A Philadelphia jazz, jazz fusion, soul, and R&B legend whose work was sampled by a plethora of notable recording artists has passed away at the age of 75.
Keyboardist, composer, and producer Dexter Wansel was born on August 22, 1950. He passed away on the morning of May 31. As a bona fide pioneer of fusing synthesized sounds with jazz, funk, and soul, his death is genuinely a huge loss to the world of music.
Prominent stars who have sampled Wansel’s work include Drake, Kanye West, Lil Kim, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Trey Songz, Lil Wayne, LL Cool J, and Rick Ross (per Who Sampled).
According to Soul Tracks in a report from March this year, Wansel had been experiencing health problems and was ailing at that time.
His son, the Grammy-nominated music producer and songwriter Andrew “Pop” Wansel, confirmed the sad news of his passing on social media.
Dexter Wansel ‘Loved EVERYONE’
Andrew “Pop” Wansel took to his Instagram account to share the sad news of his father’s passing with his 20,400 followers.
“Pop,” 38, uploaded three photographs of his father during his younger days. Two of the pictures depicted him in space (Wansel was known for his space-funk album, (Life on Mars”).
He captioned the post, “The space man finally made it to Mars early yesterday morning, May 31st, 2026.”
His caption continued, “He put up one hell of a fight for 17 long years and is now able to rest. This guy loved EVERYONE and he taught me to do the same. I love you all! KEEP SAMPLING HIS MUSIC! He absolutely loved that! 🔭🪐🚀🛸.”
The caption concluded, “(please respect the privacy of my mama and my family at this time.)”
The post’s settings don’t allow comments. However, Ariana Grande is among the stars to have acknowledged it by dropping a like.
Wansel Won a Grammy Award
Per BlackHistoryMonth.org.uk, Dexter Wansel was a Grammy Award-winning artist (he produced the Grammy-winning 1977 Lou Rawls album “Unmistakably,” for example).
In terms of record labels, Wansel had been signed to the likes of Philadelphia International and Digital Jukebox.
He worked with a string of major artists across various genres. They included The O’Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, Cynthia Biggs, Instant Funk, MFSB, Bunny Sigler, T. Life, Vinnie Barrett and Kenneth Gamble in various capacities. Those capacities included writing, producing, arranging, synthesizing, and playing keyboards, for instance, which really highlights his vast talent.
Some of his most famous records include 1976’s aforementioned “Life On Mars,” 1977’s “What the World Is Coming to,” 1978’s “Voyager,” and 1979’s “Time Is Slipping Away.”
Moreover, his influence spread throughout the world. Jay Kay of the English acid jazz and funk band Jamiroquai cited Wansel as a huge inspiration. Jamiroquai included Wansel’s 1979 track “I’ll Never Forget (My Favorite Disco)” in a curated list of their favorite tracks for the compilation series “Late Night Tales.”
We’d like to send our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Dexter Wansel at this terribly upsetting time. May he rest in eternal peace.
Dexter Wansel’s discography info was courtesy of Discogs.
