Jazz Singer Cassandra Wilson Dies at 70 in Mississippi

Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy-winning jazz vocalist known for blending jazz with blues, folk, country, and pop, died on Tuesday morning at her home in Jackson, Mississippi. She was 70. The Hinds County coroner, Jeramiah Howard, confirmed her death to WLBT-TV but provided no further details. Wilson rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s with albums such as Point of View (1986), Blue Skies (1988), and New Moon Daughter (1995), the latter earning her a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. In 2009, she won a second Grammy for Loverly, an album of reinterpreted jazz standards. Her deep contralto voice and genre-defying approach made her one of the most influential jazz singers of her era.