Whenever I hear the story about how and why Betty Wright became an independent artist, it& #39;s truly inspiring. She left Epic Records after her two-album stint didn& #39;t set the charts ablaze. In hopes of securing a record deal, she shopped demos to several labels, and while ...

... executives were eager to sign her, they wanted her to conform to their standards (even going so far to question her style and Blackness). Unwilling to give in, she eventually found that the direct-to-customer approach was her golden ticket and started pressing and selling ...

... her recordings by herself. At one point, she sold her music out of the trunk of her car during live shows. Her first independent release, 1986& #39;s Sevens, reignited interest in her career during R&B& #39;s changing guard in the mid-80s, where synth-driven pop-soul ran the show.

Although neither the album or its centerpiece single, "Pain" sold like her former hits, they put her back on the map. She went on to start her own record label, Ms. B. Records and cut her first album on the label, 1988& #39;s Mother Wit, which she self-produced and wrote. ...

... Minimalist, yet soulfully engaging, Mother Wit marked a creative and commercial milestone for Wright, as the album made her the first Black female artist to secure a gold certification on her own label.