Seattle Mourns The Passing of Seattle’s “First Lady Of Gospel” Pastor Patrinell “Pat” Wright

By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium

The greater Seattle community and people worldwide are mourning the death of Pastor Patrinell “Pat” Wright. Wright, who was the founder and director of the Total Experience Gospel Choir of Seattle, is well-known for her voice and the high-energy and stellar performances by the Total Experience Choir for over 50 years. The choir has sung in at least 38 states, 22 countries, and have performed for United States presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and made at least seven recordings of their own. In addition to singing behind Barry Manilow at KeyArena in 2015, and on the song “Save Me” on Dave Matthews’s CD Some Devil, the choir has appeared in television commercials and numerous radio programs.

Over the years, the choir has touched many lives, lifted voices in praise, and adopted and mentored many children along the way.

Wright was born in Carthage, Texas in 1944. Her father was a Baptist preacher and her mother a schoolteacher. She sang her first solo at the age of 3, and by her 14th birthday was directing two choirs in her father’s church. She graduated as valedictorian from Turner High School in Carthage, and later from Prairie View A&M University in Hempstead, Texas. 

In 1964, Wright moved to Seattle, where she met her husband, Ben Wright, at church. For Wright, who didn’t attend church on a weekly basis, the presence of Pat made him a more frequent visitor to the church pews.

“I was attending [church and] I saw this beautiful young lady walk by and at that moment I decided I was going to come back to church more often,” says Wright, with a chuckle. “I wasn’t a consistent church goer at the time but Pat’s faith and energy, well we got married in 1965 and I have been proud of the work she did especially with the Total Experience ever since.”

“Pat’s dedication to the church, her faith and the choir and making it into the success it was wasn’t an easy journey, she had a grand vision, but with my support she made it happen and changed the lives of so many,” continued Wright.

Wright began the Total Experience Gospel group in 1973 as a gospel music class at Seattle’s Franklin High School, combined with the Roosevelt High School youth choir, the director and the talented teens began performing and touring all across the country and eventually the world.

Stephanie Allen-Hodges, a college administrator in Atlanta, Georgia and former member of the Total Experience Gospel Choir, says that Pat Wright helped her discover her talent and was a positive influence on her life.

“In 1974, I had the opportunity to travel with the Total Experience Gospel Choir to Spokane, Washington for their performance at the World’s Fair/Expo,” recalled Allen-Hodge. “This opportunity was afforded to myself and my brother because our mother, Sharon Williams, was one of the first chaperones for the choir and instrumental in the formation of the choir by bringing students from Roosevelt High School to join the gospel choir at Franklin High School, which was under the direction of Mrs. Patrinell Wright.”

“For nine formal years I sang week in and week out in Seattle, outside of Seattle, in the state of Washington as well as outside of the United States,” Allen-Hodges continued. “Being a part of this singing aggregation opened my eyes to music ministry, and my own abilities. I was called and anointed to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through song and Pat’s leadership. My total experience changed my life forever and positively affected how I do ministry. It was under Pat’s leadership that my gift/talent was discovered and cultivated.”

Wright also had an extensive musical career of her own right, and since 1997 has been pastor of the Oneness Christian Center in Seattle, which she co-founded. During the 60s and 70s in the Seattle and surrounding region, Wright took gospel music to new heights. During that time there was a bit of a healthy competition between churches and their youth choirs as concerts and competitions were a constant form of religious expression and entertainment.

“We had a lot of competition in churches at that time,” Wright recalls. “[There were] a lot of youth choirs and every Sunday we’d go to different churches or some competition they were having and so that is how I got involved in the choir. Although I was not much of a singer myself, my job was to make sure everyone got to their destinations safely, as there was not a lot of transportation in those days.

“It was a long, hard journey at times, but she loved and enjoyed what she was doing and committed to,” added Wright.

In addition to her success in the local religious community, Wright also established herself as an influential member of the African American community. She was an ambassador that could unite people from different walks of life. Wright was also instrumental in KRIZ radio becoming a reality as she pushed the Bennett family to invest in a community-based radio station. As the station’s first gospel announcer, Wright utilized her civic responsibilities and religious faith to impact the lives of others. She later would use her connections and influence to impact the lives of others locally and nationally. Some of her notable achievements include her undying commitment to helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina, helping to relocate displaced families, lending a voice to Black contractors in King County as well as her commitment to the spiritual health and growth of our community’s young people.

“Pat Wright was the very first religious editor for the Seattle Medium and from that she became our very first gospel announcer that we had on the radio station, KRIZ,” says Chris H. Bennet, Founder of The Seattle Medium Newspaper and KRIZ/KYIZ radio stations. “She was already a well-known talent in the area and a former gospel announcer on a radio station that no longer existed. So, our purchase of a radio station was based on her saying that we needed a radio station and because I had a lot of success with the newspaper, she asked me to step to the plate and we bought KRIZ.”

There are many angels among us and Patrinell Wright seemed to be sent from the heavens with singing talent of arch angels. Her dedication to the well-being of her community’s children was evident in the amount of time she spent nurturing them and helping them develop their talent. Her faith powered her through the decades of sharing her gift and talent, and those gifts and talents transcended the way the Seattle community saw and embraced sharing the gospel of Christ through song.

“Starting the Total Experience Gospel choir, it was an amazing thing what she did with those young people,” said Bennett. “She went on to become an international icon with the Total Experience and locally was known as “The First Lady of Gospel.”

“Pat Wright was person you could not just describe,” added Bennett “I don’t think you can describe a person with such amazing talent as Patrinell Wright in a lifetime. She was just a very unique person and had a sense of things to do, she was just not a beautiful voice, a great musician, but she was also a committed community activist.”

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