LuvLatins
May 9th, 2009, 02:52 PM
The Music Lives On and the world have lost another legend. We are profoundly saddened to learn of the loss of Ms. Viola Wills.
As a tribute to her, you may click on the Launch Player button at the top of this page to hear some of her great contributions.
Farewell sweet lady and may you always Rest In Peace. Thank you creating such beautiful music and sharing it with all of us. We will always remember you fondly. Unlike the lyrics in one of your great songs, None of Us are Gonna Get Along Without You Now !
Born Viola Mae Wilkerson in the Watts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts,_Los_Angeles,_California) district of South Los Angeles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Los_Angeles), Wills was married and the mother of six children when, in 1965, she was discovered by Barry White (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_White) who signed her to Bronco Records and rechristened her with the shorter stage surname (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_name) of Wills.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Wills#cite_note-3). She started her career at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Conservatory_of_Music) and, over the following years, in addition to working with White, also performed with Joe Cocker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Cocker), Smokey Robinson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_Robinson) and many other established recording artists of the era. It was while working in London (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London) as one of Cocker's backing vocalists (dubbed the "Sanctified Sisters") that she worked on and released her solo debut album (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album) of self-penned originals titled Soft Centers, backed by Cocker's session players.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Wills#cite_note-Viola-4)
I hope each of you will say something about her or her music in this thread.
As a tribute to her, you may click on the Launch Player button at the top of this page to hear some of her great contributions.
Farewell sweet lady and may you always Rest In Peace. Thank you creating such beautiful music and sharing it with all of us. We will always remember you fondly. Unlike the lyrics in one of your great songs, None of Us are Gonna Get Along Without You Now !
Born Viola Mae Wilkerson in the Watts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts,_Los_Angeles,_California) district of South Los Angeles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Los_Angeles), Wills was married and the mother of six children when, in 1965, she was discovered by Barry White (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_White) who signed her to Bronco Records and rechristened her with the shorter stage surname (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_name) of Wills.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Wills#cite_note-3). She started her career at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Conservatory_of_Music) and, over the following years, in addition to working with White, also performed with Joe Cocker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Cocker), Smokey Robinson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_Robinson) and many other established recording artists of the era. It was while working in London (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London) as one of Cocker's backing vocalists (dubbed the "Sanctified Sisters") that she worked on and released her solo debut album (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album) of self-penned originals titled Soft Centers, backed by Cocker's session players.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Wills#cite_note-Viola-4)
I hope each of you will say something about her or her music in this thread.