Cassandra Wilson, the contralto who seamlessly blurred the boundaries of jazz, folk, pop, gospel, R&B, country, and other eclectic genres, passed away last Tuesday morning, Sept. 1.
Wilson passed away in her hometown of Jackson, Miss., where she was born on Dec. 5, 1955. Her manager, Robert Torry, announced her passing without details.
Jackson Mayor John Horhn delivered the following statement. “Jackson has lost an extraordinary native daughter, and the world has lost a singular musical voice,” Horhn said. “Cassandra Wilson carried the sound, spirit and history of Mississippi with her wherever her music reached.”
Born Cassandra Marie Fowlkes, she was nurtured by her a schoolteacher mother and a musician father, who guided her towards guitar and piano studies. She attended both Jackson State and Millsaps College ( from which she eventually earned a PhD in Arts) in that state, while honing her craft with various cover bands in the area.
Following in her mother’s footsteps, she embraced the salmon pink and apple green colors of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. By 1981, she moved to New Orleans briefly, before going to New York City, where she fell under the sway of Abbey Lincoln and Betty Carter for vocal phrasing.
“I learned a lot about taking a different path from Abbey, investing your lyrics with what your life is about in the moment,” she recalled.
This milieu paved the way for her maiden album release, 1985’s “Point Of View,” followed by “Blue Skies,” which reached number two on Billboard’s 1988 chart.
Over 30 years, she would release 17 albums, including her second Grammy Award for 2008’s “Loverly.” By 2022, her cumulative output earned her an NEA Jazz Master Fellowship.
“The muse comes to you through pianos, guitars, drums, sticks, stones, trees,” she said upon receiving the award.
“Trusting my intuition enough, and trusting my ears enough, to know, ‘OK, this is good. I like it. It feels good. It makes me feel good.’ So I know that when I sing it, it’s going to make other people feel good as well.”
Cassandra Wilson garnered numerous awards throughout her career, including Time magazine naming her “America’s Best Singer” in 2001.
She initially married radio personality Anthony Wilson, with whom she had a son, Jeris. She also took his surname professionally. She married a second time to César Award-winning actor Isaach De Bankolé from 2000 to 2003.
For more on this icon of American music, go to her website at https://www.cassandrawilson.com.
