Cassandra Wilson (née Fowlkes; December 4, 1955 – September 1 or 2, 2026) was a celebrated American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi, hailed as one of the most successful female jazz vocalists of her era. Critic Gary Giddins praised her "unmistakable timbre," and her ability to blend blues, country, and folk into jazz earned her two Grammy Awards and Time magazine's "America's Best Singer" title in 2001. Raised by a jazz-guitarist father and a Motown-loving mother, she began with classical piano and clarinet lessons before teaching herself guitar from Mel Bay method books, and later earned a PhD in Arts from Millsaps College in 2007. After a brief stint at a New Orleans TV station, she moved to New York City in 1982, where mentors like Abbey Lincoln and Betty Carter sharpened her improvisational skills. In the late 1980s, she became a founding vocalist of the M-Base collective, led by Steve Coleman, which re-imagined 1970s funk and soul with avant-garde jazz rhythms—a sound that The New York Times described as familiar yet strikingly new. Through this innovative fusion, Wilson left an indelible mark on modern jazz, expanding its boundaries well beyond traditional repertoire.