Producer, songwriter, and arranger Dexter Wansel died May 31st at the age of 75. Wansel was one of the creators of the storied Philly Soul sound during the ’70s. He was a keyboard player for groups MFSB, Instant Funk, and Yellow Sunshine before he signed with Philadelphia International Records as an in-house producer/arranger/songwriter. As a solo artist, his Life On Mars album is a cosmic masterpiece that helped innovate the jazz-fusion sound and laid the groundwork for the sophisticated R&B that followed.
Wansel formed a songwriting partnership with Cynthia Biggs, and together with Kenneth Gamble, they wrote a collection of R&B hits, including “If Only You Knew” for Patti LaBelle, “Nights Over Egypt” for The Jones Girls, “Living All Alone” for Phyllis Hyman, and more. UK R&B group Loose Ends made his “Sweetest Pain” composition popular. The Jacksons, Jean Carne, and Lou Rawls were some of the many legendary artists Wansel produced, and The Story of the Flight Crew to Mars, released in 2021, was his last album.
Noted R&B producer Andrew “Pop” Wansel is his son, and in the official death announcement, he shared how much his father truly enjoyed being sampled by younger generations. To that end, Wansel’s foundational track “Theme From The Planets” has been sampled over 300 times by hip-hop royalty, including Eric B. & Rakim, DJ Premier, and many others.
