Cassandra Wilson, singer, songwriter, producer and winner of two Grammy Awards, has died at the age of 70. “Cassandra departed peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, close friends and her manager,” her representative told jazz radio station WBGO.
In 2001, Wilson was dubbed “America’s greatest singer” by TIME magazine and is considered a key figure capable of expanding and blurring the boundaries of traditional jazz, freely exploring genres such as pop, R&B, folk and country.
In the same TIME article, journalist Stanley Crouch stated that there was no “purer, more authentic female force” in American music at the time. In fact, Crouch placed Wilson ahead of all jazz singers in history, “except for the gigantic Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Betty Carter.”
The artist formed in the early ’80s in New Orleans, before moving to New York to become the new lead vocalist of the M-Base collective. Her voice was key to Wilson receiving four Grammy nominations, of which she won two: Best Jazz Vocal Album for ‘New Moon Daughter’ (1997) and ‘Loverly’ (2009).
His last album, ‘Coming Forth by Day’, was a tribute to Billie Holiday, to whom he also dedicated a concert at the Apolo theater in New York.
