also got to spend her life singing. That’s not a one-hit wonder, and it’s not a bad way to spend your time here.
