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Obituary

The Pier was guitarist's stage

By JON WILSON
Published January 31, 2007

Elmer Wright, the gravel-voiced street musician who sang and played gospel music at the Pier for more than 60 years, died Saturday at age 92 after a short illness.

Mr. Wright broke a hip in September and recently developed pneumonia, said Terri Wright, his wife.

"He slipped peacefully away," she said.

Clad in his trademark feathered cowboy hat, strumming an electric guitar through a single-speaker amplifier, Mr. Wright handed out tape recordings of his music, bantered with strollers and sprinkled his songs with words about the Lord. He did it for free, three days a week, starting in 1939.

To those who stopped and talked, Mr. Wright often said his repertoire included more than 200 songs he had written.

"He was a strong Christian," said Mrs. Wright. "He was my hero. The only hero I've ever had."

Mr. Wright was the only street musician allowed to play at the Pier, a Pier official told the Times in 2001, because he was considered "a fixture of St. Petersburg, just like the green benches."

Born in Sadieville, Ky., to a sharecropping family, Mr. Wright and his brothers and sisters worked on other people's farms. When he was 16, he bought an old guitar after selling opossum hides for $2.50, Mr. Wright told Times reporter Lane DeGregory six years ago.

He gave away hundreds of his tapes and never asked for donations, but kept his guitar case open in case passers-by cared to throw in change or small-denomination bills. He eventually sold about 400 CDs.

A painter whose red, white and blue station wagon also was a familiar sight until about a year ago when he quit driving, Mr. Wright was a familiar figure at such downtown spots at the Bank of America and Jo Jo's in Citta, a restaurant in the bank building.

His apartment on Third Avenue S burned in 2004, and friends rallied to help him.

A memorial is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at First United Methodist Church, 212 Third St. N, just a few blocks from Mr. Wright's spot on the Pier.

When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder is among the songs Mrs. Wright said she hopes will be included. Mr. Wright was singing it during his last days in the hospital.

Information from Times files was used in this report.

[Last modified January 31, 2007, 07:53:15]