The Dallas music scene loses a beloved figure: Accomplished funk, jazz and R&B performer Bernard Wright has passed at 58 years old

DALLAS — Beloved Dallas funk, jazz and R&B performer Bernard Wright died Thursday on the age of 58, in response to an announcement shared Friday on Fb on behalf of Wright’s household by fellow musician William S. Patterson.

Born in Queens, New York, Wright rose to nationwide prominence with the discharge of “Who Do You Love,” the lead single off his 1985 third LP, “Mr. Wright,” and a music prominently sampled in LL Cool J’s 1995 hit single, “Loungin’.” 

“Mr. Wright” would go on to peak at No. 25 on Billboard’s U.S. R&B Albums chart, whereas “Who Do You Love” would attain as excessive as No. 6 on the Billboard’s Scorching R&B Singles chart and No. 44 on the Scorching Dance Singles Gross sales chart.

The godson of powerhouse R&B singer Roberta Flack, Wright launched his first album, “‘Nard,” at simply 18 years previous. 

That first LP set the desk for his later successes, reaching No. 116 on the Billboard 200, No. 53 on the Billboard U.S. R&B Album chart and No. 7 on Billboard’s U.S. Jazz Album chart.

As a studio musician, the multi-instrumentalist appeared on recordings from acts together with Doug E. Recent, Cameo, Bobby Brown and Miles Davis.

Internationally, his profession will ceaselessly be marked, nevertheless, by the success of “Who Do You Love” — and, maybe much more particularly, by the prolonged life that music skilled as a pattern inside songs produced by different artists. 

Whereas quite a few songs from all through Wright’s profession had been sampled by artists reminiscent of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Huge Pun, no different pattern was fairly as ubiquitous because the “Who Do You Love” one on the middle of LL Cool J’s laidback “Loungin’” monitor. 

Later in his profession, Wright would flip to gospel music and launch three albums underneath the banner of that style earlier than transferring to North Texas and evolving right into a fixture and mentor determine throughout the Dallas jazz, funk and R&B music communities.

A candy and mild soul fast with a smile and pat on the again, Wright was all the time humble about his many noteworthy accomplishments as he actively rubbed shoulders with and carried out alongside youthful musicians who aspired to in the future attain his profession’s heights.

All through the ’00s and early ’10s, Wright would repeatedly sit in on keyboards among the many gamers on the common Monday evening weekly Dangerous Ass Jazz collection on the late Amsterdam Bar in Dallas’ Exposition Park neighborhood. Extra lately, he would pop up as a visitor performer on stage with youthful era hip-hop, jazz and R&B fusion acts reminiscent of RC & The Gritz, CoLab and Ghost-Notice at Dallas venues together with Deep Ellum Artwork Firm, Prophet Bar and Three Hyperlinks.

Patterson’s Friday morning assertion on Wright’s passing reads as follows:

“On behalf of the household of Bernard Wright (Nard),

We’re saddened to announce that yesterday 

Bernard has been known as house to the Most Excessive.

Many thanks for everybody’s assist, encouragement, and prayers for Nard all through the years. Please maintain the household in your ideas and prayers via this tough time. 

Our hearts are heavy and our religion is robust. 

To be absent from the physique is to be current with The Lord!

LOVE! Relaxation In Energy, Nard.“