Vermont-based blues and soul singer Sandra Wright started performing gospel in her hometown of Memphis when she was four years old. After majoring in music at Tennessee State University, she won a local talent contest that led to an offer from the National Black Opera Company for a European tour, yet at the same moment she also received an invitation to join the Nashville R&B ensemble the Canned Souls. Choosing the latter, she spent the following three years traveling and performing with them. Cashbox magazine selected the group as “Newcomers picked to click in 1969-70” on the strength of their single “Unbelievable.” When the ensemble disbanded in 1971, Wright remained in Nashville for the next seventeen years, playing clubs throughout the city and cutting several singles for Truth Records, a Stax subsidiary. During those same years she contributed vocals to countless radio and television jingles and, in 1986, became a member of the Nashville Minstrel Players. In 1988 she presented her one-woman play and tribute to Bessie Smith at the Chattanooga Music Festival. By 1990 she had become the lead vocalist for the Nashville R&B outfit Bordello, taking a six-month leave to open shows for Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Following that stint she assembled her own band and began touring nationally. The Sandra Wright Band completed its debut recording in 1992; later the same year the group moved to Vermont. Her 1995 album Shake You Down appears on the Hipshake Records label. From her Vermont base, Wright continues to travel with both her blues and soul ensemble and a separate jazz trio.
