Grammy Award-winning American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson has died at the age of 70, ending a career that helped redefine contemporary jazz and earned her international acclaim.
Wilson passed away peacefully at her home in Jackson, Mississippi, on Wednesday, her manager, Robert Torre, confirmed.
In a statement, Torre said the singer was surrounded by family, close friends and her manager in her final moments.
No cause of death was disclosed, while Wilson’s family and close friends requested privacy.
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Renowned for her deep, expressive contralto voice and distinctive musical style, Wilson enjoyed a career spanning more than three decades and became one of the most influential figures in modern jazz.
She won two Grammy Awards: Best Jazz Vocal Performance in 1997 for New Moon Daughter and Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2009 for Loverly.
Beyond her solo recordings, Wilson was widely recognised for blending jazz with blues, R&B, folk traditions and other musical influences.
She also played a leading role in Wynton Marsalis’ Blood on the Fields, a 1997 jazz oratorio that became the first jazz work to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Throughout her career, Wilson collaborated with leading musicians, including saxophonists Steve Coleman and Greg Osby, as well as hip-hop group The Roots.
Tributes poured in following the announcement of her death, with musicians and admirers celebrating her artistic contributions and enduring influence on contemporary music.
Musician Jon Batiste described Wilson as a major influence, praising her unmistakable voice and her ability to weave together folkloric, R&B and diasporic traditions with experimental and popular music.
“She sounded like the South,” Batiste wrote in his tribute
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