Early Wright (February 10, 1915 – December 10, 1999) was the first black

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

.Cheseborough, Steve. ''Blues Traveling, The Holy Sites of Delta Blues''. 3rd ed. University Press of Mississippi, 2009. . p. 93. His "Soul Man" broadcast on WROX in Clarksdale spanned over 50 years. Musicians Wright hosted on WROX included

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp st ...

Little Milton James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include " Baby, I Love ...

Ike & Tina Turner Ike & Tina Turner were an American musical duo consisting of husband and wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by Ike Turner's band the Kings of Rhythm and backing voca ...

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Life ...

and

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Rec ...

Biography

Wright was born on a plantation in

Jefferson, Mississippi Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian fo ...

on February 10, 1915. He was an auto mechanic by trade, he worked as a train engineer. In 1937, he moved to Clarksdale and opened an auto repair business. In 1945, he went to Clarksdale's WROX, a white-owned station, as the manager of a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

group called the Four Star Quartet. The group had a 15-minute Sunday morning program. The station's manager Preston "Buck" Hinman, impressed with Wright's charisma, offered him a regular show as WROX's first black announcer in 1947. Before accepting the job, Wright consulted his preacher to make sure there wasn't anything sinful about playing

blues music Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

. Wright developed a dual on-air person for his four-hour nightly show. As the "Soul Man," he played blues music, then he'd switch to Gospel music and became "Brother Early." Wright provided

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and ...

with one of his earliest gigs, Turner's

Kings of Rhythm The Kings of Rhythm are an American music group formed in the late 1940s in Clarksdale, Mississippi and led by Ike Turner through to his death in 2007. Turner would retain the name of the band throughout his career, although the group has underg ...

sometimes played on Wright's show.

also appeared on Wright's show early in his career. Wright later defended Presley when he faced criticism for stealing his act from black musicians. Wright stated that Presley had "a real feel and respect" for the music. In 1981, Wright's daughter, Patricia, died of an

aneurysm An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus (s ...

. He retired from broadcasting in 1997 after his daughter, Barbara, died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. That year he underwent multiple heart bypass surgeries and . Wright suffered a heart attack in November 1999, he died at the age of 84 in Memphis on December 10, 1999. He was survived by his wife, Ella, two sisters, seven grandchildren and two brothers.

Legacy

In 1988, the Center for Southern Culture at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

honored Wright with a scholarship in his name. There was also an annual lecture at the university on his distinguished career. Annually, the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival in Clarksdale gives the Early Wright Blues Heritage Award to non-musicians who have helped "preserve, promote, perpetuate, and document blues in the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

." The city of Clarksdale named the road that went past his house, Early Wright Drive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Early American radio personalities Radio personalities from Mississippi Delta blues Music of Mississippi 1915 births 1999 deaths African-American DJs 20th-century African-American musicians