Grapes

"White" table grapes

A grape is a fruiting berry of the deciduous woody vines of the botanical genus described as Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, vinegar, and grape seed oil. Grapes are a non-climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.

History[link]

The cultivation of the domesticated grape began 6,000–8,000 years ago in the Near East.^[1] Yeast, one of the earliest domesticated microorganisms, occurs naturally on the skins of grapes, leading to the innovation of alcoholic drinks such as wine. First traces of red wine are seen in ancient Armenia where apparently, to date, the oldest winery was found, dating to around 4,000 BCE. By the 9th century CE the city of Shiraz was known to produce some of the finest wines in the Middle East. Thus it has been proposed that Syrah red wine is named after Shiraz, a city in Persia where the grape was used to make Shirazi wine. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics record the cultivation of purple grapes, and history attests to the ancient Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans growing purple grapes for both eating and wine production. The growing of grapes would later spread to other regions in Europe, as well as North Africa, and eventually in North America.

Native grapes belonging to various species of the Vitis genus proliferated in the wild across North America, and were a part of the diet of many Native Americans, but were considered by European colonists to be unsuitable for wine, who imported vitis vinifera varieties for that purpose.

Description[link]

Grapes are a type of fruit that grow in clusters of 15 to 300, and can be crimson, black, dark blue, yellow, green, orange, and pink. "White" grapes are actually green in color, and are evolutionarily derived from the purple grape. Mutations in two regulatory genes of white grapes turn off production of anthocyanins which are responsible for the color of purple grapes.^[2] Anthocyanins and other pigment chemicals of the larger family of polyphenols in purple grapes are responsible for the varying shades of purple in red wines.^[3][4] Grapes are typically an ellipsoid shape resembling a prolate spheroid.

Grapevines[link]

Yaquti Grapes production in 2008, Iran.

Most grapes come from cultivars of Vitis vinifera, the European grapevine native to the Mediterranean and Central Asia. Minor amounts of fruit and wine come from American and Asian species such as:

• Vitis labrusca, the North American table and grape juice grapevines (including the concord cultivar), sometimes used for wine, are native to the Eastern United States and Canada.
• Vitis riparia, a wild vine of North America, is sometimes used for winemaking and for jam. It is native to the entire Eastern U.S. and north to Quebec.
• Vitis rotundifolia, the muscadines, used for jams and wine, are native to the Southeastern United States from Delaware to the Gulf of Mexico.
• Vitis amurensis is the most important Asian species.

Juice[link]

Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. The juice is often sold in stores or fermented and made into wine, brandy, or vinegar. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7–23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as "must". In North America, the most common grape juice is purple and made from Concord grapes while white grape juice is commonly made from Niagara grapes, both of which are varieties of native American grapes, a different species from European wine grapes. In California, Sultana (known there as Thompson Seedless) grapes are sometimes diverted from the raisin or table market to produce white juice.^[5]

Distribution and production[link]

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 75,866 square kilometres of the world are dedicated to grapes. Approximately 71% of world grape production is used for wine, 27% as fresh fruit, and 2% as dried fruit. A portion of grape production goes to producing grape juice to be reconstituted for fruits canned "with no added sugar" and "100% natural". The area dedicated to vineyards is increasing by about 2% per year.

Concord is a variety of North American labrusca grape

The following table of top wine-producers shows the corresponding areas dedicated to grapes for wine making:

World production of grape and some of the important producers

There are no reliable statistics that break down grape production by variety. It is believed that the most widely planted variety is Sultana, also known as Thompson Seedless, with at least 3,600 km². (880,000 acres) dedicated to it. The second most common variety is Airén. Other popular varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon blanc, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Grenache, Tempranillo, Riesling and Chardonnay.^[6]

Table and wine grapes[link]

Wine grapes on the vine

Commercially cultivated grapes can usually be classified as either table or wine grapes, based on their intended method of consumption: eaten raw (table grapes) or used to make wine (wine grapes). While almost all of them belong to the same species, Vitis vinifera, table and wine grapes have significant differences, brought about through selective breeding. Table grape cultivars tend to have large, seedless fruit (see below) with relatively thin skin. Wine grapes are smaller, usually seeded, and have relatively thick skins (a desirable characteristic in winemaking, since much of the aroma in wine comes from the skin). Wine grapes also tend to be very sweet: they are harvested at the time when their juice is approximately 24% sugar by weight. By comparison, commercially produced "100% grape juice", made from table grapes is usually around 15% sugar by weight.^[7]

Seedless grapes[link]

Although grape seeds contain many nutrients, some consumers choose seedless grapes; seedless cultivars now make up the overwhelming majority of table grape plantings. Because grapevines are vegetatively propagated by cuttings, the lack of seeds does not present a problem for reproduction. It is an issue for breeders, who must either use a seeded variety as the female parent or rescue embryos early in development using tissue culture techniques.

There are several sources of the seedlessness trait, and essentially all commercial cultivators get it from one of three sources: Thompson Seedless, Russian Seedless, and Black Monukka, all being cultivars of Vitis vinifera. There are currently more than a dozen varieties of seedless grapes. Several, such as Einset Seedless, Benjamin Gunnels's Prime seedless grapes, Reliance and Venus, have been specifically cultivated for hardiness and quality in the relatively cold climates of northeastern United States and southern Ontario.^[8]

An offset to the improved eating quality of seedlessness is the loss of potential health benefits provided by the enriched phytochemical content of grape seeds (see Health claims, below).^[9][10]

Raisins, currants and sultanas[link]

Raisins

In most of Europe, dried grapes are referred to as "raisins" or the local equivalent. In the UK, three different varieties are recognized, forcing the EU to use the term "Dried vine fruit" in official documents.

A raisin is any dried grape. While raisin is a French loanword, the word in French refers to the fresh fruit; grappe (from which the English grape is derived) refers to the bunch (as in une grappe de raisins).

A currant is a dried Zante Black Corinth grape, the name being a corruption of the French raisin de Corinthe (Corinth grape). Currant has also come to refer to the blackcurrant and redcurrant, two berries unrelated to grapes.

A sultana was originally a raisin made from Sultana grapes of Turkish origin (known as Thompson Seedless in the United States), but the word is now applied to raisins made from either white grapes, or red grapes which are bleached to resemble the traditional sultana.

Health claims[link]

French Paradox[link]

Comparing diets among Western countries, researchers have discovered that although the French tend to eat higher levels of animal fat, the incidence of heart disease remains low in France. This phenomenon has been termed the French Paradox, and is thought to occur from protective benefits of regularly consuming red wine. Apart from potential benefits of alcohol itself, including reduced platelet aggregation and vasodilation,^[11] polyphenols (e.g., resveratrol) mainly in the grape skin provide other suspected health benefits, such as:^[12]

• Alteration of molecular mechanisms in blood vessels, reducing susceptibility to vascular damage
• Decreased activity of angiotensin, a systemic hormone causing blood vessel constriction that would elevate blood pressure
• Increased production of the vasodilator hormone, nitric oxide (endothelium-derived relaxing factor)

Although adoption of wine consumption is not recommended by some health authorities,^[13] a significant volume of research indicates moderate consumption, such as one glass of red wine a day for women and two for men, may confer health benefits.^[14][15][16] Emerging evidence is that wine polyphenols like resveratrol^[17] provide physiological benefit whereas alcohol itself may have protective effects on the cardiovascular system.^[18]

Resveratrol[link]

Grape phytochemicals such as resveratrol (a polyphenol antioxidant), have been positively linked to inhibiting any cancer, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, viral infections and mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease.^[19][20]

Protection of the genome through antioxidant actions may be a general function of resveratrol.^[21] In laboratory studies, resveratrol bears a significant transcriptional overlap with the beneficial effects of calorie restriction in heart, skeletal muscle and brain. Both dietary interventions inhibit gene expression associated with heart and skeletal muscle aging, and prevent age-related heart failure.^[22]

Resveratrol is the subject of several human clinical trials,^[23] among which the most advanced is a one year dietary regimen in a Phase III study of elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease.^[24]

Synthesized by many plants, resveratrol apparently serves antifungal and other defensive properties. Dietary resveratrol has been shown to modulate the metabolism of lipids and to inhibit oxidation of low-density lipoproteins and aggregation of platelets.^[25]

Resveratrol is found in wide amounts among grape varieties, primarily in their skins and seeds which, in muscadine grapes, have about one hundred times higher concentration than pulp.^[26] Fresh grape skin contains about 50 to 100 micrograms of resveratrol per gram.^[27]

Anthocyanins and other phenolics[link]

Grape cross-section

Anthocyanins tend to be the main polyphenolics in purple grapes whereas flavan-3-ols (i.e. catechins) are the more abundant phenolic in white varieties.^[28] Total phenolic content, a laboratory index of antioxidant strength, is higher in purple varieties due almost entirely to anthocyanin density in purple grape skin compared to absence of anthocyanins in white grape skin.^[28] It is these anthocyanins that are attracting the efforts of scientists to define their properties for human health.^[29] Phenolic content of grape skin varies with cultivar, soil composition, climate, geographic origin, and cultivation practices or exposure to diseases, such as fungal infections.

Red wine may offer health benefits more so than white because potentially beneficial compounds are present in grape skin, and only red wine is fermented with skins. The amount of fermentation time a wine spends in contact with grape skins is an important determinant of its resveratrol content.^[30] Ordinary non-muscadine red wine contains between 0.2 and 5.8 mg/L,^[31] depending on the grape variety, because it is fermented with the skins, allowing the wine to absorb the resveratrol. By contrast, a white wine contains lower phenolic contents because it is fermented after removal of skins.

Wines produced from muscadine grapes may contain more than 40 mg/L, an exceptional phenolic content.^[26][32] In muscadine skins, ellagic acid, myricetin, quercetin, kaempferol, and trans-resveratrol are major phenolics.^[33] Contrary to previous results, ellagic acid and not resveratrol is the major phenolic in muscadine grapes.

The flavonols syringetin, syringetin 3-O-galactoside, laricitrin and laricitrin 3-O-galactoside are also found in purple grape but absent in white grape.^[34]

Seed constituents[link]

Since the 1980s, biochemical and medical studies have demonstrated significant antioxidant properties of grape seed oligomeric proanthocyanidins.^[35] Together with tannins, polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids, these seed constituents display inhibitory activities against several experimental disease models, including cancer, heart failure and other disorders of oxidative stress.^[36][37]

Grape seed oil from crushed seeds is used in cosmeceuticals and skincare products for many perceived health benefits. Grape seed oil is notable for its high contents of tocopherols (vitamin E), phytosterols, and polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic acid, oleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid.^[38][39][40]

Concord grape juice[link]

Commercial juice products from Concord grapes have been applied in medical research studies, showing potential benefits against the onset stage of cancer,^[41] platelet aggregation and other risk factors of atherosclerosis,^[42] loss of physical performance and mental acuity during aging^[43] and hypertension in humans.^[44]

Grape toxicity in dogs[link]

Grapes can cause renal failure in dogs. See the main article on grape and raisin toxicity in dogs.

Religious significance[link]

In the Bible, grapes are first mentioned when Noah grows them on his farm (Genesis 9:20–21). Instructions concerning wine are given in the book of Proverbs and in the book of Isaiah, such as in Proverbs 20:1 and Isaiah 5:20–25. Deuteronomy 18:3–5,14:22-27,16:13-15 tell of the use of wine during Jewish feasts. Grapes were also significant to both the Greeks and Romans, and their God of agriculture, Dionysus, was linked to grapes and wine, being frequently portrayed with grape leaves on his head.^[45] Grapes are especially significant for Christians, who since the Early Church have used wine in their celebration of the Eucharist.^[46] Views on the significance of the wine vary between denominations. In Christian art, grapes often represent the blood of Christ, such as the grape leaves in Caravaggio’s John the Baptist.

Use in religion[link]

Grape juice, because of its non-alcoholic content, is commonly used by those Christians who oppose the partaking of alcoholic beverages, as the "cup" or "wine" in the Lord's Supper.^[47]

The Catholic Church uses wine in the celebration of the Eucharist because it is part of the tradition passed down through the ages starting with Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, where Catholics believe the consecrated bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Jesus Christ, a dogma known as transsubstantiation.^[48] Wine is used (not grape juice) both due to its strong Scriptural roots, and also to follow the Tradition set by the early Christian Church.^[49] The Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church (1983), Canon 924 says that the wine used must be natural, made from grapes of the vine, and not corrupt.^[50] In some circumstances, a priest may obtain special permission to use grape juice for the consecration, however this is extremely rare and typically requires sufficient impetus to warrant such a dispensation, such as personal health of the priest.

Although alcohol is permitted in Judaism, grape juice is sometimes used as an alternative for kiddush on Shabbat and Jewish holidays and it has the same blessing as wine. Many authorities maintain that grape juice must be capable of turning into wine naturally in order to be used for kiddush. Common practice, however, is to use any kosher grape juice for kiddush.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Grapes – flower buds

• 

  Grapes – flowers

• 

  Grape fruits in a tender stage

• 

  Vineyard in the Troodos Mountains

See also[link]

• Annual growth cycle of grapevines
• List of grape varieties
• Drakshasava

Sources[link]

Further reading[link]

• Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (pdf)
• Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation.
• Creasy, G.L. / Creasy, L.L. (2009). Grapes (Crop Production Science in Horticulture). CABI. ISBN 978-1-84593-401-9

External links[link]

Look up grape in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Grapes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Grapes

• Taxonomic listings for Vitis genus, US Department of Agriculture, Germplasm Resources Information Network
• safecrop.org, Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Grapevine Downy and Powdery Mildew]
• Nutrition information for grapes
• Botanical and Nutritional Information
• Information on virus diseases of wine grapes
• Viticulture on www.extension.org

Bessie Regina Norris,^[1] better known by her stage name, Betty Wright (born December 21, 1953),^[2] is a Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night". A pioneering singer-songwriter and entrepreneur, she remains one of the few black female musicians to have a gold record on her own vanity label. She possesses a four-octave vocal range and is adept at using the whistle register.^[3]

Early life and career[link]

Born Bessie Regina Norris on December 21, 1953, Wright was the youngest of seven children to Rosa Akins Braddy-Wright and her second husband, McArthur Norris. Wright began her professional career at the age of two when her siblings formed the gospel group, the Echoes of Joy.^[4] Wright contributed to vocals on the group's first album, released in 1956. Wright and her siblings performed together until the mid-1960s.

In 1965, following the group's break-up, 11-year-old Wright, who was already using the name Betty Wright, decided to switch musical styles from gospel to rhythm and blues, singing in local talent shows until being spotted by a local Miami record label owner, who signed her to her first label in 1966 at twelve. She released the singles, "Thank You Baby" and "Paralyzed", which found Wright local fame in Miami.

In 1967, the teen was responsible for discovering other local talents such as George and Gwen McCrae, helping them sign with Alston record label, part of Henry Stone's TK recording and distribution company. A year later, Wright released her debut album, My First Time Around, when she was still 14 and scored her first hit single with Judy White's "Girls Can't Do What Guys Do".^[4] While still in high school in 1970, Wright released the sensual "Pure Love" at the age of sixteen.

Breakthrough[link]

About a year later, Wright released her signature song, "Clean Up Woman", written by Clarence Reid and Willie Clarke when she was 17. The record reached number two on the R&B charts, where it stayed for eight weeks. It crossed over to the pop charts, peaking at number six and staying on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks.^[2] It eventually sold over a million copies and was certified gold on December 30, 1971,^[2] nine days before the singer turned 18. Wright struggled with a successful follow-up until 1972 when the single "Baby Sitter" (one of Wright's first compositions) reached the top 50 of the Hot 100 and peaked at number six on the R&B charts. Another hit that emerged during this early period was 1973's "Let Me Be Your Lovemaker", which peaked at number 55 on the Hot 100 and number 10 on the R&B chart, it was also the first instance (after "Baby Sitter") where Wright showed off her powerful whistle register vocals. Another successful composition was the proto-disco number, "Where Is the Love" (co-written by Wright, with producers, Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch, from KC & The Sunshine Band). This peaked at number 15 on the R&B chart, number-two on the dance charts and crossed over to the UK, peaking at #25, leading Wright to perform overseas. Wright later won the Best R&B Song Grammy Award for composing "Where Is the Love".^[4]

A second prominent overseas hit was another proto-disco number, "Shoorah! Shoorah!" Both songs appeared on one of Wright's most popular albums, Danger! High Voltage!, released in late 1974. It would be on this album that Wright would have her most successful composition, with the smooth soul ballad, "Tonight Is the Night", which Wright attributed to her first sexual experiences. The original version peaked at number 28 on the R&B chart. Four years later, Wright released a "live" version of the song. The remodeled version, which included a now-famous monologue and portions of Wright's 1970 hit, "Pure Love", peaked at number 11 on the R&B chart in 1978.

That same year, Wright also discovered the talents of musician Peter Brown and sang background on Brown's hits, "You Should Do It" and "Dance With Me" (where her vocals were prominently featured alongside Brown's). In 1978, she performed a duet with shock rocker Alice Cooper on the song "No Tricks" and a year later, opened for Bob Marley on the reggae star's Survival Tour. Wright's other albums at the end of the 1970s were less successful and by 1981, as TK began to struggle, she moved on to a bigger label, signing with Epic where her self-titled album was released.

The album was notable for the minor Stevie Wonder-composed hit, "What Are You Gonna Do With It". That same year, she contributed vocals on Richard "Dimples" Fields' Dimples album, especially on the hit, "She's Got Papers on Me", where she catches Fields singing out about another woman, verbally attacking him in the ending monologue. In 1983, the album Wright Back at You featured compositions by Marlon Jackson, of the Jackson Five. Four years later, Wright issued the album, Sevens.

In 1985, Wright formed her own label, Miss B Records. In 1988, Wright made history as the first black female artist to score a gold album on her label when the album, Mother Wit, was released. The album was notable for the hits, "No Pain, No Gain" and "After the Pain". Her 1994 album B-Attitudes featured a remixed duet of Marvin Gaye's "Distant Lover". Since then she has self-released several more recordings while still performing successfully as a live act. She had a hit duet with Grayson Hugh on the remake of Champaign's 1981 hit, "How 'Bout Us", and later arranged the harmonies for Gloria Estefan's "Coming Out of the Dark", which hit number-one in 1991. Wright took a break from recording following the releases of 1990's Passion & Compassion and 1994's B-Attitudes. In 2001, a compilation album, The Very Best of Betty Wright, was released, along with her first studio album for several years, Fit for a King. In 2008, Wright was featured on a Lil Wayne track titled "Playing With Fire" however, due to a lawsuit the song was removed from the album online.^[4]

In 2006, Wright appeared on the TV show Making the Band as a vocal coach, appointed by Sean Combs, for new female group Danity Kane. She now mentors several young singers and has done vocal production for such artists as Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez and Joss Stone. Along with co-producers Steve Greenberg and Michael Mangini, Wright was nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award in the "Best Pop Album" category for producing Joss Stone's Mind, Body & Soul LP.

Wright, Greenberg and Mangini also produced two tracks on Tom Jones's 2008 album 24 Hours: a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "The Hitter" and "More Than Memories", written by Stax legend Carla Thomas. The trio also produced the debut album by Diane Birch in 2009. In December 2010, Wright was given another Grammy Award nomination for the song, "Go", on the Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. In January 2011, it was announced that Wright would release her first album in ten years. The album Betty Wright: The Movie, credited to Betty Wright and The Roots, produced by Wright and Ahmir Questlove Thompson was released November 15, 2011 on Ms. B Records/S-Curve Records.^[5] Betty Wright: The Movie also included collaborations with Joss Stone, Snoop Dogg, Lil' Wayne and Lenny Williams. "Surrender", a track from the album, was nominated for a 2011 Grammy in the "Best Traditional R&B Perfromance" category. "Grapes on a Vine", another track from the album, was sung by Lola at first at her official site.

On New Year's Eve 2011, she appeared on BBC2 Television in the UK on the Jools's Annual Hootenanny show backed by the Jools Holland Rhythm & Blue Orchestra. She performed her singles "Clean Up Woman" and "Shoorah! Shoorah!" alongside "In the Middle of the Game (Don't Change the Play)" from Betty Wright: The Movie.

Legacy[link]

Several of Wright's works have been sampled over the years by hip hop, rock and R&B musicians. The riff from "Clean Up Woman" has been sampled constantly by acts such as Afrika Bambaattaa, SWV, Mary J. Blige and Sublime. Wright's first hit, "Girls Can't Do What Guys Do", was sampled for Beyoncé's "Upgrade U". Another hugely sampled song has been "Tonight Is the Night". The song was first sampled (in both the original studio and live versions) in 1990 by rapper Candyman, on his one-hit wonder, "Knockin' Boots". In 1992, Wright sued the producers behind Color Me Badd's breakthrough hit, "I Wanna Sex You Up", after claiming they used the sample of her live version without clearance and without permission, and sued for royalties. Wright won her case, winning 35 percent of royalties for writing the song.^[6] Other artists who sampled "Tonight is the Night" include DJ Quik, who sampled the song on his first released single, "Tonite". Her cover of the song, "Shoorah! Shoorah!", which she recorded in 1974, was used in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The song, which was written by Allen Toussaint and first recorded by Frankie Miller, also appears on the soundtrack to the second series of the UK Channel 4 comedy drama, No Angels. In 2002, RJD2 used a sample from Wright's 1974 hit "Secretary" in his most commercially successful track, "Ghostwriter". "Ghostwriter" has since gone on to be used in multiple advertisements and commercials.

Personal life[link]

On December 24, 2005, her 21-year-old son Patrick Parker was shot and killed after a dispute at a Christmas party in Opa-locka, a Miami suburb.^[7] Wright's mother Rosa passed away in September 2010 at the age of 85.^[1]

Wright currently resides in her hometown of Miami.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• My First Time Around (1968)
• I Love The Way You Love (1972)
• Hard To Stop (1973)
• Danger High Voltage (1974)
• Explosion! (1976)
• This Time For Real (1977)
• Live (1978)
• Travelin' In The Wright Circle (1979)
• Betty Wright (1981)
• Wright Back At You (1983)
• Sevens (1986)
• Mother Wit (1987)
• 4u2njoy (1989)
• Passion & Compassion (1990)
• B-Attitudes (1994)
• Fit for A King (2001)
• Betty Wright: The Movie - with The Roots (2011) ^[8]

Singles[link]

• 1966: "Thank You Baby"
• 1966: "Paralyzed"
• 1968: "Girls Can't Do What Guys Do" (#33 U.S., #15 R&B)
• 1970: "Pure Love" (#40 R&B)
• 1971: "Clean Up Woman" (#6 U.S., #2 R&B)
• 1972: "Baby Sitter" (#46 U.S., #6 R&B)
• 1972: "Is It You, Girl?" (#18 R&B)
• 1972: "I'm Gettin' Tired Baby" (#42 R&B)
• 1973: "It's Hard to Stop (Doing Something When It's Good to You)" (#72 U.S., #11 R&B)
• 1973: "Let Me Be Your Lovemaker" (#55 U.S., #10 R&B)
• 1973: "It's Bad for Me to See You" (#66 R&B)
• 1974: "Secretary" (#62 U.S., #12 R&B)
• 1975: "Where is the Love?" (#96 U.S., #15 R&B, #2 Disco, #2 Club Play, #25 UK)
• 1975: "Tonight is the Night" (#28 R&B)
• 1975: "Shoorah! Shoorah!" (#28 R&B, #27 UK)
• 1976: "Slip and Do It" (#21 R&B)
• 1976: "If I Ever Do Wrong" (#23 R&B)
• 1977: "Life" (#64 R&B)
• 1977: "You Can't See for Lookin'" (#73 R&B)
• 1978: "Dance With Me" (with Peter Brown) (#5 R&B, #8 pop)
• 1978: "Tonight is the Night, Pts. 1 & 2 (live)" (#11 R&B)
• 1979: "Lovin' Is Really My Game" (#68 R&B)
• 1979: "My Love Is" (#48 R&B)
• 1981: "What Are You Gonna Do With It?" (#42 R&B, #61 Dance)
• 1981: "Goodbye You Hello Him" (#65 R&B)
• 1983: "She's Older Now" (#22 R&B)
• 1986: "Pain" (#42 UK)
• 1988: "No Pain, No Gain" (#14 R&B)
• 1988: "After the Pain" (#57 R&B)
• 1989: "From Pain to Joy" (#39 R&B)
• 1989: "Quiet Storm" (#88 R&B)
• 1989: "Keep Love New" (#71 R&B)
• 1990: "How 'Bout Us" (with Grayson Hugh) (#30 R&B, #67 pop)
• 1994: "For Love Alone" (#98 R&B)
• 2007: "Baby" (with Angie Stone) (#22 R&B, #3 Dance)
• 2011: "Grapes on the vine (with Lil Wayne and The Roots)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Betty Wright at Allmusic
• Betty Wright on Myspace

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

Carlos Gracie
Born	(1902-09-14)September 14, 1902 Belém do Pará, Brazil
Died	October 7, 1994(1994-10-07) (aged 92) Petrópolis, Brazil
Style	Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo
Teacher(s)	Mitsuyo Maeda
Rank	10th degree red belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Carlos Gracie (September 14, 1902 – October 7, 1994) was the first Gracie to learn Judo from Otávio Mitsuyo Maeda. Based on this judo training, Carlos and his brothers founded the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was a member of the legendary Gracie family and was Hélio Gracie's oldest brother.

Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu[link]