All Photos: Alan Mercer Make-up & Hair: Rudy Calvo
Miss Spanky Wilson is an artist who is beyond categorization. Her recordings go wider than any one category. She has achieved a strong following, especially in Europe, where her funkier tracks have graced several compilation CDs.
Spanky was born in Philadelphia, but grew up in Pittsburgh. Her father was a professional guitarist and singer and he encouraged his daughter’s aspirations to be a singer, something she said she had always wanted to do for as long as she could remember. Her mother sang too.
Spanky always loved jazz, because her father loved jazz. Her mother liked blues, so she would hear the two but she really gravitated to the jazz. Spanky made her first professional performance in Pittsburgh with brothers and Pittsburgh natives, Stanley and Tommy Turrentine, respectively saxophonist and trumpeter in 1963, at a place called the Mocambo Club. Regular local club work followed through the sixties, culminating in her being ‘discovered’ in 1967 by Jimmy McGriff. He took her on the road with him, culminating in Los Angeles. It was there she came to the attention of H.B. Barnum who was becoming a noted producer/arranger.
The first result was the ‘Spankin’ Brand New’ album, recorded in Annex Studios in Hollywood. All eleven tracks on the album were written or co-written by Howlett Smith, a notable jazz pianist, vocalist and composer. Altogether a very classy set and bound to appeal to those who appreciate what best can be described as a ‘song stylist.’
A year later, Spanky was back with her second album, ‘Doin’ It’, a further collaboration with H.B. Barnum and a distinct move towards a straighter soul market. ‘Doin’ It’ boasted a number of funky items that have proved popular with the cd compilers including her version of Cream’s ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ and ‘You’, a heavy brass and fuzzy guitar item, that was sampled by Hip-Hop artist W. Ellington Felton in 2008. The intro to her song ‘Who's Sorry Now’ was sampled by the group Monosurround in 2002 and The Bahama Soul Club in 2013.
There was an enforced gap of two years before she could get back in the studios in California, again with H.B. Barnum, to cut her third album, ‘Let It Be’. All three of her Mothers albums have been reissued in Japan by P-Vine Records.
In 1970, Spanky recorded the theme from the film ‘Kelly’s Heroes’ and its composer, Lalo Schiffrin, recommended her for a tour of Brazil, where she was particularly feted in Rio De Janeiro, resulting in her returning regularly throughout the seventies.
Recording-wise, the next label home for Spanky was Eastbound Records. She recorded the single coupling ‘Shake Your Head’ and ‘Home’ before being switched to the parent Westbound label for her album, entitled ‘Specialty Of The House’. ACE Records reissued the ‘Specialty Of The House’ album with seven bonus tracks in 2007 called 'The Westbound Years.'
From that mid-seventies point, Spanky’s recordings became somewhat sporadic, guest appearances coming on albums, but this did not mean there was any let up in her performing career. In the early eighties, she became part of Benny Carter’s All Star Band, having worked with Benny before with his Quartet on one of her Brazilian trips.
She went to Paris in 1985. A booking at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club at Le Méridien Etoile hotel in the city led to further work which prompted her to make Paris her home for a while. Spanky made many appearances on record in France.
Spanky returned to Los Angeles in 2001. She is one of the most frequently sampled artists of our time. It’s unfortunate that none of these artists whose music is sampled make a penny from that.
Spanky Wilson went to Paris in 2003 to record a live album with the François Laudet Big Band. She has also subsequently been hot on the club scene with ‘Don’t Joke with a Hungry Man’ by the Quantic Soul Orchestra featuring Spanky Wilson.
In 2012 Spanky collaborated with Ruckrus Robticus for the cut, “T.G.I.F. (thank God It's Funky).’
AM: Spanky, how does it feel to be back in Los Angeles after 6 years in Pittsburg?
SW: I felt like I was living in the Outer Limits or the Twilight Zone! (Laughter) It feels good to be back in the land of sunshine! I’m from Pittsburg but I’m never leaving California again.
AM: You lived in Paris for a while too didn’t you?
SP: Yes I called Paris home for sixteen years.
AM: What was your favorite part of living in Paris?
SW: The city itself. In California you have to drive everywhere but in Paris you can walk to so many things and I wasn’t used to that. There are so many beautiful things to see in the city itself. I remember walking for three hours and never even realizing it. You can feel so many things too. It’s fabulous and I love that city.
AM: They love your music too!
SW: Well, thank goodness for that! (Laughter)
AM: When was the last time you were there?
SW: In 2007 while I was on tour with an English band, Quantic Soul Orchestra, that does retro R&B. I didn’t know I could sing in that style but I learned that is some other kind of music I CAN sing. Anyway we stopped in Paris and I got to see friends and my ex-husband.
AM: You are known as an artist who is difficult to categorize.
SW: Thank goodness for that! Thank you for saying that. I don’t like being in a box. I love all kinds of music. I only sing songs that I feel. How can I make you feel it if I don’t feel it?
AM: How does it feel having your early recordings come back to life and find a new audience?
SW: It feels wonderful. I think it’s because of the London band. My music never was originally released in England. Only two songs made it to England and one is called ‘You’ written by Howlett Smith and the Cream song, ‘Sunshine of Your Love.’ So this guy in England, Will Holland looked for me for two years. I couldn’t believe it. I was so glad he found me. He looked for two years because he wanted me to sing on the songs he wrote. That’s what put me back out there. I started getting attention again.
AM: I love the recordings you made with Westbound. What’s your favorite of those?
SW: Oh really! My favorite is the song called ‘Home’ that Howlett Smith wrote again. It’s such a beautiful, sentimental song. It can bring me to tears just listening to it.
AM: I love the album you made with the Quantic Soul Orchestra.
SW: That’s what I was telling you, Will Holland wrote those songs and he doesn’t even know music. They have these computers where all you do is play the note on the piano and it comes up on the computer. It’s so much easier now. He created all these songs and they are all really good songs.
AM: It seems like the music was written especially for you since you were so good and natural at singing it.
SW: I never thought of it that way. He told me he can only hear my voice singing the songs. I couldn’t believe it. I thought nobody knew about me. It was such a compliment. I was happy about the whole thing.
AM: And now you’re back to performing and from what I hear you are still phenomenal.
SW: I performed at the LACMA museum in Los Angeles. It was great to see lots of old friends. It was a beautiful concert. It was completely full too. Now I am going to perform at Maverick's Flat, a legendary club in Los Angeles from the 1960’s. They are now doing a jazz series on Sunday evenings. I’ll be doing that on August 7. I got a big smile on my face.
AM: You like performing live don’t you?
SW: Oh I love it. It’s about connecting. I like the eye contact with people. I still get nervous before I sing. Once I’m up on stage I am OK.
AM: Spanky, you told me once you wanted to sound like a horn when you sang. Is that still true?
SW: Yes, the only singers I used to listen to were Nat King Cole and Dinah Washington. I don’t have many records of singers. I prefer listening to horn players. It had an impact on me because I’ve had some musicians tell me I sing like a horn and I think it’s because I only listened to horns. That was a compliment to me!
