Background
Norma Jean Wright was born in Elyria, Ohio, where she attended local schools and started singing.
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Norma Wright
Edit ProfileEducation
She attended Ohio State University.
Career
Wright sang in the female trio, the Topettes, and toured for a short time with The Spinners. In 1977, she joined Chic, a soul, Rhythm & Blues and disco band. Most notably, Norma Jean Wright sang lead vocal on Chic"s debut album, Chic (1978), which includes the hits "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" (#6 People’s, #6 Rhythm & Blues in January 1978) and "Everybody Dance" (#38 People’s, #12 Rhythm & Blues in April 1978).
She left Chic in 1978 to begin a solo career, billed as "Norma Jean".
In July 1978, she scored her first Rhythm & Blues Top 20 hit, "Saturday" (#15), from her debut album, Norma Jean on the Bearsville Records label, produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers. In January 1980, she scored her second (and last) Rhythm & Blues Top 20 hit, "High Society" (#19), also produced by the Chic team
Her first album included several popular songs: "Sorcerer", "Having a Party", and "I Like Love." Later popular songs were "Hold Maine Lonely Boy" (1979), "Love Attack" (1983), "Shot in the Dark" (1984), and "Every Bit of This Love" (1985). In 2004 "I Like Love" was sampled by the British dance project Solitaire for their club hit, "I Like Love (I Love Love)."
Wright has also sung as a backing vocalist with the following artists: C+C Music Factory, Constina, Randy Crawford, Will Downing, Aretha Franklin, Fantasy, Debbie Gibson, Nelson Rangell, Luther Vandross, Madonna, Sister Sledge, Nick Scotti & Freddie Jackson.
She frequently appears in a duo with another former Chic vocalist, Luci Martin.
