Born in Philadelphia, PA, soul singer
Spanky Wilson (a nickname she received as a child due to the spankings her father gave her when she behaved badly) joined the scene in the late '60s with big-band recordings, moving to Paris in 1985 to continue her career there. With collaborations with the like of
the Duke Ellington Orchestra,
Lalo Schifrin,
Marvin Gaye,
Willie Bobo, and
Sammy Davis, Jr., along with her own solo work,
Wilson became a DJ favorite all over the world, including in England, where musician and producer
Will Holland (
Quantic,
Quantic Soul Orchestra) spent many years searching for her (she had moved to Los Angeles in 2000). In 2004
Holland finally found
Wilson, and they worked together on two songs for
Quantic's record,
Mishaps Happening, leading to a full-length
Wilson and
QSO album, I'm Thankful, which came out in 2006 on Ubiquity. ~ Marisa Brown