Representative Albums: "Dreaming Wide Awake," "Salt," "The Orchard"
Biography
Vocalist Lizz Wright delivers a sultry R&B performance that's divinely layered in gospel and jazz, and keenly similar to the work of Oleta Adams and Jill Scott. Wright was born in early 1980 in the Georgia town of Hahira, and her musical tastes blossomed early on. Her father served as the pianist and musical director at the local church, and he encouraged his daughter to absorb the soulful dispositions of classic hymns. Eventually, blues and jazz were added to Wright's musical plate, and by high school she was earning awards in countless choir competitions. Wright was coming into her warm, smooth singing voice, so her decision to attend Georgia State in Atlanta to study voice at a professional level wasn't surprising. Atlanta became her home and her voice became her solace. In 2000, Wright joined the vocal quartet In the Spirit. The group was quickly hailed as the best jazz group in the city, motivating Wright to hone her craft all the more. Two years later, Verve inked Wright a deal. Her impressive singing style was captured on her debut, Salt, the following spring. Dreaming Wide Awake followed in June 2005. After making a guest appearance on the Toots Thielmans album One More for the Road in 2006, Wright released her third album, The Orchard, in 2008. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
Wright was born in the small town of Hahira, Georgia, one of three children and the daughter of a minister. She started singing gospel music and playing piano in church as a child, and also became interested in jazz and blues. She attended Houston County High School, where she was heavily involved in choral singing, receiving the National Choral Award. She went on to Georgia State University in Atlanta to study singing. Since then she has studied at The New School in New York, and in Vancouver.
Wright joined the Atlanta-based vocal quartet In the Spirit in 2000, which soon achieved critical acclaim, and in 2002 she signed a recording contact with Verve Records, where her soul-meets-jazz-pop stylings immediately earned favorable comparisons to Anita Baker, Regina Belle, Cassandra Wilson and Tracy Chapman.
Her first album, Salt was released in the Spring of 2003 (and reached number two on the BillboardTop Contemporary Jazz chart in 2004), followed by Dreaming Wide Awake in June 2005 (which reached number one on the Top Contemporary Jazz chart in 2005 and 2006).
