O.V. Wright

Overton Vertis Wright (9 October 1939 to16 November 1980) was a soul singer. Like many, his career began in church. He led a gospel group, the Harmony Echoes. He was signed first by the Back Beat label, and later by Hi Records. At Hi, he collaborated with Willie Mitchell. He first signed to Goldwax as a solo artist where he released the original, and definitve version of That's How Strong My Love Is. Since he was already under contract to Don Robey's Duke/Peacock label as a mermber of the Harmony Echoes Goldwax owners (Quinton Claunch and Doc Russell) reluctantly gave up any rights to OV, as a "legal" battle with the volatile Robey was the last thing they wanted. Robey created a label, BackBeat, for OV and contracted Willie Mitchell to produce/arrange and write with him. As always Robey muscled on the songwriting credits, including his own name or his alias Deadric Malone, when he never wrote a song in his life. OV no doubt made more money from his time at Hi than he did a BackBeat, where he enjoyed more hits Notable hits include: "That's How Strong My Love Is," "The Ace Of Spades" and "A Nickel And A Nail".