The Wright Stuff

Posted 6 months ago

Michelle Wright performs at the Comber Fair on Saturday night.

Michelle Wright hopes all her local fans come to see her at the Comber Fair.

In a phone interview last Monday, the amiable country music star talked at length about her career, personal life and the upcoming show this Saturday at 8 p.m.

“This is very exciting for me”, said Wright from her Nashville home. “We are going to rock the house!”

After a stop on Manitoulin Island on Friday, August 7, it’s back on the bus for the eight hour ride to Comber and on with the show. The Comber show will be what she calls a “full band show”, as opposed to her “Wright Songs” show which is 100% acoustic.

She likes performing them both. The full band show allows her to sing all of her hits and includes a light show with high energy performances. The acoustic show is her with a guitar, front and center, in a more personal atmosphere.

“It’s a magical feeling when you get to sit up there with the guitar and interact so closely with the audience. It’s a very special time for me.”

Fans in Comber can expect a great mixture of her most recent music, from the Everything and More album, and also her past hits like “Take it Like a Man”, I Surrender, and Nobody’s Girl.

Being born and raised in Merlin, she followed her parents’ country band and eventually got the music bug.

And you’d think she might be able to fit in a visit home when she’s so close, but says her schedule is just not allowing that.

She does, however, make it home to Merlin occasionally to visit her sister. The rest of her family has dispersed to Blenheim, Chatham and the like, but her sister is still living in Merlin.

Her visits home bring a familiarity and peace, especially when there is a hockey game on. “My husband loves sports, and I’ve yet to introduce him to hockey, but when I’m home and I hear the game on in the background, it just brings me back to a special place.”

One of her local connections used to be Kingsville’s Dan Nadasdi, who was her keyboard player for about 20 years until he left the band in 2007 to spend more time with his wife and children.

“I cried like a baby when Dan left”, she says and added that he is a great friend whom she spent a lot of time with over the years, and absolutely adores his family.

Wright’s career started at a young age when she stepped in to perform with her parents’ country band. After years of traveling the southwest Ontario region with bands, she decided to venture out and try to make a go of it.

Her debut album, Do Right By Me, recorded in the mid-eighties, was released in 1988 and included the Andy Kim hit, Rock Me Gently. Producers had suggested that she include the song on the album due to Kim being a fellow Canadian and the pop/rock sound would distinguish her from fellow alto and superstar, Anne Murray.

Her most successful album came in 1992, with Now and Then. Take it Like a Man jumped onto the Billboard charts and took off to number one, followed by He Would Be Sixteen. She garnered the Country Music Association’s Top New Female Vocalist award, beating out another newcomer at the time by the name of Martina McBride.

These days, Michelle spends her spare time with her husband Marco and her three dogs at their home in Nashville. Marco, who started out in the music business, then moved to L.A. and took up acting for a short time, is now settled into his own business manufacturing outdoor hanging chairs. Michelle loves that they both have their own thing going. “It’s so nice to have him help me out with a guitar chord, and then turn around and help him with his business. We compliment each other well.”

When asked who she listens to now, she excitedly names several contemporary artists and past artists alike. She enjoys Motown, Keith Urban, Vince Gill and even Alicia Keys. “Marco has 4,000 songs on his iPod”, she laughs.

The future looks as bright as ever for Michelle. She’s currently doing live recordings of her acoustic concerts and is very excited about putting together an album of the live acoustic songs, which she hopes to release very soon.

Her annual Christmas tour is coming up in the fall and she takes great joy in that. And she doesn’t rule out another Christmas album to follow up her last one, I’m Dreaming of a Wright Christmas.

All in all, this Canadian music legend with the sultry voice is very happy with her career and life, and she sincerely hopes “those great local people in the Leamington-Comber area” will come and see her. She promises she will not disappoint.