Singer Overton Vertis "O.
V." Wright is generally regarded as
a blues artist by African-American fans in the Deep South; he is also regarded
as one of Southern soul's most authoritative and individual artists. Wright's
hits were much more popular in the deep South. Suffering from a lifelong drug
problem, Wright was jailed on narcotics offenses during the mid-1970s, and,
despite a new recording contract with Hi Records that led to a series of new
album releases, commercial success did not follow his release from
incarceration. Wright continued to battle drug addiction in the last years of
his life, and in 1980, he died from a heart attack in Mobile, Alabama, at the
age of 41
