Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson ((neé Fowlkes) (born in Jackson, Mississippi, on 4 December 1955; died 1 September 2026) was an American jazz vocalist remembered as one of the most successful female jazz singers. She won numerous awards, including twice being a Grammy Award winner. Two of her albums, Blue Skies (1988) and New Moon Daughter (1996), topped the US jazz charts, and the latter also won her a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance in 1997. In 2008, Wilson's album Loverly won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009. She was named "America's Best Singer" by Time magazine in 2001.

Wilson's repertoire included both jazz and blues standards and renditions of pop and rock songs. Her contralto voice was described as bluesy and sultry, and the style of her music ranged from swing to funk to bossa nova. Many of the songs she covered were by artists who usually record in other genres.

Wilson counted the late Miles Davis as one of her greatest influences. In 1989 she performed as the opening act for Davis at the JVC Jazz Festival in Chicago. In 1999 she produced Traveling Miles as a tribute to Davis. The album developed from a series of jazz concerts that she performed at Lincoln Center in November 1997 in Davis's honor and includes three selections based on Davis's own compositions, in which Wilson adapted the original themes.

A Brief Discography: Point of View (1986, JMT) Days Aweigh (1987, JMT) Blue Skies (1988, JMT) Jumpworld (1989, JMT) She Who Weeps (1990, JMT) Live (1991, JMT) After the Beginning Again (1992, JMT) Dance to the Drums Again (1992, DIW/Columbia) Blue Light 'til Dawn (1993, Blue Note) New Moon Daughter (1995, Blue Note) Rendezvous (with Jacky Terrasson) (1998, Blue Note) Traveling Miles (1999, Blue Note) Belly of the Sun (2002, Blue Note) Glamoured (2003, Blue Note) Thunderbird (2006, Blue Note) Loverly (2008, Blue Note) Silver Pony (2010, Blue Note) Another Country (2012, eOne)

Official website: www.cassandrawilson.com