Cassandra Wilson, the two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz singer, songwriter, and producer, has died at the age of 70. She passed away on Tuesday morning at her home in Jackson, Mississippi, according to the Hinds County coroner, Jeramiah Howard. Her manager confirmed the news in a statement to the jazz radio station WBGO, saying, “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy Award-winning and legendary jazz artist. Cassandra Wilson transitioned peacefully at home, surrounded by family, close friends, and her manager.”
A Voice Rooted in the South
Born and raised in Jackson to musician Herman B Fowlkes and teacher Mary Fowlkes, Wilson developed an early passion for music, listening to Motown, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk. She began piano lessons at age six, played clarinet in marching bands, and performed at coffeehouses and in cover bands while studying at Millsaps College and Jackson State University. In the early 1980s, she mentored under jazz greats in New Orleans before moving to New York City, where she joined Steve Coleman’s M-Base Collective and eventually became its main vocalist.
Wilson’s idiosyncratic contralto, a soulful sound tied to her Mississippi roots, earned her widespread acclaim. Time magazine dubbed her “America’s best singer” in 2001. Her genre-bending voice expanded the boundaries of traditional blues-based jazz, working effortlessly across folk, pop, R&B, and country.
Career Highlights and Honors
Wilson’s career included four Grammy nominations and two wins for best jazz vocal album: in 1997 for New Moon Daughter and in 2009 for Loverly. In 2015, she gave a special concert at the Apollo Theater to commemorate the 100th birthday of Billie Holiday, the legendary jazz vocalist. That same year, she released her last album, Coming Forth by Day, a homage to Holiday.
In 2022, Wilson was named a National Endowment for the Arts jazz master, one of the highest honors for jazz musicians in the United States.
Tributes from Fellow Musicians and Officials
Jon Batiste, in a eulogy on Wednesday, said Wilson “sounded like the south.” He also paid tribute on Instagram, writing, “She had an unmistakable vocal tone, phrasing and her approach of weaving folkloric, R+B and diasporic music together with experimental and popular genres had a major impact on me.” Batiste added, “Her Mississippi heritage was always present in everything no matter how expansive her artistry evolved. She was one of the first people to take me on tour around the world, the great Cassandra Wilson.”
Jackson’s mayor, John Horhn, said the city “has lost an extraordinary native daughter, and the world has lost a singular musical voice.” In a statement shared with WJTV, Horhn added, “Cassandra Wilson carried the sound, spirit and history of Mississippi with her wherever her music reached. Her work had rare depth of character and a profound understanding of how music moves people, tells stories and connects generations.”
