By Dee Dee McNeil
When I think of Spanky Wilson, I think of someone who can swing a song as hard as Muhammad Ali punches. But she can also vocally caress a lyric with so much emotion that it stuns an audience into absolute silence. Her musical legacy stretches over a period of six decades, because her very first recording was made when she was only four-years-old. But I’ll let her tell you that story.
SPANKY: “My father played guitar and sang. He sounded just like Nat King Cole. My mother told me I used to hear Nat King Cole on the radio and I used to point and say, ‘Daddy. Daddy.’ He had that smooth, soft voice like Nat Cole. He was in a group called The Four Blotches. I used to tease him and say, no wonder you all never made it with that name. He used to say, well, it wasn’t my idea baby. He said they chose that name because of the Ink Spots. They all played guitar and sang. No piano or drums. My mother loved him ‘cause he was a real handsome guy. She was from Lewistown, Pennsylvania and daddy was performing in Lewistown. Daddy was there to entertain the troops and mom went to one of those dances and that’s how they met. After they got married, she started getting jealous, because all those ladies were flirting and fanning their you-know-whats in front of him. So, she wanted him to quit singing. I told him, daddy, I don’t know if I could ever give up singing for anybody. But he gave it up, and started working on the docks in Philadelphia. He really loved my mom. He would come home from work and we’d sit on the steps in the evening. He’d teach me all these songs. Just me and him and his guitar. I was three or four-years-old.
“I keep telling’ people this, but they don’t believe me. Back in Philadelphia, you used to be able to go into a music store where you could buy the sheet music and 78rpm records. You could go in there and they would have booths and the walls were glass. You could make a record of your own for a certain amount of money. It was a 78 rpm and you could do two songs; one on each side. You paid them and you would leave with the record. I asked daddy, after I started singing and moving around, what happened to that record we made when I was four years old? ‘Cause I remember the song was ‘Knock Me A Kiss.’ The other song was Without a Song.”
NOTE: In 1942 Erskine Hawkins had a 78rpm record out with vocals by Ida James of this song, “Knock Me A Kiss”.
SPANKY: “Oh, I was the daddy’s little girl and my brother was mama’s boy. Daddy’s the one who gave me the name Spanky, ‘cause my real name is Louella you know, like Louella Parsons, the journalist from back-in-the-day. Remember her? She used to write a gossip column. I asked my mother, why would you do that to me? You couldn’t even find that name in the baby book. I was always getting into trouble. I was a tomboy. So, he named me Spanky, after that television show, ‘Spanky and Our Gang.’ “
Several amazing entertainers were born and raised in Pittsburgh like Billy Eckstine, Paul Chambers, Kenny Clark, Earl ‘Father’ Hines, Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Williams, Erroll Garner and Ahmad Jamal. Spanky Wilson, although a native of Philadelphia, was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania around all that great jazz. As a teenager, she gained notoriety singing around town. Although she loved to sing, she was still shy and insecure about performing on stage. But the local musicians took note. They recognized her blossoming talent and unique voice. That’s how Stanley Turrentine heard about her.
SPANKY: “Stanley Turrentine gave me my first gig. It was on the weekend, Friday and Saturday. The musicians around town knew I could sing, but I was always scared to sing. So, he was looking for a singer and somebody recommended me. When he got in touch, I couldn’t believe it. We played at a famous club on Fulton Street. That was a very popular street in the heart of the black community. It was 1957 and I was seventeen. I remember very well, because Angie (my daughter) was born in 1958. Every time I’d leave my husband, we’d break up and then I’d sneak off with him and make-up. Next thing I know, I’m pregnant and I end up going back to him. I have four children. My last daughter is by my second husband who plays guitar.”
But settling down and being a homemaker was not in the cards for Spanky Wilson. The music bug had bitten deeply. She was hungry for pursuing a singing career. In 1967, she joined the Jimmy McGriff band. They piled into a car and drove across the country, gigging from city to city. After a six-week tour, it was June of 1967 when they rolled into Los Angeles.
SPANKY: “We were at Shelly’s Manne Hole. H. B. Barnum heard me there and expressed an interest in my talent. After the gig, I left and went back home, thinking I would never hear from this guy again. In September of that year, he called me and said he was ready for me to come back to California and record. I couldn’t believe it. So, he sent for me and I came out here to make a record. I was supposed to be out here no more than two months. So that’s when I went to Smitty’s house.”
Note: Smitty is Howlett Smith. He was a prolific L.A. based composer who wrote hit songs for both Spanky and Nancy Wilson. His ‘Let’s Go Where The Grass Is Greener,” was recorded by Nancy Wilson.
SPANKY: “I went to Smitty’s house every day to learn all the songs he had written for me. I went there for five weeks studying songs and then H.B. would choose the ones he liked the best for our session. Meantime, he started getting me these background gigs with O.C. Smith, Lou Rawls, and the great African singer, Letta Mbulu. I kept saying, hey, I wanna go home. I mean I have children. I want to see my kids. So now it’s the end of November, almost Christmas. I said either you send for my kids or I’m leaving. So, he ended up getting me a nice house in West Covina. I didn’t want to live in the city because they had more decent schools in Covina. I moved here in 1967, brought my kids out to California and re-established myself. I was just giggin’ around town, but I was happy doing that.”
The move to Los Angeles proved lucrative. H. B. Barnum’s production garnered Spanky Wilson an unforgettable jazz record in 1969. Howlett Smith’s hauntingly beautiful song, “The Last Day of Summer” went soaring up the music charts. Jazz stations all across the country were playing it like crazy. It was followed by an album on the same Mothers Records & The Snarf Company label titled, ‘Spankin’ Brand New.’ Her career was on fire. The next album was titled, “Doin’ It,” released in 1969 and followed in 1970 by her third album titled, “Let It Be.” After this release, Spanky decided to leave the label.
In 1975, Spanky signed with 20th Century/Westbound Records. The new album was “Specialty of The House,” and the title tune was released as a popular single. Spanky sounded wonderful on this album. Her voice was bell clear, the songs were well-written and the production was lush with horns, strings and background vocals. There were plenty of songs on this album that could have been big hits for the crowd-pleasing singer. However, in the record business, unless you have a strong promotional team in place, a record can die on the vine. Spanky poured her heart out on “I Think I’m Gonna Cry.” There are some songs that were obviously produced in the Motown vein, with Diana Ross type productions like, “I’ll Stake My Life on You Boy.” Spanky rose to the occasion, showing that she could sing anything and proving she had cross-over ability.
For a few years, she toured America, spending quite a bit of time in my home town of Detroit, Michigan and working at Watts Mozambique jazz club owned by Cornelius Watts. Later, she appeared at Richard Jarrett’s club, “Dummy Georges.” During that time, she was a guest on a recording by Houston Person and Etta Jones titled, “Live at the Club Mozambique” for Eastbound Records. She also was recorded by Ace Records on a compilation album, pairing her with a list of all-star artists including Jack McDuff, Melvin Sparks, Gary Chandler, Etta Jones, Houston Person and Bill Mason titled, “Together.”
Anybody who’s been in the business of making records knows that the real money an artist makes comes from being on the road, not from selling records. While record companies are busy raking in the cash from the artists’ talents, an artist has to perform in concerts and clubs to pay the bills. Ms. Wilson let no grass grow under her feet. She’s performed in thirty-five countries including Algeria, Angola, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, the Congo, England, France, Germany, All over Japan, Luxemburg, Madagascar, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, Scotland, and in virtually every big city in Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia and coast to coast, all over the United States. She worked with Teddy Edwards and also toured with the great Benny Carter as part of his “All Star” band.
I asked Spanky about her time leaving the United States and living in France.
SPANKY: “I went there in 1985. Sweets Edison got me a gig there. I had left H. B. Barnum’s label and also the 20th Century Records deal was done. – Red Holloway used to use me at the Parisian Room and then Sweets Edison used to get me opening act gigs. That way, I was working all the time. So, Sweets and I got to be friends. I was one of the ‘cats’ with those guys. Sweet’s started telling me I should go to Europe and they would love me over there. But I said, hey – I don’t know nobody in Europe. I’d been to Japan and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. But I said, ok – hook me up, man.
“He got me a gig with the Woody Herman Band in the South of France; in Nice. So, I get there, but dig this, but Woody Herman’s hands were messed up. He had the arthritis real bad. He couldn’t play, so he sang a little bit. Consequently, he didn’t need a singer. So, I’m there, but I’m not going to sing. OMG. I thought, what the hell am I going to do now? I can’t turn around and go back to Los Angeles after I told everybody I was going to this gig in France. But wait a minute, I knew this guy who had something to do with the jazz festival and he said let me see what I can do. Well – the musicians all stayed in the same hotel. I used to sit in the lobby and try to learn the language and practice my French speaking. You know those dogs that used to save people that had the little canteen around their neck? St. Bernard! Well, I love animals and one day I’m sitting there in the lobby and this guy walked by with this big, huge dog and I said Oh my God, he’s so beautiful. Is he friendly? So, I started talking to the dog. And every day, he would walk down there with the dog and I didn’t know anybody but Sweets and the musicians. Funny, but me and the dog got to be friends. Finally, the dog would see me and break a-loose from whoever was walking him and jump up on me. To make a long story short, Sweets says hey, I made an appointment for us to go up and see the head man who runs this hotel; The Meridien Hotel. I said ok. He took me up to the guys suite and we knock on the door. Some guy opened the door and here was the dog. He jumped up on me and was so happy. He weighed about 500 pounds. That was a huge dog. But this really handsome man steps forward and says, so you’re the one that my guy was telling me about. He had heard there was a lady that sits in the lobby that his dog was in love with this woman. I said, Oh yes. That’s me. So, the hotel manager says Sweets tells me that you can really sing. I’m just going to take his word for it. I don’t need to hear you sing. How would you like to work in Paris? I said I’d love to work in Paris. He said I’m going to send you to the Meridien Hotel there and the group is already working there. You can sing with them. I said OK. That’s fine with me. So, the next day, I went to Paris. The Lord works in mysterious ways. They hired me for two weeks. That was in July. I wound up staying there until September. Just like we celebrate the Fourth of July here. Well, everybody that lives in Paris, they leave to go on vacation in the summer, so they never have an international act in the Lionel Hampton room in the summer. They only had a local band. I was working with them. They were called The Four Bones and it was four Trombones and a rhythm section. Francois Guin, Jean Christophe Vilain, Benny Vasseur, and Raymond Fonseque were the trombone players. The pianist with him and the bass player with them was like my brother. While I was there, people were coming from different clubs who had heard about me or whatever. And I got work in other clubs after I finished working there. That’s how I ended up staying for a while.”
Our artform of jazz is highly respected and revered in Europe. Spanky Wilson found steady work and appreciation overseas and she found love. After living together for several years, she married her musical conductor, Phillipe Milantia.
Spanky’s time in France ended when both her mother and father became ill. She returned to the United States to care for them. Her French husband did not want to live in America. He thought America had a racist society and refused the idea of moving to the USA. After the death of both parents, Spanky decided to return to Los Angeles. As we know, life always happens while we’re making plans. Without any warning, just as she started gigging and getting settled into L.A. living, Spanky was diagnosed with an illness that threatened her life. She returned to Pennsylvania to be with her children, unexpectedly leaving Los Angeles and her career for a few recuperative years. Currently, Spanky Wilson has retired to Nevada.
Ms. Wilson’s discography features eleven albums (State-side and in Europe). They celebrate her rich contribution to music along with additional recordings as a guest vocalist with several iconic musicians including Teddy Edwards. They solidify her jazz legacy.
Dee Dee McNeil & Spanky Wilson at Maverick’s Flat – August 2016, when Dee Dee produced her concert.
