When Sandra Wright moved to Vermont in 1992, bandmate Dave Nerbak said she was something special.

"She was the real deal out of the South and we don't get a lot of that here in Vermont," Nerbak said of the prolific blues singer. "It was a real novelty in the early days and people would flock to see her."

Wright, who headlined countless shows, benefit concerts and music festivals in Vermont in the last two decades, died Monday at the age of 61. Friends said she died of natural causes.

"Everyone's pretty shaken up," said Linda Bassick, a friend. "I guess she's been sick for a while, but when you learn you're not going to hear her voice anymore, it's really sad. She was a pretty wonderful person with a tremendous voice and presence on stage."

Born in Memphis, Tenn., Wright described growing up around gospel music in a 2003 interview with British music magazine In the Basement. Her aunts and cousins sang, and one cousin achieved fame as blues singer Memphis Slim. She saw W.C. Handy, Ma Rainey and Sam Cooke at an early age.

Wright sang in a gospel choir and studied opera in college. She recorded and toured with R&B acts starting in the 1960s and became part of the Nashville music scene. She recorded a solo album, "Wounded Woman," in 1974.

Nerbak said she toured with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown before forming the Sandra Wright Band, which toured up and down the East Coast before settling in Ludlow in 1992.

"I think it was that it was a pretty landscape and there were an awful lot of nice people who welcomed her with open arms," he said.

Nerbak said it was also easier to earn a living as a musician in Vermont than in the South.

"A lot of times, a band like us would play for tips down there," he said. "Sometimes you'd do well, sometimes you'd make nothing."

A 25-year veteran of the Burlington music scene, Nerbak said he started working with Wright about nine years ago.

"She sang a song so well you could almost hear the chord changes from her voice," the guitarist said. "As a new person to the group, she always made it easy for me to find my part."

Working with Wright, Nerbak said he learned to play R&B with a "condensed orchestra."

"Old Motown stuff usually had horns, sometimes strings, various keyboards," he said. "I learned how to re-create those styles with a four- or five-piece band behind a singer. I learned how to play those styles better than I ever had before."

Diana Winn Levine, owner of Rebop Records, said she met Wright in 1997. Levine was about to do a "Motown for kids" album and went to see Wright with a friend because she'd heard Wright would be perfect for the project.

"She's been on albums of mine pretty much ever since," Levine said. "She was so great at improvising. We did this song, 'Riding with a Sibling' — she started improvising as if she was driving the car and the kids were in the backseat fighting. It was hilarious."

People described Wright's voice as having both great power and great range.

"I've heard her sing Zeppelin, sing Robert Plant," friend Mark Andrade said. "Then again, she could do 'Love me with a Feeling' and make Clarence Carter sound like he was just starting out in a bar. When she was on a stage, she owned it. She owned any song."

Andrade said he first saw Wright perform in Italy when he was stationed there in the Army. Later, when he moved to Ludlow, he saw her playing there and couldn't believe it was her.

"I said, 'That sounds like Sandra Wright,'" he said. "The guy next to me said, 'That is Sandra Wright.' I said 'Get out of here.'"

Not only was it her, but it turned out she lived down the road from him.

"She'd sit on the porch with you, drink lemonade and talk about the blues all day long," he said. "She wasn't stand-offish with anyone."

Andrade also said she was generous.

"She never said no and she had a heart of gold," he said. "If you were ever doing a fundraiser — she did fundraisers for Locks of Love, the Cavendish Library. She'd do a fundraiser for anybody."

Wright would go to open mic nights, Andrade said, and give younger singers tips.

"You could go into any blues bar and jazz bar around here and people will tell you they knew Sandra Wright," he said. "She'd sit down and talk to guys in bands, give them clues. … If somebody stank she'd find something good, just so she wouldn't hurt their feelings."

Wright's final show was with former members of the Unknown Blues Band as part of Burlington's First Night.

"I hear it was a nice show and she was in really good spirits," said Nerbak, who had another gig that night. "I hear the people were screaming for her the whole time."

His last show with her was on Merchants Row in Rutland in August. The Sandra Wright Band had slowed down its previously packed schedule due to her health.

Nerbak said Wright had a type of diabetes that affected the circulation in her legs and made her prone to infections, though he was not sure what role that might have played in her death. On top of that, he said she had bad knees, something she got surgery for last year.

"After struggling this summer — some nights she was really on, some nights she wasn't — she was really on that night," he said of the Rutland show. "The streets were packed. We went home feeling really good about it."

The word "unique" came up over and over again in descriptions of Wright.

"There's no one like her in Vermont," Bassick said. "Not one other person in Vermont could pretend to be like Sandra. … Her eyes would light up and she'd belt something out without even moving her body. You'd be moved. She'd blow you away."

gordon.dritschilo@rutlandherald.com